Oral history interview with Dennis Adrian
name: label: Interviewee
content: Adrian, Dennis, 1937-
label: Interviewer
content: Silverman, Lanny
label: Names
content: Akron Art Museum
label: Names
content: Art Institute of Chicago
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: Madison Art Center
label: Names
content: Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, Ill.)
label: Names
content: New York University
label: Names
content: Portland Art Museum (Or.)
label: Names
content: University of Chicago -- Students
label: Names
content: Acconci, Vito, 1940-
label: Names
content: Achilles, Rolf
label: Names
content: Alloway, Lawrence, 1926-1990
label: Names
content: Anderson, Jeremy, 1921-1982
label: Names
content: Artner, Alan G.
label: Names
content: Barnes, Robert, 1934-
label: Names
content: Baum, Don, 1922-
label: Names
content: Botticelli, Sandro, 1444 or 1445-1510
label: Names
content: Brown, Roger, 1941-1997
label: Names
content: Carlson, Victor I.
label: Names
content: Castelli, Leo
label: Names
content: Conner, Bruce, 1933-2008
label: Names
content: Coplans, John
label: Names
content: Cornell, Joseph
label: Names
content: Dubuffet
label: Names
content: Florsheim, Lillian H.
label: Names
content: Frumkin, Allan
label: Names
content: Garver, Thomas H.
label: Names
content: Golub, Leon, 1922-2004
label: Names
content: Guston, Philip, 1913-1980
label: Names
content: Hanson, Philip, 1943-
label: Names
content: Hoffman, Rhona, 1934-
label: Names
content: Ito, Miyoko, 1918-1983
label: Names
content: Kind, Phyllis, 1933-2018
label: Names
content: Leaf, June, 1929-
label: Names
content: Lee, Sherman E.
label: Names
content: Maxon, John, 1916-
label: Names
content: Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 1886-1969
label: Names
content: Newman, Muriel Kallis Steinberg
label: Names
content: Nicholson, Natasha, 1945-
label: Names
content: Parker, Dorothy, 1893-1967
label: Names
content: Pearlstein, Philip, 1924-
label: Names
content: Petlin, Irving, 1934-2018
label: Names
content: Ramberg, Christina
label: Names
content: Rossi, Barbara, 1940-
label: Names
content: Schulze, Franz, 1927-2019
label: Names
content: Sleigh, Sylvia, 1916-2010
label: Names
content: Spero, Nancy, 1926-2009
label: Names
content: Swinton, Tilda
label: Names
content: Voulkos, Peter, 1924-2002
label: Names
content: Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987
label: Names
content: Westermann, H. C. (Horace Clifford), 1922-
label: Names
content: Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
label: Names
content: Wiles, Bertha Harris, 1896-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art critics -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting
label: Topic
content: Art -- History
label: Topic
content: Art -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Art thefts -- Europe
label: Topic
content: Curators -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Educators -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 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: Interviewee
content: Adrian, Dennis, 1937-
label: Interviewer
content: Silverman, Lanny
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Dennis Adrian (1937- ) is an art critic, educator, and curator in Chicago, Illinois. Lanny Silverman (1947- ) is a curator at the Chicago Cultural Center in Chicago, Illinois.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4 Items (Sound recording: 4 sound files (4 hr., 18 min.), digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 173 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2015 October 8-9
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.adrian15
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 Dennis Adrian conducted 2015 October 8-9, by Lanny Silverman, for the Archives of American Art's Chicago Art and Artists: Oral History Project, at Adrian's home in Seaside, Oregon.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Adrian speaks of growing up in Astoria; traveling to Chicago and New York; Cannon Beach; aging and getting older; his origins; curators and curating; visual sensibilities; the Portland Public Library; opera; his parents, grandparents, and family; Finnish sensibility and humor; Portland Art Museum and classes for children; curator as voyeur; credit and accomplishments; hands on experiences; Artforum; art history; attending University of Chicago; homosexuality and coming out; looted European masterworks; Botticelli; exposure to real art; connoisseurship; collectors and collecting; a Robert Louis Stevenson letter; violin making; growing into yourself; Chicago; war; New York University; Frumkin Gallery; New York; the art world; Madison Art Center; Akron Art Museum; friendship and role models; Art Institute of Chicago; meeting Mies van der Rohe; meeting idols; education; Oscar Wilde and Dorothy Parker; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Monster Roster; traveling; Chicago art politics; writing and critics; Eurocentric curators; Chicago as an undervalued city; Dog Day Afternoon; discovering art; New York sightings; and experiences running into artists. Adrian also recalls Roger Brown, Ruth Horwich, Gilda Buchbinder, Don Baum, Sherman Lee, Victor Carlson, Peter Voulkos, Lawrence Alloway, Rhona Hoffman, Allan Frumkin, June Leaf, Leon Golub, Jeremy Anderson, Robert Barnes, Tom Garver, Bruce Conner, Natasha Nicholson, H. C. Westermann, Franz Schulze, Bertha Harris Wiles, Muriel Newman, Aaron James Spire, Lillian Florsheim, John Maxon, Greg Knight, P.B. Maryan, Philip Pearlstein, Sylvia Sleigh, Nancy Spero, Irving Petlin, John Coplans, Alan Artner, Alice Shaddle, Phyllis Kind, Andy Warhol, Joseph Cornell, Tilda Swinton, Leo Castelli, Philip Guston, Dubuffet, Pussy Pepke, Bumpy Rogers, Barbara Rossi, Christina Ramberg, Philip Hanson, Miyoko Ito, Mark Jackson, Rolf Achilles, and Vito Acconci.