Oral history interview with Roland Reiss
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 11 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 3 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Reiss, Roland, 1929-
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
label: Names
content: Scripps College -- Faculty
label: Names
content: University of California, Los Angeles -- Students
label: Names
content: Macdonald-Wright, Stanton, 1890-1973
label: Names
content: Stussy, Jan, 1921-1990
topic: label: Topic
content: Abstract expressionism
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators. Funding for the transcription of this interview provided by Bente and Gerald E. Buck Collection.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Reiss, Roland, 1929-
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Roland Reiss (1929-) is a painter and sculptor from Los Angeles, Calif.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 76 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1997 Aug.-1999 June
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.reiss97
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Roland Reiss conducted 1997 Aug. 23-1999 June 11, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in Reiss' studio, Los Angeles, Calif.
label: Scope and Contents
content: A fairly lengthy discussion of UCLA included an account of studying with Jan Stussy, a Stanton Macdonald-Wright disciple, and with Macdonald-Wright himself, who took a special interest in Reiss. He also singled out as a major influence Clinton Adams who, with Macdonald-Wright, served as a model of the intellectual artist who embodied rigorous thinking and a search for meaning through critique of language. Additional topics were the difference between the San Francisco and Los Angeles art worlds, the impact of abstract expressionism and of his own paper on the subject delivered to the UCLA faculty, which Reiss remembers as the introduction of abstract expressionism at the university. After a discussion of his teaching experience in Colorado and pioneering work with plastics, Reiss recalled his interaction there with leading artists including Joan Brown, Nancy Graves, David Hockney, Clyfford Still (with whom Reiss had daily conversations), and William T. Wiley. The third session focused on his long teaching career at Claremont and an in-depth discussion of various art programs in the country and the philosophies involved. In effect, this concluding part of the interview was a history of art education and the training of artists in California presented by someone whose entire career has been connected to educational institutions.