Oral history interview with Clinton Adams
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 16 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hrs., 28 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Adams, Clinton, 1918-2002
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
label: Names
content: Tamarind Institute
label: Names
content: Tamarind Lithography Workshop
label: Names
content: University of California, Los Angeles -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Altoon, John, 1925-
label: Names
content: Delano, Annita, 1894-
label: Names
content: Edmondson, Leonard, 1916-
label: Names
content: Feitelson, Lorser, 1898-1978
label: Names
content: Johnston, Ynez, 1920-
label: Names
content: Kistler, Lynton R.,  , 1897-1993
label: Names
content: Langsner, Jules, 1911-1967
label: Names
content: Lebrun, Rico, 1900-1964
label: Names
content: Macdonald-Wright, Stanton, 1890-1973
label: Names
content: Price, Vincent, 1911-1993
label: Names
content: Scholder, Fritz, 1937-2005
topic: label: Occupation
content: Arts administrators -- New Mexico -- Albuquerque -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Modernism (Art)
label: Topic
content: Painters -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Printmakers -- New Mexico -- Albuquerque -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Prints -- Technique
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 others. Funding for the transcription provided by the Pasadena Art Alliance.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Adams, Clinton, 1918-2002
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Clinton Adams (1918-2002) was a printmaker, painter, and art administrator of Los Angeles, California and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 149 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1995 August 2-3
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.adams95
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available online.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Clinton Adams conducted 1995 August 2-3, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, at his home, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Adams discusses his family background; involvement in Hollywood "industry"; teaching at University of California, Los Angeles; service during WWII; first contact with New York's Museum of Modern Art; his decision to return to California; teaching painting at UCLA from 1946-1954, and friends and colleagues at that time including Lorser Feitelson, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Lynton R. Kistler and Annita Delano; the difficult political situation at UCLA and the "modernist" conflicts; his views on modernist and conservative groups; Stanton Macdonald-Wright; Adams' own work; his relationship to the ideas and nature of modernism; the Sanity in Art group and other art groups in Los Angeles; his opinion on which artists should have been included in the exhibition/catalogue "Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists"; his observations on art historical constructs; the history of New Mexican art; the idea of regionalism; the mythology of Santa Fe, New Mexico.; Southwestern art; the Tamarind Lithography Workshop during its New Mexico phase, its background and changes after the move from Los Angeles to the University of New Mexico, his fifteen years as director, major artists involved, and his desire to publish overlooked artists. Adams recalls Fritz Scholder, John Altoon, Leonard Edmondson, Ynez Johnston, Vincent Price, Jules Langsner, and Rico Lebrun.