Oral history interview with Billy Al Bengston
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 20 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Bengston, Billy Al
label: Interviewer
content: Larsen, Susan C.
label: Names
content: Ferus Gallery (Los Angeles, Calif.)
label: Names
content: Price, Kenneth, 1935-2012
label: Names
content: Ruscha, Edward
topic: label: Occupation
content: Ceramicists -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- California -- Los Angeles
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 others.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Bengston, Billy Al
label: Interviewer
content: Larsen, Susan C.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Billy Al Bengston (1934-2022) was a painter from Venice, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 38 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1980 September 9
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.bengst80
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: 35mm microfilm reel 3196 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview with Billy Al Bengston conducted 1980 September 9, by Susan Larsen, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Bengston speaks of his youth and education, the development of his interest in art, his short career in ceramics, his affiliation with the Ferus Gallery, the arts community in Los Angeles in the early 1950s, and his motives and methods of painting. He recalls Kenneth Price and Edward Ruscha.