Oral history interview with Irving Petlin
name: label: Interviewer
content: Petlin, Irving, 1934-2018
label: Interviewer
content: McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-
topic: label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- 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: Interviewer
content: Petlin, Irving, 1934-2018
label: Interviewer
content: McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Interviewee Irving Petlin (1934-2018 ) was a painter in New York, New York. Interviewer James McElhinney (1952- ) is a painter and educator of New York, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 6 Items (sound files (4 hrs., 27 min.), digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 103 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2016 September 13-15
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.petlin16
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 is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview with Irving Petlin conducted 2016 September 13 and 15, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art at Petlin's home in New York, New York.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Petlin speaks of his childhood in Chicago, where he attended the Art Institute Children's school; his grandparents; his early artistic influences, including Munch, Van Gogh, Redon, Matta, and Gorky; the influence of the Chicago Imagists; studying art at Yale University; his military service in Army Intelligence; his studio on the Monkey Block in San Francisco; the Dilexi Gallery; living and working in Paris; working as a visiting artist at UCLA; his decision to use primarily pastels in his work; his series on Edmond Jabes, Primo Levi, and others; his witnessing of the Paris protests against the Algerian War; his involvement in protests and artworks against the Vietnam War in the U.S.; his involvement in the Art Workers Coalition; and his practice of working in series. Petlin also recalls Leon Golub, Claes Oldenberg, Nancy Spero, Joseph Randall Shapiro, Josef Albers, Varujan Boghosian, William Bailey, Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, Jim Newman, Eva Hesse, Robert Birmelin, R.B. Kitaj, Ed Kienholz, John Weber, Virginia Dwan, Mark di Suvero, Leo Castelli, and others.