Oral history interview with Martha Mayer Erlebacher
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 3 sound tape cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 41 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Erlebacher, Martha Mayer
label: Interviewer
content: Hunter, Anne S.
label: Names
content: Pratt Institute
label: Names
content: Erlebacher, Walter, 1933-1991
label: Names
content: Paglia, Camille, 1947-
label: Names
content: Schoelkopf, Robert J., 1927-1991
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Painting, Modern
label: Topic
content: Figurative painting, American
label: Topic
content: Women educators
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives' 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: Erlebacher, Martha Mayer
label: Interviewer
content: Hunter, Anne S.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Martha Mayer Erlebacher (1937-2013) was a figurative painter and educator who lived and worked in Philadelphia, Pensylvania.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 160 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1990 December 7-1991 January 12
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.erleba90
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
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 of Martha Mayer Erlebacher conducted 1990 December 7-1991 January 12, by Anne Schuster Hunter, for the Archives of American Art Philadelphia Project.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Erlebacher discusses her family background and education including her studies at Pratt Institute in Industrial Design; working for the design firm Arthur Wagner Associates; receiving her advanced degree from Pratt; her early optical paintings and the gradual introduction of the figure; studying and teaching herself anatomy along with husband Walter Erlebacher in the mid 1960s; a 1966 Yaddo fellowship; moving to Philadelphia and her first one-person show there in 1966; her process and materials; teaching anatomy at the University of the Arts; showing with Robert Schoelkopf; the development of themes and use of mythology in her art; interest in Renaissance painters; Camille Paglia's "Sexual Personae"; and portrait commissions and models.