Oral history interview with Harold Rosenberg
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 5 sound tapes. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 10 hr., 4 min.
label: General
content: Interview transcript is not in chronological order; arrangement designated by the interviewer Paul Cummings.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
label: Names
content: Club (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Office of War Information. Washington, D.C.
label: Names
content: United States. Work Projects Administration
label: Names
content: Baumbach, Harold, 1903-
label: Names
content: Blume, Peter, 1906-1992
label: Names
content: Breton, André, 1896-1966
label: Names
content: Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964
label: Names
content: De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997
label: Names
content: Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948
label: Names
content: Inverarity, Robert Bruce, 1909-1999
label: Names
content: Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984
label: Names
content: Lundeberg, Helen, 1908-1999
label: Names
content: Léger, Fernand, 1881-1955
label: Names
content: Matta, 1912-2002
label: Names
content: Miró, Joan, 1893-
label: Names
content: Motherwell, Robert
label: Names
content: Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970
label: Names
content: Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956
label: Names
content: Prestopino, Gregorio
label: Names
content: Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970
label: Names
content: Smith, David, 1906-1965
label: Names
content: Tobey, Mark
topic: label: Topic
content: Art, American
label: Topic
content: Educators -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art -- Economic aspects
label: Topic
content: Art -- Philosophy
label: Topic
content: Art -- Political aspects
label: Topic
content: Art and literature
label: Topic
content: Art criticism
label: Topic
content: Surrealism
label: Topic
content: Avant-garde (Aesthetics) -- New York (State) -- New York
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: Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978) was a writer and educator from New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 244 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1970 December 17-1973 January 28
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.rosenb70
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 Harold Rosenberg conducted 1970 December 17-1973 January 28, by Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art over nine sessions.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Rosenberg speaks on a wide variety of topics including Marxism and Communism; art criticism; teaching and the philosopy of art; how his interest in art developed over the years; getting his writings published and starting a magazine; what intrigues him about the avant-garde; when and why he started painting; action painting; the inaccuracies in art history about Avant-gardism and Surrealism; working as a mural painter for the College Art Association; moving from the WPA's art project to the writer's project, and becoming an art editor; what happened to the works of art done under the WPA after it ended; and moving to the Hamptons.
label: Scope and Contents
content: He speaks in detail on the New York art scene during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s; The Club; writing about art; politics and art; Shakespeare and literature's influence on art and vice versa; the various economic aspects of art; how the Depression affected him and the people he knew; the projects he worked on in the WPA; and working for the OWI after the WPA disbanded.
label: Scope and Contents
content: He recalls Mark Rothko, Harold Baumbach, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Peter Blume, Helen Lundberg, André Breton, Arshile Gorky, Roberto Matta, Jackson Pollock, David Smith, Lee Krasner, Fernand Léger, Joan Miró, Jim Leshay, Stuart Davis, Bruce Inverarity, Barney Newman, Mark Tobey, Gregorio Prestopino, and many others.