Oral history interview with Joel-Peter Witkin
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 44 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Witkin, Joel-Peter, 1939-
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
topic: label: Topic
content: Photographers -- New Mexico -- Albuquerque -- 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. Funding for the transcription of this interview is provided by the Pasadena Art Alliance.
label: Provenance
content: Funding source: Pasadena Art Alliance
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Witkin, Joel-Peter, 1939-
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Joel-Peter Witkin (1939- ) is a photographer from Albuquerque, N.M.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3 Items (sound cassettes (165 min.), analog.)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1999 October 18 and 2001 August 14
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.witkin99
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available at Archives of American Art offices with an appointment and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Joel Peter Witkin conducted 1999 October 18 and 2001 August 14, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in Witkin's home, in Albuquerque, N.M.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Witkin discusses his childhood in Brooklyn; his Italian and Russian Jewish heritage; his parent's religious differences and their interest in art and music; his father's desertion when he and his twin brother were three; his early use of a Kodak camera in hopes to "see God," and finding an image and accepting it as an epiphany; a 1966 trip to Europe, especially time spent in Paris; his attraction to risk taking and pushing limits which he attributes to his father's gambling and his belief that such risks are necessary to discover life and self; photographing sideshow freaks, in which he discovered a sense of family; seeking the supernatural in photography; and spiritual redemption through his chosen medium.