Oral history interview with Jeanne L. Wasserman
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 12 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Wasserman, Jeanne L.
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
label: Names
content: Fogg Art Museum
label: Names
content: Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, Mass.)
label: Names
content: Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- Art collections
label: Names
content: Agam, Yaacov, 1928-
label: Names
content: Beale, Arthur
label: Names
content: Cook, Christopher Capen, 1932-
label: Names
content: Coolidge, John, 1913-1995
label: Names
content: Hyde, Andrew C. (Andrew Cornwall), 1941-
label: Names
content: Indiana, Robert, 1928-2018
label: Names
content: Mangravite, Peppino, 1896-
label: Names
content: Messer, Thomas M.
label: Names
content: Oldenburg, Claes, 1929-
label: Names
content: Plaut, James S. (James Sachs), 1912-1996
label: Names
content: Prokopoff, Stephen S.
label: Names
content: Rickey, George
label: Names
content: Ross, David A., 1949-
label: Names
content: Saint-Phalle, Niki de, 1930-2002
label: Names
content: Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946
label: Names
content: Thurman, Sue M., 1927-2012
label: Names
content: Tinguely, Jean, 1925-
label: Names
content: Wasserman, Max, 1913-1986
topic: label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art museum curators -- Massachusetts -- Interviews
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: Wasserman, Jeanne L.
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Jeanne L. Wasserman, (1915-2006) was a museum curator and art collector from Boston, Massachusetts.
function: label: Function
content: Art museums -- Massachusetts
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Items (sound cassettes (7 hrs., 30 min.), analog.)
label: Extent
content: 125 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1993-1994
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.wasser93
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
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 Jeanne L. Wasserman, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Cambridge, MA from January 28, 1993-July 19, 1994.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Wasserman speaks of her parents' cultural interests; first becoming interested in sculpture after visiting a Rodin exhibition in Paris with her family; visiting art galleries and studying painting in New York City as a young woman; her education at Fieldston and Radcliffe; trying to get a job in New York after college; working in advertising; meeting her husband, Max, and building a business with him; beginning to collect art; putting together a collection for the condominium project, 180 Beacon; the opening of 180 Beacon; working on a condominium project in the Virgin Islands; curating sculpture exhibitions at the Fogg Museum and at Wellesley; writing the catalogue for a Daumier exhibition at the Fogg; serving on the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; organizing forums on contemporary art with the Council of the Arts at MIT; becoming involved with Harvard's Institute for Learning in Retirement; and notable purchases of work by Daumier, Rodin, Degas, Giacometti, de Chirico, Nicolas Schöffer, Henry Moore, and others. Wasserman also recalls Alfred Stieglitz, Peppino Mangravite, Elie Nadelman, Hyman Swetzoff, Joseph Hirshhorn, Erica Brausen, René and Charles Gimpel, Louise Nevelson, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Robert Indiana, Claes Oldenburg, Denise René, Yaacov Agam, George Rickey, George Segal, David Ross, Milena Kalinovska, Jacques de Caso, Yulla Lipchitz, Vera List, Jim Cuno, and others.