Oral history interview with Richard Ayer
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 52 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Ayer, Richard Gentry, 1909-1967
label: Interviewer
content: McChesney, Mary Fuller
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Federal Art Project (Calif.)
label: Names
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Arnautoff, Victor Mikhail, 1896-1979
label: Names
content: Hiler, Hilaire, 1898-1966
label: Names
content: Volz, Herman, 1904-1990
topic: label: Topic
content: Federal aid to the arts
label: Topic
content: Mural painting and decoration -- California
label: Topic
content: Muralists -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Ayer, Richard Gentry, 1909-1967
label: Interviewer
content: McChesney, Mary Fuller
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Richard Ayer (1909-1967) was a mural painter from San Francisco, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 20 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1964 September 26
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.ayer64
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available on line.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Richard Ayer conducted 1964 September 26, by Mary McChesney, for the Archives of American Art New Deal and the Arts Project.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Ayer speaks of his "haphazard" education, including study with Hilaire Hiler; his work assisting Victor Mikhail Arnautoff on frescos in the Presidio Chapel; the WPA easel painting project in San Francisco; and the Aquatic Park Building mural program, 1934. He recalls some of the artists associated with the Aquatic Park project. He also discusses the Ostwald and Hiler color theories and Herman Volz's mural for the Treasure Island Federal Building.