Francis M. Celentano papers
name: label: Creator
content: Celentano, Francis, 1928-2016
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Washington (State) -- Seattle
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- Washington (State) -- Seattle
label: Topic
content: Optical art
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated in 2020 by Rebecca Celentano, Francis Celentano's widow.
creator: label: Creator
content: Celentano, Francis, 1928-2016
setName: label: See more items in
content: Francis M. Celentano papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Francis M. Celentano papers measure 2.7 linear feet and date from circa 1939-2020, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1950-2016. The collection documents Celentano's career as an Op painter and sculptor, as well as his time as a student at New York University and as a Fulbright scholar in Rome. Included is biographical material; correspondence; writings; and project files detailing several exhibitions and works of art that Celentano worked on and participated in throughout his career. Also found are printed materials that showcase numerous exhibitions Celentano was in; photographs and transparencies of the artists and his work; and pencil and digital sketches.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Francis Celentano (1928-2016) was an art professor and one of the original New York Op artists. Born in the Bronx in 1928, he studied both art and art history as an undergraduate and graduate student at New York University. During his undergraduate program, Celentano took drawing classes with Philip Guston who influenced Celentano's interest in abstract expressionism, which eventually became the topic of his 1957 master's thesis, "The Origins and Development of Abstract Expressionism in the United States." His thesis supervisor was the art historian Horst W. Janson with whom he took several graduate and undergraduate courses. In 1957 after earning his art history master's degree Celentano received a Fulbright Scholarship to study painting in Rome. He returned to New York and continued to paint, and his abstract expressionist style transformed into Op art, a form that uses optical illusions.

Celentano continued living in New York until 1966 when he joined the faculty in the painting department of the School of Art at the University of Washington in Seattle. He taught in the department until retiring in 1993 to dedicate himself back to creating art full time.  Over the course of his career Celentano exhibited work in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the country, with a heavy emphasis in New York, Washington, and Oregon. Exhibitions include the Responsive Eye (1965), the Museum of Modern Art; Kinetic and Optical Art Today (1965), Albright-Knox Gallery; a mural installation in the Seattle-Tacoma airport (1972); and Francis Celentano: Form and Color a ten-year retrospective (2010), Hallie Ford Museum of Art. Celentano's work is included in several museum collections such as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in New York and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2.7 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1939-2020
label: Date
content: bulk 1950-2016
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.celefran
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Diaries
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 7 series.

Biographical Material, 1939-2020 (0.2 Linear feet Box 1)

Correspondence, 1957-2007 (0.2 Linear feet Box 1)

Writings, circa 1941-2016 (0.7 Linear feet Box 1-2)

Project Files, circa 1973-2013 (0.6 Linear feet Box 2)

Printed Material, circa 1964-2018 (0.5 Linear feet Box 2-3)

Photographic Material, circa 1943-2016 (0.3 Linear feet Box 3, OV 5)

Artwork, circa 1970-2016 (0.2 Linear feet Box 4)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Sabine Lipten in 2022.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of Op artist Francis M. Celentano measure 2.7 linear feet and date from circa 1939-2020, with bulk dates from 1950-2016. Included is biographical material is his birth and death certificates, as well as certificates for his first communion, a scholastic art award, his high school diploma and a resume; correspondence with Celentano's NYU thesis advisor H.W. Janson, and fellow artists Evelyn Hofer and Ivan Schwebel. Also found are letters from museums, galleries, and the Fulbright program. Writings include academic and professional writing projects by Celentano as well as extensive painting and sculpture notes, a diary, and some poetry. Academic writing consists of undergraduate and graduate term papers including a copy of his master's thesis "The Origins and Development of Abstract Expressionism in the United States" (New York University, 1957) and supporting research notes. Project files contain notes, photographic and video materials, proposals, planning documents, correspondence and installation instructions related to specific exhibitions, lectures and individual artworks that Celentano worked on throughout his careeer; printed material consisting of exhibition catalogs, flyers, announcements, and clippings; photographs are of Celentano with his artwork as well as with friends and family and transparencies of works of art; and artwork contains annotated preparatory pencil and digital sketches, and unannotated ink jet print outs of digital paintings.