Oral history interview with Robert Colescott
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Colescott, Robert, 1925-2009
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
label: Names
content: San Francisco State University -- Students
label: Names
content: University of California, Berkeley -- Students
label: Names
content: University of California, San Francisco. School of Fine Arts
label: Names
content: Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906
label: Names
content: Loran, Erle, 1905-1999
label: Names
content: Ryder, Worth Allen, 1884-1960
label: Names
content: Saar, Betye (1926)
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Arizona -- Tucson
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- California -- San Francisco
label: Topic
content: African American artists
label: Topic
content: African American military personnel
label: Topic
content: African American painters
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 for the transcription of this interview is provided by Richard Baker Fund.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Colescott, Robert, 1925-2009
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Robert Colescott (1925-2009) was a painter from San Francisco, California and Tuscon, Arizona. Colescott was raised in Oakland, California. He attended San Francisco State University and University of California at Berkeley (B.A. 1949; M.A., 1952). After receiving his bachelor's degree, he studied in Paris with abstract painter Fernand Léger. From 1976-1985 he taught at the California School of Fine Arts, and was named Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, Tucson in 1985.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 23 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1999 April 14
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.colesc99
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 Robert Colescott conducted 1999 April 14, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, at his studio, in Tucson, Arizona.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Colescott discusses his early years growing up in Oakland; his education; military service; his experiences as a student at San Francisco State University and University of California, Berkeley; the influences at University of California, Berkeley, and of Paul Cézanne on the teaching by professors Erle Loran and Worth Ryder; working at the California School of Fine Arts; issues of race in art; views on the African-American community's desire to control visual statements by black artists, and why his work is viewed as stereotyping; political views; the work of artist Betye Saar; and his work, "George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware."