Rudi Blesh papers
name: label: Creator
content: Blesh, Rudi, 1899-1985
label: Names
content: Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964
label: Names
content: Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968
label: Names
content: Janis, Harriet Grossman
label: Names
content: Motherwell, Robert
label: Names
content: Schwitters, Kurt, 1887-1948
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Authors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Collage
label: Topic
content: Abstract expressionism
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The papers were donated by Rudi Blesh in 1981 and in 1993 by longtime friend Ethel Baziotes, who received the papers from Blesh before his death.
creator: label: Creator
content: Blesh, Rudi, 1899-1985
setName: label: See more items in
content: Rudi Blesh papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of writer, critic, and architectural designer Rudi Blesh measure 2.1 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 1983. The collection includes correspondence, documentation on writing projects and notes, printed materials, and photograpic materials. Much of the material concerns his collaboration with Harriet Janis on the book Collage: Personalities, Concepts, Techniques.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Rudi Blesh (1899-1985) was a writer, critic, and architectural designer in New York, N.Y. 

Blesh was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma. He was known as a jazz critic but had a career as an interior designer before he began writing about jazz and art. Blesh attended Dartmouth College where he first encountered jazz music. He became a jazz critic for The San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Herald Tribune after relocating to New York in 1944. 

Blesh partnered with Harriet "Hansi" Janis to co-author They All Played Ragtime and Collage: Personalities, Concepts, Techniques, a book about the development of collage and its use by artists such as Kurt Schwitters, Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Burri, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, and other notable artists. 

Later in life, Blesh taught at New York University and Queens College while continuing to write about jazz. He died in 1985 in New Hampshire.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2.1 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1900-1983
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.blesrudi
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as four series.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1909-1979 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Writing Projects and Notes, circa 1945-1967 (0.8 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Printed Materials, 1939-1983 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2)

Series 4: Photographic Materials, circa 1900-circa 1969 (0.8 linear feet; Box 2, OV 3)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Sarah Mundy in 2019.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Portions of the collection are available on 35mm microfilm reels 3991-3994 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of writer, critic, and architectural designer Rudi Blesh measure 2.1 linear feet and date from circa 1900 to 1983. The collection includes correspondence, documentation on writing projects and notes, printed materials, and photograpic materials. Much of the material concerns his collaboration with Harriet Janis on the book Collage: Personalities, Concepts, Techniques. Of note is correspondence with Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Sonia Delaunay, and Aaron Siskind; notes on Robert Motherwell, Stuart Davis, Man Ray, Hans Richter, and others; and photographs of Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jackson Pollock.