Oral history interview with Rafael Ferrer
name: label: Interviewee
content: Ferrer, Rafael
label: Interviewer
content: Veloric, Cynthia
label: Names
content: Nancy Hoffman Gallery
label: Names
content: Philadelphia College of Art
label: Names
content: Philadelphia College of Art -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Syracuse University -- Students
label: Names
content: Granell, Eugenio Fernández, 1912-
label: Names
content: Lewis, Frances
label: Names
content: Lewis, Sydney
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- United States -- Interviews
label: Occupation
content: Conceptual artists -- Puerto Rico -- Interviews
label: Occupation
content: Conceptual artists -- United States -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Installations (Art)
label: Topic
content: Conceptual art
label: Topic
content: Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Surrealism
label: Topic
content: Art -- Study and teaching -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Topic
content: Figurative art
label: Topic
content: Art and music
label: Topic
content: Latino and Latin American artists
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 others.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Ferrer, Rafael
label: Interviewer
content: Veloric, Cynthia
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Rafael Ferrer (1933-) is a painter and conceptual artist from Puerto Rico and Philadelphia, Pa.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4 Sound cassettes (Sound recording)
label: Extent
content: 157 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1990 Sept. 19
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.ferrer90
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound cassettes
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript: 35mm microfilm reel 4777 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Rafael Ferrer conducted 1990 Sept. 19, by Cynthia Veloric, for the Archives of American Art Philadelphia Project.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Ferrer speaks about his childhood in Puerto Rico; his education in Catholic school and military school; his interest in music including his professional work as a drummer in Latin jazz bands both in Puerto Rico and New York City; studies at Syracuse University and the University of Puerto Rico; his interest in painting; meeting the surrealist Eugenio Granell and Granell's influence, including Ferrer's involvement in the 1950's with surrealists in Puerto Rico and Europe, and a discussion of his feelings on Dada and surrealism; the shift toward conceptual and process art in the 1960's; moving to Philadelphia in the 1960's, teaching at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) and exhibiting at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; installations and exhibits in New York City in the late 1960's and 1970's, including his twenty year association with the Nancy Hoffman Gallery; the deflected fountain piece at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the transition to handmade art works and then to painting and figurative works partially inspired by Alex Katz; collectors Sydney and Frances Lewis; and several commissions.