Oral history interview with Buffie Johnson
name: label: Interviewee
content: Johnson, Buffie
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
label: Names
content: Hayter, Stanley William, 1901-1988
label: Names
content: Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966
label: Names
content: Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956
label: Names
content: Putzel, Howard, 1898-1945
label: Names
content: Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970
label: Names
content: Smith, Tony, 1912-1980
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Painting, Abstract -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Mural painting and decoration -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Women muralists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These interviews are 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 others.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Johnson, Buffie
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Buffie Johnson (1912-2006) was a painter, muralist, and educator from Massachusetts. She studied art at UCLA and at the Academie Julian in Paris. She lived and worked in New York City.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Sound tape reels (Sound recording, 5 in.)
label: Extent
content: 162 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1977 Nov. 22-1978 Jan. 23
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.johnso77
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound tape reels
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: An interview of Buffie Johnson conducted 1977 Nov. 22-1978 Jan. 23, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Johnson speaks of her childhood in New York City and Duxbury, Mass.; her early encouragement in art; studying at UCLA; life in Paris and the European scene before World War II, and studying at Academie Julian. She discusses gettting established as a painter, selling her early work, the change in her painting toward abstraction, and back towards realism; her friendship with gallery owner Howard Putzel, commissions, including painting a mural for the Astor Theater, her inspirations for painting and her interest in the women's movement. She discusses galleries in New York City; subject matter, including nature and mythology; her teaching career at Parsons; residencies at Yaddo; her writing. She recalls Tony Smith, Hans Hofmann, Stanley William Hayter, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Pablo Picasso; Francis Picabia, Barnett Newman, Joan Miro, Maya Deren, Sonia Delaunay, and Edward Melcarth, among others.