Oral history interview with John Saccaro
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 4 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Saccaro, John M., 1913-1981
label: Interviewer
content: McChesney, Mary Fuller
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
topic: label: Topic
content: Federal aid to the arts
label: Topic
content: Painting, American
label: Topic
content: Painters -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Saccaro, John M., 1913-1981
label: Interviewer
content: McChesney, Mary Fuller
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: John Saccaro (1913-1981) was a painter from San Francisco, Calif.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 37 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1964 June 18
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.saccar64
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 interview of John Saccaro conducted 1964 June 18, by Mary McChesney, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Saccaro discusses the primary influences on San Francisco art in the 1930s and how he started working for the WPA. He describes the working conditions on each of the projects are in detail. Robert McChesney sat in on the interview, and he at times helps Saccaro remember facts. (The two of them worked of the same mural project at Treasure Island.) McChesney and Saccaro mention 10 to 15 of their coworkers and reminisce about what became of them. None seems to have continued painting. Saccaro's first solo show (1939) is mentioned; he describes meeting Arshile Gorky near this time. The interview concludes with a consideration of the artist's place in society and how difficult it is to become established as a painter. Much attention is given to the fate of Saccaro's coworkers and the day-to-day experience of being a WPA artist. He discusses little of his own style, which remained by his own admission relatively unadventurous until after the war.