Oral history interview with Harold Lehman
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 8 hrs., 39 min.
name: label: Creator
content: Lehman, Harold, 1913-2006
label: Interviewer
content: Polcari, Stephen
label: Names
content: Public Works of Art Project
label: Names
content: Arenal, Luis
label: Names
content: Armiduke, Merle
label: Names
content: Blanch, Arnold, 1896-1968
label: Names
content: Feitelson, Lorser, 1898-1978
label: Names
content: Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994
label: Names
content: Guston, Philip, 1913-1980
label: Names
content: Horn (Horr), Axel
label: Names
content: Kadish, Reuben, 1913-1992
label: Names
content: Katz, Leo, 1887-1982
label: Names
content: Lundeberg, Helen, 1908-1999
label: Names
content: Mahl, Carla
label: Names
content: Maikowski, Max
label: Names
content: McCoy, Stanley
label: Names
content: Orozco, José Clemente, 1883-1949
label: Names
content: Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956
label: Names
content: Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957
label: Names
content: Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978
label: Names
content: Schwankovsky, Frederick John, 1885-1974
label: Names
content: Serstadt, Louie
label: Names
content: Siqueiros, David Alfaro, 1896-1974
label: Names
content: Stanley, George M., 1903-
label: Names
content: de Laffiere, Jean
topic: label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: World War, 1939-1945
label: Topic
content: Communism
label: Topic
content: Mural painting and decoration
label: Topic
content: Social realism
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: Creator
content: Lehman, Harold, 1913-2006
label: Interviewer
content: Polcari, Stephen
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Harold Lehman (1913-2006) was a painter, lithographer, designer, and sculptor from New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 144 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1997 Mar. 28
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.lehman97
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Harold Lehman conducted 1997 Mar. 28, by Stephen Polcari, for the Archives of American Art. Lehman speaks of his early educational and artistic experiences in New York; taking sculpture classes; moving to California; going to school at Manual Arts; going to Ojai and learning the religious philosophy of Krishnamurti; participating in literary discussion groups and the books he read; his years at Otis Art Institute; working with Sisqueiros, and how the frescoes they created were destroyed by the Red Squad; when he became interested in painting; working with Lorser Feitelson; working with the Public Works of Art Project; moving back to New York and working with the Federal Arts Project; his experiences with Sisqueiros and the artist workshop they set up; his thoughts on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Stalin and Trotsky; his thoughts on social realism; the project he did on Rikers Island; doing mural art; breaking both his arms two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor and how he managed to stay out of the army; working on his mural in Woodstock; working on war bond painting for the government; his art work during the war years; recollections of Jackson Pollack and his interest in Indian Art; going to see the Picasso show; his artistic influences; his thoughts on America's involvement in World War II; his life after the war and what inspired him; his memories of Phil Guston; thoughts on Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg; his life after the war, and other recollections about his life and friends. He recalls Max Maikowski, Jean de Laffiere, Rutolo, Frederick J. Schwankovsky, Phil Guston, Jackson Pollack, Manuel Tolegian, Rueben Kadish, George Stanley, Roger Noble Vernon, D.A. Siqueiros, Luis Arenal, Lorser Feitelson, Helen Lundberg, Leo Katz, Merle Armiduke, Stanley McCoy, Axel Horr (Horn), Carla Mahl (Clara Moore), Louie Serstadt, Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, Arnold Blanch, Harold Rosenberg, Clement Greenberg, Arnold Blanch, and many others.