Frank Lobdell interview
name: label: Interviewee
content: Lobdell, Frank, 1921-
label: Interviewer
content: Burgard, Timothy Anglin
topic: label: Occupation
content: Museum curators -- California -- San Francisco
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- California
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- California -- San Francisco
label: Topic
content: World War, 1939-1945
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated 2009 by Timothy Anglin Burgard.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Lobdell, Frank, 1921-
label: Interviewer
content: Burgard, Timothy Anglin
setName: label: See more items in
content: Frank Lobdell interview
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Frank Lobdell interview dates from 2002 and measures 0.01 linear feet. The collection is comprised of a 27-page  transcript of an interview with Lobdell conducted by Timothy Anglin Burgard at Lobdell's Pier 70 Studio, in San Francisco.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: California painter and educator Frank Lobdell (1921-1913) was a key figure among first-generation Bay Area Abstract Expressionist artists. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco curator and Lobdell scholar Timothy Anglin Burgard, interviewed Lobdell in 2002.

Lobdell was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Minnesota where he attended the St. Paul School of Fine Arts. 
He served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II from 1942–46 and subsequently attended the California School of Fine Arts on the G.I. Bill where he studied with Clyfford Still. He continued his education in Paris from 1950-1951 before returning to California where he taught at the California School of Fine Arts (1957-1964) and Stanford University from 1966-1991.


Lobdell exhibited his work widely in the United States and Europe from the 1950s on. He received many awards and honors including the  Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Painting from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1988) and election to the National Academy of Design in 1998. 

Lobdell died in Palo Alto in 2013 at the age of 92.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.01 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2002 October 30
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.lobdfran
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Interviews
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Due to the small size of this collection, the interview is arranged as one series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Stephanie Ashley in 2023 and the collection was digitized in 2023.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Frank Lobdell interview dates from 2002 and measures 0.01 linear feet. The collection is comprised of a 27-page  transcript of an interview with Lobdell conducted by Timothy Anglin Burgard at Lobdell's Pier 70 Studio, in San Francisco. Burgard's interview was used in preparation for the exhibition Frank Lobdell: The Art of Making and Meaning, held at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum in May 2003. A book of the same title was published by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Hudson Hills Press, in 2003.

In the interview Lobdell talks about his early interest in art, his artistic influences, his education, his experiences during World War II after being drafted into the army in 1942, and his career after the war, and shares his opinions on art and politics.