Linda Nochlin papers
name: label: Creator
content: Nochlin, Linda
label: Names
content: Courbet, Gustave, 1819-1877
label: Names
content: Lajer-Burcharth, Ewa
label: Names
content: Mitchell, Joan, 1926-1992
label: Names
content: Pearlstein, Philip, 1924-
label: Names
content: Zuka
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Feminists
label: Topic
content: Women art historians
label: Topic
content: Realism
label: Topic
content: Women artists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated in 2018 by Daisy Pommer, Linda Nochlin's daughter.
creator: label: Creator
content: Nochlin, Linda
setName: label: See more items in
content: Linda Nochlin papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of feminist art historian and educator Linda Nochlin measure 31.2 linear feet and 3.62 gigabytes and date from circa 1876, 1937 to 2017. The collection is comprised of biographical materials; date books and notebooks; correspondence; writing project files that include material on Gustave Courbet and realism, bathers and the body, essays and lectures on 19th century art among other topics, artists, and smaller writing projects; professional files containing material on conferences and fellowships; teaching files detailing courses taught by Nochlin at New York University Institute of Fine Arts and other institutions; printed materials; artwork; and photographic materials that document Nochlin and her relationships with family, colleagues and friends, and artists.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Linda Nochlin (1931-2017) was a feminist art historian and professor at New York University Institute of Fine Arts in New York, New York. She is widely known for her essay first published in 1971, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?," that explored the institutional systems in place for analyzing art history and their impacts on women artists. In 1976, Nochlin co-curated Women Artists: 1550-1950 alongside Ann Sutherland Harris at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and in 2007 she co-curated with Maura Reilly the Global Feminisms Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Both exhibitions are considered landmark exhibitions of women artists. 

Nochlin was born in Brooklyn, New York. She attended the Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Midwood High School before enrolling in Vassar College where she majored in philosophy with minors in Greek and art history. After graduating in 1951, she went on to earn a master's degree in English from Columbia University in 1952. In 1963, she earned her PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts. Nochlin's PhD dissertation, "Gustave Courbet: A Study of Style and Society," marked the beginning of her lifelong study of the 19th-Century French artist Gustave Courbet. 

Nochlin taught at Yale University, the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and Vassar College. She was also a visiting professor at Columbia University, Hunter College, Stanford University, Williams College, and Yale University, and later became the Lila Acheson Wallace Professor Emerita of Modern Art at the Institute of Fine Arts. 


Nochlin authored numerous art history books including Realism (1971), The Politics of Vision: Essays on Nineteenth-Century Art and Society (1989), Representing Women (1999), The Body in Pieces: The Fragment as a Metaphor of Modernity (1994), Bathers, Bodies, Beauty: The Visceral Eye (2006), Courbet (2007), and Misère: The Visual Representation of Misery in the 19th Century (2018).
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 31.2 Linear Feet
label: Extent
content: 3.62 Gigabytes
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1876
label: Date
content: 1937-2017
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.nochlind
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Gigabytes
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Diaries
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as nine series.

Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa 1940-2012 (1.0 linear feet; Box 1, OV 35 / 0.003 GB; ER01-ER03) 

Series 2: Datebooks and Notebooks, 1959-2017 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-5, OV 35 / 0.001 GB; ER004) 

Series 3: Correspondence, 1946-2014 (2.0 linear feet; Boxes 5-7, OV 35 / 0.058GB; ER005-ER011; ER120) 

Series 4: Writing Project Files, circa 1876, 1953-2016 (17.0 linear feet; Boxes 7-21, 30-31, 33-34, OVs 36-37 / 3.72 GB; ER012-ER102) 

Series 5: Professional Files, 1957-2012 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 22-23 / 0.001 GB; ER103) 

Series 6: Teaching Files, 1953-2012 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 23-25, OV 36 / 0.016 GB; ER104-ER119) 

Series 7: Printed Materials, 1939-2017 (3.0 linear feet; Boxes 26-28, 32, 34, OVs 39-40) 

Series 8: Artwork, circa 1940-2004 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 28, 34, OV 38) 

Series 9: Photographic Materials, circa 1935-circa 2010 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 28-29, 34)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Sarah Mundy in 2019. Born-digital materials were processed by Jessica Purkis in 2019.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: All of the audiovisual recordings in the collection were digitized for research access in 2019 and are available at Archives of American Art offices.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of feminist art historian and educator Linda Nochlin measure 31.2 linear feet and 3.62 gigabytes and date from circa 1876, 1937 to 2017. The collection is comprised of biographical materials; date books and notebooks; correspondence; writing project files that include material on Gustave Courbet and realism, bathers and the body, essays and lectures on 19th century art among other topics, artists, and smaller writing projects; professional files containing material on conferences and fellowships; teaching files detailing courses taught by Nochlin at New York University Institute of Fine Arts and other institutions; printed materials; artwork; and photographic materials that document Nochlin and her relationships with family, colleagues and friends, and artists.

Biographical materials include two address books; awards and prizes; certificates and diplomas; childhood writings and notes, assignments, and school newsletters; course work at Vassar College and NYU's Institute of Fine Arts; honors; and one sound recording and three transcripts of Nochlin interviews with Alain Veinstein, Dan Karlholm, Jon Weiner, and Moira Roth.

Over 150 date books and notebooks spanning nearly 60 years contain appointments, reminders, travel plans, thoughts on art, journal entries, daily activities, to-do lists, contact information, fiction writing, and other small notations. Correspondence is with family; close colleagues and artists Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, Zuka Mitelberg, Joan Mitchell, and Philip Pearlstein; and professional contacts regarding speaking engagements, publishing projects, exhibitions, artists' work, conferences, and events. 

The bulk of the collection documents Nochlin's prolific writing career that includes her lifelong research and work on Gustave Courbet, realism, bathers and the body, as well as numerous essays and lectures, research and writings on artists, and various other writing projects. 

Files for professional activities contain material for conferences and symposiums that include 11 sound and video recordings, grants, fellowships, and travel arrangements and expenses. Teaching files consist of documentation for courses taught by Nochlin at New York University Institute of Fine Arts, Vassar College, Yale University, and other academic institutions.

Publications and other printed materials include annotated books, booklets, clippings, exhibition catalogs, journals and magazines, newsletters, offprints, five video recordings of broadcasts and documentary material, flyers, invitations, posters, and postcards. Artwork includes sketches in ink, charcoal, paint, and pencil created during Nochlin's childhood into her early 20s, along with artwork by children, and one video art recording by Zoulikha Bouabdellah. 

Photographs and negatives are of Nochlin with artists Nancy Graves, Sebastian Horsley, and Shirley Jaffe; childhood classmates; friends and colleagues; students; and travels to Europe. Also included are photographs of works of art, personal photographs of family members, and portraits and snapshots of Nochlin.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview of Linda Nochlin conducted on June 9-30, 2010 by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art's Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts project at Nochlin's home in New York, N.Y.