Oral history interview with Raymond J. Horowitz
name: label: Interviewee
content: Horowitz, Raymond J.
label: Interviewer
content: Berman, Avis
label: Names
content: Columbia University -- Students
label: Names
content: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: National Gallery of Art (U.S.)
label: Names
content: Adler, A. M. (Abraham M), 1902-1985
label: Names
content: Canaday, John, 1907-1985
label: Names
content: Cikovsky, Nicolai, 1894-
label: Names
content: Fraad, Daniel
label: Names
content: Fraad, Rita
label: Names
content: Gerdts, William H.
label: Names
content: Hirshhorn, Joseph H.
label: Names
content: Levine, Jack, 1915-2010
label: Names
content: Magriel, Paul David, 1906-
label: Names
content: McGoldrick, Joseph D. (Joseph Daniel), 1901-
label: Names
content: Mellon, Paul
label: Names
content: Mount, Charles Merrill
label: Names
content: Spanierman, Ira
label: Names
content: Spark, Victor D. (Victor David), 1898-1991
label: Names
content: Stebbins, Theodore E.
label: Names
content: Terra, Daniel J., 1911-1996
topic: label: Occupation
content: Lawyers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Occupation
content: Art dealers
label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art -- Economic aspects
label: Topic
content: Depressions -- 1929
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: Horowitz, Raymond J.
label: Interviewer
content: Berman, Avis
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Interviewee Raymond Horowitz (1916-2005) was a collector from New York, N.Y. Avis Berman is an art historian from New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3 Sound cassettes (Sound recording (4 hrs. 30 min.), analog)
label: Extent
content: 56 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2004 Oct. 20-Nov. 5
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.horowi04
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound cassettes
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available on line
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Raymond Horowitz conducted 2004 Oct.20-Nov. 5, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art, in New York, N.Y.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Horowitz speaks of his privileged childhood in New York; the effects of the Depression on his family's finances; attending Columbia University for Law and the anti-Semitism he faced there; his ingratiation into art appreciation through Meyer Shapiro; employment under then-New York City comptroller Joseph McGoldrick; the formation of his law practice; and his marriage to his wife, Margaret Goldenberg. Horowitz also mentions his involvement in left-wing political movements; how he managed relationships with different dealers; his experiences with misattributed artworks and forgeries, particularly his luck in avoiding them; the hobbies of himself and his wife; how he avoids relationships with the artists of his works; sharing information with other collectors; the economics of donating artworks and the subsequent tax breaks; the importance of credit in art purchasing; how he and Margaret conferred on purchases; their affinity for Chase; his habits on lending to exhibitions; the differences between the management of the Metropolitan Museum and the National Gallery; his summer homes in East Hampton and Provincetown; the problems with contemporary art scholarship; and the importance of dealers in affirming the interest in American art. Horowitz spends most of the interview reflecting upon others in the art world whom he has met. He recalls Ira Spanierman, Dan and Rita Fraad, Charles Merill Mount, Victor Spark, Abraham Adler, Nicolai Cikovsky, Phillipe de Montebello, Theodore Stebbins, Jack Levine, Daniel Terra, Joseph Hirshhorn, Norman Hirschl, John Canaday, Doris and Harry Rubin, Paul Mellon, Bill Gerdts, Paul Magriel, Bernard Meyers, and many others.