Oral history interview with Phillip A. Bruno
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 45 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Bruno, Phillip A.
label: Creator
content: McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-
label: Names
content: Barnes Foundation
label: Names
content: Columbia University -- Students
label: Names
content: Exposition universelle et internationale (1958 : Brussels, Belgium)
label: Names
content: Grace Borgenicht Gallery
label: Names
content: La Napoule Art Foundation, Henry Clews Memorial
label: Names
content: Marlborough Gallery
label: Names
content: Weyhe Gallery
label: Names
content: World House Galleries
label: Names
content: Avery, Milton, 1885-1965
label: Names
content: Bacon, Francis, 1909-1992
label: Names
content: Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000
label: Names
content: Bertoia, Harry
label: Names
content: Bravo, Claudio, 1936-2011
label: Names
content: Brown, Joan, 1938-1990
label: Names
content: Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976
label: Names
content: Clews, Henry, 1876-1937
label: Names
content: Crawford, Ralston, 1906-1978
label: Names
content: Cuevas, José Luis, 1934-
label: Names
content: Ernst, Max, 1891-1976
label: Names
content: Estes, Richard, 1932-
label: Names
content: Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966
label: Names
content: Hefner, Hugh M. (Hugh Marston), 1926-
label: Names
content: Hirshhorn, Joseph H.
label: Names
content: Katz, Alex, 1927-
label: Names
content: Koenig, Fritz, 1924-
label: Names
content: Kubach, Wolfgang, 1936-
label: Names
content: Kubach-Wilmsen, Anna Maria, 1937-
label: Names
content: Matisse, Henri, 1869-1954
label: Names
content: Morgan, Randall, 1920-
label: Names
content: Nagare, Masayuki, 1923-
label: Names
content: Neuberger, Roy R.
label: Names
content: Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988
label: Names
content: Park, David, 1911-1960
label: Names
content: Peterdi, Gabor
label: Names
content: Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970
label: Names
content: Schapiro, Meyer, 1904-
label: Names
content: Staempfli, George W.
label: Names
content: Willard, Charlotte
topic: label: Occupation
content: Gallery directors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York
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: Bruno, Phillip A.
label: Creator
content: McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Phillip A. Bruno (1930- ) is an art collector and director of Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 46 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2009 January 13-21
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.bruno09
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 Phillip A. Bruno conducted 2009 January 13-21, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art, at the Archives of American Art, in New York, New York.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Bruno speaks of some his earliest impressions of art while growing up in New York and Paris; attending Columbia University, where he majored in the history of painting and architecture and studied under Meyer Schapiro; his first job at the Weyhe Gallery as a gallery assistant; helping create the Grace Borgenicht Gallery, where he served as director for five years; traveling to Mexico, meeting Jose Cuevas and exhibiting his work at the Edward Loeb Gallery in Paris; traveling to Brazil and meeting a family of naturalist painters who emphasized the importance of painting outdoors, unlike many painters from the New York school; working with Henry Clews and the La Napoule Art Foundation; selling a piece of Salvador Dali jewelry made by Carlos Alamanni to Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy Magazine; working as director of The World House Gallery and selling works by Fancis Bacon and Max Ernst to clients such as Joseph Hirshhorn and Roy Neuberger; organizing a exhibition of artists shown at the Brussels World Fair in 1958 at World House and meeting George Staempfli through the artist Joan Brown; moving from World House to the Staempfli Gallery in 1960 to work as co-director; the Staempfli Gallery's role in the international art world; an original drawing by Leonard Baskin inscribed to Phillip in 1954; selling the work of artists such as Harry Bertoia, Fritz Koening, and David Park; meeting Henri Matisse in Paris at the age of 21; visiting the studios of Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko; the difference between galleries that can spot new talent and galleries that sell certain artists well; the art market becoming less idealistic and more commercial; the rising importance of auction houses and the possibility of their taking the place of traditional art galleries; the move of the Staempfli Gallery to the SoHo neighborhood and soon after, leaving Staempfli for Marlborough, where he was one of the New York directors for 18 years; his appreciation for the creativity of others, retirement and current plans to write his memoirs. Bruno also recalls Milton Avery, Gabor Peterdi, Hans Muller, Ralston Crawford, Randall Morgan, Charlotte Willard, Dorthy Satterlee, Masayuki Nagare, Claude Bemardin, Kubach-Wilmsen, Louise Nevelson, Cladio Bravo, Lopez Garcia, Alberto Giacometti, The Barnes Foundation, Richard Estes, Alex Katz, and Neil Wlliver.