Oral history interview with Fairfield Porter
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 24 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Porter, Fairfield
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
label: Names
content: Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975
label: Names
content: Coryllis, Peter
label: Names
content: De Kooning, Elaine
label: Names
content: De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997
label: Names
content: Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994
label: Names
content: Hess, Thomas B.
label: Names
content: Katz, Alex, 1927-
label: Names
content: Maroger, Jacques, 1884-1962
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art critics -- New York (State) -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State)
label: Topic
content: Art criticism -- United States
label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- Interviews
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.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Porter, Fairfield
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) was a painter and critic from Southampton, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 65 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1968 June 6
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.porter68
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 Fairfield Porter conducted 1968 June 6, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Porter speaks of his family background and Harvard education; the Art Students League; his involvement with Marxism and his work as an art critic for "Art News" and "The Nation". He discusses his portrait commissions, his choice of subject matter, theories of realism versus abstraction and drawing versus color, and the role of the unconscious and the accidental in his art. He recalls Thomas Hart Benton, Jacques Maroger, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Walter Auerbach, Thomas B. Hess, Clement Greenberg, and Alex Katz.