Whitney Chadwick papers
name: label: Creator
content: Chadwick, Whitney
label: Names
content: Brooks, Romaine
label: Names
content: Carrington, Leonora, 1917-2011
label: Names
content: Hicks, Sheila, 1934-
label: Names
content: Penrose, Valentine
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art historians -- California -- San Francisco
label: Topic
content: Women art historians
label: Topic
content: Feminism and art
label: Topic
content: Surrealism
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Whitney Chadwick papers were donated in 2023 by Robert Firehock, Chadwick's nephew.
creator: label: Creator
content: Chadwick, Whitney
setName: label: See more items in
content: Whitney Chadwick papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of art historian Whitney Chadwick measure 10.1 linear feet and date from 1945 to 2019. The papers document Chadwick's groundbreaking studies of gender and sexuality in surrealism, modernism, and contemporary art. The collection comprises biographical materials including a scrapbook documenting her time in Europe as an American Field Service scholarship recipient; personal and professional correspondence; writings and writing projects files for The Militant Muse, Chadwick's novel Framed, her dissertation and thesis, and writings by others; sound and video recordings, correspondence, notes, printed materials, and Chadwick's teaching files from San Francisco State University on surrealism and women artists including Romaine Brooks, Leonora Carrington, Sheila Hicks, and Valentine Penrose found in research files; professional files for exhibitions, conferences, fellowships, and her work in Sweden at Göteborgs University; printed materials consisting of clippings relating to surrealism, reviews of Chadwick's books and exhibitions, and exhibition catalogs; and 8 unidentified sound recordings.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Whitney Chadwick (1943-) is an art historian in San Francisco, Calif.­ Chadwick was educated at Middlebury College and The Pennsylvania State University. She specialized in twentieth-century European and American art, feminism and gender studies. She taught at San Francisco State University and was married to painter and fellow SFSU faculty member Robert Bechtle.

Chadwick received a B.A. in fine arts from Middlebury College in 1965 and a M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from Pennsylvania State University in 1975. Her dissertation, "Myth in Surrealist Painting, 1929-1939: Dali, Ernst, Masson," was the beginning of her lifelong study of surrealist art and artists. She has published many books on the subject including Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement, Amazons in the Drawing Room: The Art of Romaine Brooks,Mirror Images: Women Surrealism, and Self-Representation edited with Isabelle de Courtivron, Significant Others: Creativity and Intimate Partnership; and The Modern Woman Revisited: Paris between the Wars edited with Tirza True Latimer.

Over the course of her career, Chadwick has been awarded fellowships and grants from Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, Uppsala University, the University of Ulster Belfast, and National Endowment for the Humanities. She also received an honorary doctorate from Göteborgs University in Sweden and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women's Caucus for Art.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 10.1 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1945-2019
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.chadwhit
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 7 series.

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1950-2017 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1945-2019 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)

Series 3: Writings and Writing Projects, 1968-2019 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)

Series 4: Research Files, 1960-2019 (7.0 linear feet; Boxes 3-9)

Series 5: Professional Files, 1983-2019 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 9-10)

Series 6: Printed Materials, 1972-2019 (0.2 linear feet; Box 10, OV 11)

Series 7: Unidentified Sound Recordings, circa 1984 (1 folder; Box 10)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Sarah Mundy in 2024.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of art historian Whitney Chadwick measure 10.1 linear feet and date from 1945 to 2019. The papers document Chadwick's groundbreaking studies of gender and sexuality in surrealism, modernism, and contemporary art. The collection comprises biographical materials including CVs, photographs of Chawick, and a scrapbook documenting her time in Europe as an American Field Service scholarship recipient; personal and mainly professional correspondence regarding writing projects, fellowships, lectures, and other professional activities; writings and writing projects including The Militant Muse, Chadwick's novel Framed, dissertation and thesis, and writings by others; sound and video recordings, correspondence, notes, printed materials, and Chadwick's teaching files from San Francisco State University on surrealism and women artists including Romaine Brooks, Leonora Carrington, Sheila Hicks, and Valentine Penrose found in research files; professional files containing material detailing Chadwick's work on exhibitions, conferences, fellowships, and her work in Sweden at Göteborgs University; printed materials consisting of clippings and photocopies of articles regarding surrealism and artists studied by Chadwick, reviews of Chadwick's books and exhibitions, exhibition catalogs, booklets and pamphlets, and a few posters; and 8 unidentified sound recordings.