Oral history interview with Rosalyn Drexler
name: label: Interviewee
content: Drexler, Rosalyn, 1926-2025
label: Interviewer
content: Lyon, Christopher
label: Names
content: Garth Greenan Gallery
label: Names
content: Hunter College -- Students
label: Names
content: Kornblee Gallery
label: Names
content: Reuben Gallery
label: Names
content: Alloway, Lawrence, 1926-1990
label: Names
content: Baraka, Amiri, 1934-2014
label: Names
content: Barthelme, Donald
label: Names
content: Basquiat, Jean-Michel, 1960-1988
label: Names
content: Bruce, Lenny
label: Names
content: Carmines, Al
label: Names
content: Cornell, Joseph
label: Names
content: De Kooning, Elaine
label: Names
content: De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997
label: Names
content: Dine, Jim, 1935-
label: Names
content: Doyle, Tom
label: Names
content: Drexler, Sherman
label: Names
content: Geldzahler, Henry
label: Names
content: Gilman, Richard, 1923-2006
label: Names
content: Hess, Thomas B.
label: Names
content: Hesse, Eva, 1936-1970
label: Names
content: Hirshhorn, Joseph H.
label: Names
content: Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012
label: Names
content: Katz, Alex, 1927-
label: Names
content: Kent, Allegra
label: Names
content: Klein, William
label: Names
content: Kline, Franz, 1910-1962
label: Names
content: Kroll, Jack
label: Names
content: Marx, Chico, 1887-1961
label: Names
content: Monroe, Marilyn, 1926-1962
label: Names
content: Neel, Alice, 1900-1984
label: Names
content: Newman, Barry
label: Names
content: Perelman, S. J. (Sidney Joseph), 1904-1979
label: Names
content: Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978
label: Names
content: Samaras, Lucas, 1936-
label: Names
content: Sontag, Susan, 1933-2004
label: Names
content: Teer, Barbara Ann, 1937-2008
label: Names
content: Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987
label: Names
content: Youskevitch, Igor, 1912-1994
topic: label: Occupation
content: Authors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Playwrights -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Women wrestlers
label: Topic
content: Segregation -- United States
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women sculptors
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Happenings (Art)
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: Drexler, Rosalyn, 1926-2025
label: Interviewer
content: Lyon, Christopher
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Rosalyn Drexler (1926-2025) was a sculptor, playwright, and novelist in New York, New York.
label: Biographical / Historical
content: Christopher Lyon (1949- ) is a writer in Brooklyn, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 82 Pages (Transcript)
label: Extent
content: 5 Items (Sound recording: 5 sound files (3 hr., 26 min.), digital, wav)
phystech: label: System Details
content: Recorded on tascam 100MKII 022546.
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2017 May 17-June 2
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.drexle17
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This interview was audited and edited by Christopher Lyon.
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: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview with Rosalyn Drexler conducted 2017 May 17 and June 2 by Christopher Lyon, for the Archives of American Art, at Garth Greenan Gallery in New York, New York.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Drexler discusses her childhood in the Bronx; her experiences studying dance and music; her higher education at Hunter College; attending films and the Yiddish Theater; meeting her husband Sherman Drexler; her time as a professional wrestler; her memories of traveling to the South and encountering Jim Crow segregation; she describes learning about art from Sherman Drexler and her joint exhibition with Sherman; her early work in sculpture; participating in Happenings with Jim Dine; joining Anita Reuben's gallery; her debut as a playwright; her experience writing "I am the Beautiful Stranger;" the changing public perception of her and being classified as an artist; her decision to become a painter and appropriating images for her work; the influence of S. J. Perelman on her plays; her play about Joseph Cornell and ballerina Allegra Kent, and interviewing Allegra Kent; her recent artwork and preparing for her 2017 show at Garth Greenan Gallery; her artwork from the 1980s and 1990s; her comedy writing and sense of humor. Drexler also recalls Chico Marx, Jack Newfield, Igor Youskevitch, Ivan Karp, Anita Reuben, Lucas Samaras, Richard Gilman, Al Carmines, Amiri Baraka, Barbara Ann Teer, Franz Kline, Elaine De Kooning, Bill de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Jack Kroll, Lawrence Alloway, Tom Hess, Barney Newman, Harold Rosenberg, Susan Sontag, Joe Hirshhorn, Henry Geldzahler, Donald Barthelme, Kornblee Gallery, Eva Hesse, Tom Doyle, William Klein, Marilyn Monroe, Alex Katz, Alice Neel, Basquiat, Saturday Night Live, and Lenny Bruce, among others.