Oral history interview with Steve Martin
name: label: Interviewee
content: Martin, Steve, 1945-
label: Interviewer
content: McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-
label: Names
content: Art Collectors: A Project in Partnership with the Center for the History of Collecting in America at The Frick Collection
topic: label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Beverly Hills -- Interviews
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: Martin, Steve, 1945-
label: Interviewer
content: McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Interviewee Steve Martin (1945- ) is an art collector, comedian, actor, musician, and author in Beverly Hills, Calif. Interviewer James McElhinney (1952- ) is a painter and educator of New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 77 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2013 February 4-5
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.martin13
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 oral history interview with Steve Martin conducted 2013 February 4-5, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art and the Center for the History of Collecting in America at the Frick Art Reference Library of The Frick Collection, at Martin's home, in Beverly Hills, California.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Martin speaks about his first encounters with art while majoring in philosophy at California State University, Long Beach; the significance of dining at Dalton Trumbo's home with luminaries of the artistic community; how the cost of the up-and-comers of the 1960s has changed since he bought his first print; his perception of art in the 1960s, coinciding with Warhol's eminence; having an art show at the Molly Barnes Gallery called Invisible Art, which he has not discussed since; learning to buy valuable art using the catalogue raisonné; studying American art in college libraries and museums while touring the country as a comedian; his transition from aspiring aesthete to collector of art; his philosophy of collecting, from coins to art; his thoughts on taking custody of paintings; envying other collections as the dark side of collecting; the validity of the artist's statement; trying to describe a painting; notoriety of American artists abroad; seeking an emotional response to art; reading a painting; and the difference between his past and current collecting styles. Martin also recalls Melissa Trumbo, Dalton Trumbo, Phil Carey, Armand Duvantes [sp], Terry Delapp, Gerald Peters, Anne Martin, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, Victoria Dailey and others.