Oral history interview with William H. Bailey
name: label: Interviewee
content: Bailey, William, 1930-2020
label: Interviewer
content: McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Connecticut -- New Haven
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.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Bailey, William, 1930-2020
label: Interviewer
content: McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Interviewee William H. Bailey (1930-2020 ) was a figurative painter in New Haven, Connecticut. Interviewer James McElhinney (1952- ) is a painter and educator in New York, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 11 Items (sound files (7 hr.,19 min.), digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 110 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2012 October 10-December 5
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.bailey12
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 is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of William H. Bailey conducted 2012 October 10- December 5, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art at Bailey's studio, in New Haven, Connecticut.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Bailey speaks of growing up during the Great Depression and World War II; studying commercial art at the University of Kansas; deciding to join the Army; being stationed in Japan and fighting in the Korean War; moving to New York City from Kansas City in 1953; the art scene in New York City during the 1950s; struggling to find his own artistic style; completing his BFA and MFA at Yale University under Josef Albers; the differing artistic philosophies and teaching mentalities within Yale's art department; receiving an American Specialist Program Grant from the U.S. State Department to teach and lecture on painting and drawing in Burma, Taiwan, and the Philippines; traveling in Europe; discovering an individual artistic philosophy and routine; his time as a professor at Indiana University; returning to Yale to teach; his Portrait of S; the industrialization of art; finding a gallery in New York to show his work; buying and renovating his home in Italy; the impact of living in Italy on his paintings; being an artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome; being a member of the National Council on the Arts during the 1990s. Bailey also recalls Herbert Fink, Robert Sudlow, Reginald marsh, Bernard Chaet, Conrad Marca-Relli, Sy Sillman, Julian Stanczak, Varujan Boghosian, Rico Lebrun, Richard Serra, Jack Tworkov, Rudy Pozzatti, Jim McGarrell, Eleanor Ward, Leland Bell , Robert and Jane Schoelkopf, André Emmerich, Jeffrey Deitch, Robert Miller, Mario Roncaglia, Sandro Manzo, and Alan Feltus.