Oral history interview with George Biddle
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 13 hr., 56 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Biddle, George, 1885-1973
label: Interviewer
content: Phillips, Harlan B. (Harlan Buddington), 1920-1979
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Public Works of Art Project
label: Names
content: Bacon, Peggy, 1895-1987
label: Names
content: Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975
label: Names
content: Billings, Henry, 1901-
label: Names
content: Bouché, Louis, 1896-1969
label: Names
content: Bruce, Edward, 1879-1943
label: Names
content: Cahill, Holger, 1887-1960
label: Names
content: Cassatt, Mary, 1844-1926
label: Names
content: Curry, John Steuart, 1897-1946
label: Names
content: Demuth, Charles, 1883-1935
label: Names
content: Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973
label: Names
content: Grosz, George, 1893-1959
label: Names
content: Halpert, Edith Gregor, 1900-1970
label: Names
content: Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943
label: Names
content: Kroll, Leon, 1884-1974
label: Names
content: Marsh, Reginald, 1898-1954
label: Names
content: Miller, Kenneth Hayes, 1876-1952
label: Names
content: Orozco, José Clemente, 1883-1949
label: Names
content: Pascin, Jules, 1885-1930
label: Names
content: Poor, Henry Varnum, 1887-1970
label: Names
content: Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957
label: Names
content: Robinson, Boardman, 1876-1952
label: Names
content: Siqueiros, David Alfaro, 1896-1974
label: Names
content: Sterne, Maurice, 1878-1957
label: Names
content: Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946
label: Names
content: Tamayo, Rufino, 1899-1991
label: Names
content: Weber, Max, 1881-1961
label: Names
content: Zorach, William, 1887-1966
label: Names
content: Zorach, William, 1887-1966
topic: label: Topic
content: Art -- Censorship
label: Topic
content: Federal aid to the arts
label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Sculptors -- New York (State) -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: 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: Biddle, George, 1885-1973
label: Interviewer
content: Phillips, Harlan B. (Harlan Buddington), 1920-1979
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: George Biddle (1885-1973) was a painter and sculptor, in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 239 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1963
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.biddle63
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 with George Biddle conducted in 1963, by Harlan Phillips, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Biddle speaks of his background in Philadelphia; his Harvard education in preparation for a law career; literary acquaintances; travel; the beginning of his art career; his preoccupation with portraiture; his tragic and pleasant works; the importance of mood; his drawing techniques; drawing from nature; color experimentation; Stieglitz's circle; the susceptibility of artists to change during the 1930s; his involvement with the Public Works of Art Project; government censorship of his murals; his involvement with artists overseas during World War II; and his aesthetic philosophy. He recalls Max Weber, Maurice Sterne, George Grosz, William Zorach, Kenneth Hayes Miller, Peggy Bacon, Marsden Hartley, Charles Demuth, Edith Halpert, Boardman Robinson, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Hart Benton, Henry Billings, Ned Bruce, Holger Cahill, Philip Evergood, Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Siqueiros, and Rufino Tamayo.