Oral history interview with Tony Vevers
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 49 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Vevers, Tony
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
label: Names
content: City Center Gallery
label: Names
content: Hans Hofmann School (New York, New York)
label: Names
content: Operation Pied Piper
label: Names
content: United States -- Montgomery G.I. Bill
label: Names
content: United States. Army
label: Names
content: Yale University -- Students
label: Names
content: Avery, Milton, 1885-1965
label: Names
content: Blagden, Tom
label: Names
content: Calcagno, Lawrence, 1913-
label: Names
content: Gottlieb, Adolph, 1903-1974
label: Names
content: Halvorsen, Elspeth
label: Names
content: Hartung, Hans, 1904-1989
label: Names
content: Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966
label: Names
content: Keller, Deane, 1901-1992
label: Names
content: Kline, Franz, 1910-1962
label: Names
content: Levine, Jack, 1915-2010
label: Names
content: Lippold, Richard, 1915-2002
label: Names
content: Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988
label: Names
content: Oldenburg, Claes, 1929-
label: Names
content: Pace, Stephen, 1918-2010
label: Names
content: Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973
label: Names
content: Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946
label: Names
content: Vieira da Silva, 1908-
label: Names
content: Weber, Max, 1881-1961
label: Names
content: Zallinger, Rudolph F.
place: label: Place
content: Provincetown (Mass.)
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art teachers -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art, French -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Art, Italian -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Art, Modern
label: Topic
content: Art -- Study and teaching -- Italy
label: Topic
content: Painters -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Poverty
label: Topic
content: World War, 1939-1945 -- United States
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: Vevers, Tony
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Tony Vevers (1926-2008) was a painter from Provincetown, Massachusetts.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Sound cassettes (Sound recording (2 hr., 49 min.), analog)
label: Extent
content: 58 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1998 July 9-August 25
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.vevers98
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound cassettes
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Interview of Tony Vevers, conducted on August 25, 1998, by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Vevers speaks of being sent by his parents to the United States in 1940; secondary schooling in Madison, Connecticut and at the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut (1944); serving in the U.S. Army infantry in Europe, 1944-1946; attending Yale University on the GI Bill and graduating with a BA in painting and drawing, 1950; further art training in Florence, Italy and at the Hans Hofmann School, NYC (1950-1953); his marriage to Elspeth Halvorsen, fellow artist, 1953; his studies in Italy; the unexciting nature of contemporary Italian art; contemporary art in Paris, where Picasso impressed him but work of Hans Hartung and (Marie Elena) Vieira da Silva did not; studying with Hans Hofmann; working at the non-profit City Center Gallery, which was designed to give younger artists exposure through juried exhibitions; and living in poverty in NYC and Provincetown until 1963. Vevers also recalls Tom Blagden, Alfred Stieglitz, Deane Keller, Rudolph Zallinger, Claes Oldenburg, Stephen Pace, Lawrence Calcagno, Hans Hofmann, Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, Jack Levine, Franz Kline, Louise Nevelson, Max Weber, Richard Lippold, and others.