Oral history interview with Rockne Krebs
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 14 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 27 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Krebs, Rockne, 1938-2011
label: Interviewer
content: Forgey, Benjamin
label: Names
content: Caro, Anthony, 1924-
label: Names
content: Noland, Kenneth, 1924-2010
label: Names
content: Olitski, Jules, 1922-2007
topic: label: Topic
content: Art, American
label: Topic
content: Sculpture -- Technique
label: Topic
content: Sculptors -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These interviews are 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. Funding for these interviews provided by the Lannan Foundation.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Krebs, Rockne, 1938-2011
label: Interviewer
content: Forgey, Benjamin
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Rockne Krebs (1938-2011) was a sculptor from Washington, D.C.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 164 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1990 Jan. 27-Feb. 3
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.krebs90
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Rockne Krebs conducted 1990 Jan. 27-Feb.3, by Benjamin Forgey, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Krebs discusses growing up in Kansas City; his early interest in art; childhood art classes at Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; his family and their home; studying sculpture at the University of Kansas; influential teachers; attending Naval Officer's Training School; his U.S. Navy service and art education while in the Navy; working in Washington, D.C. as the Public Affairs Officer for Vice-Admiral Frost in the 1960s; his wife Denise and their daughter Heather; meeting Anthony Caro, Kenneth Noland, and Jules Olitski; his "Chevron" series; his interest in planes, light, space, and "dematerializing" sculpture; the influence of Walter Hopps; working with laser specialists and Hewlett Packard equipment; his outdoor city-scale laser sculpture; and his early principal patrons Mr. and Mrs. Philip M. Stern and works created for them. Krebs also describes in detail his laser sculptures for the New Orleans Museum of Art (1971) and St. Petersburg (1975-1976) and comments on economic, political and social aspects of the art world.