Oral history interview with Vera Klement
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded as 3 sound files. Duration is 3 hr., 24 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Klement, Vera, 1929-
label: Interviewer
content: Silverman, Lanny
label: Names
content: Artemisia Gallery
label: Names
content: Chicago Art and Artists: Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
label: Names
content: University of Chicago -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Adrian, Dennis, 1937-
label: Names
content: Ashton, Dore
label: Names
content: Deson, Marianne
label: Names
content: Ippolito, Angelo
label: Names
content: Ito, Miyoko, 1918-1983
label: Names
content: Kind, Phyllis, 1933-2018
label: Names
content: Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978
label: Names
content: Shapey, Ralph, 1921-2002
label: Names
content: Stamos, Theodoros, 1922-1997
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Illinois -- Chicago
label: Topic
content: Art, American -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Art, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women's rights
label: Topic
content: Women painters
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: Klement, Vera, 1929-
label: Interviewer
content: Silverman, Lanny
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Vera Klement (1929-2023) was an Expressionist painter in Chicago, Illinois.
label: Biographical / Historical
content: Lanny Silverman (1947- ) is a curator at the Chicago Cultural Center in Chicago, Illinois.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3 Items (Sound recording: 3 sound files (3 hr., 24 min.), digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 140 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2015 June 12 and 14
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.klemen15
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available online.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview with Vera Klement conducted 2015 June 12 and 14, by Lanny Silverman, for the Archives of American Art's Chicago Art and Artists: Oral History Project, at Klement's home and studio in Chicago, Illinois.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Klement speaks of her early childhood in Danzig (now, Gdansk, Poland) on the eve of World War II; her family's immigration to New York; her early experiences with music and art; her decision to become a painter; her interactions within New York's art community of the 1950s; the change in New York's art scene after the emergence of Pop art; her move to Chicago and subsequent difficulties in showing her work; her involvement within the Chicago art community; the founding of the women's artist cooperative, Artemisia; her involvement with the women's movement in the 1970s; teaching at the University of Chicago; her conception of her artwork as representational and apolitical; her literary influences; and her distaste for the contemporary art world. Klement also recalls Dennis Adrian, Dore Ashton, Marianne Deson, Angelo Ippolito, Miyoko Ito, Phyllis Kind, Harold Rosenberg, Ralph Shapey, Theodoros Stamos, and others.