Oral history interview with Bernarda Bryson Shahn
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 2 sound cassette tapes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 39 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Bryson, Bernarda
label: Interviewer
content: Meecham, Pamela J.
label: Names
content: United States. Farm Security Administration. Historical Section
label: Names
content: Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957
label: Names
content: Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New Jersey -- Roosevelt
label: Occupation
content: Printmakers -- New Jersey -- Roosevelt
label: Occupation
content: Illustrators -- New Jersey -- Roosevelt
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Women printmakers
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. Funding provided by Midtown-Payson Grant.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Bryson, Bernarda
label: Interviewer
content: Meecham, Pamela J.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Bernarda Bryson (1903-2004) was a painter from New Jersey. She was the wife of artist Ben Shahn.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 39 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1995 July 3
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.bryson95
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Bernarda Bryson Shahn conducted 1995 July 3, by Pamela J. Meecham, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Bryson Shahn talks about Ben Shahn's involvement in the Farm Security Administration's photographic project during the 1930s; her and her husband's involvement with socialism, unions, and the Communist Party during the 1930's; the removal of Diego Rivera's mural from Rockefeller Center; changes in Ben Shahn's critical status as a painter -- particularly during the Red Scare, and relative to the rise of Abstract Expressionism; her own career as an illustrator; the Jersey Homesteads and Ben Shahn's mural in Roosevelt, New Jersey; as well as her impressions of Italy and Japan.