Oral history interview with Elsie Driggs
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 13 digital wav files. Duration is 8 hr., 30 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Driggs, Elsie, 1898-1992
label: Interviewer
content: Tyler, Francine
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Curators -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Women art critics
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: Driggs, Elsie, 1898-1992
label: Interviewer
content: Tyler, Francine
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Elsie Driggs (1898-1992) was an artist from New York City known for her Precisionist paintings.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 304 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1985 October 30-December 5
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.driggs85
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 of Elsie Driggs conducted 1985 October 30-December 5, by Francine Tyler, for the Archives of American Art. Driggs recalls her family and early life in New York and Pennsylvania; education; travels to Italy; Pittsburgh steel factory subject matter; her Precisionist and Classicist painting style; influence of Piero della Francesca and Cezanne; Art Students League; WPA; her husband, Lee Gatch; associations wiht Maurice Sterne, George Bridgman; Charles Demuth; Charles Sheeler; George Luks; Leo Stein; Niles Spencer; Georgia O'Keeffe; J.B. Naumann; Elsa Schmid; Francis Bacon; Balthus; Ned Bruce, among others. She discusses her paintings and process, influences, materials, and technique; industrial and natural subject matter; New York art galleries, including Frank Rehn Gallery and Staempfli Gallery; art patrons; commissions; murals; and her residency at Yaddo.