Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with James S. Ackerman

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.ackerm91
Creators:
Ackerman, James S., 1919-2016
Brown, Robert F.
Dates:
1991 January 2
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
2 Items
sound cassettes (1 hr. 47 min.)
analog.
20 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview with James Ackerman conducted 1991 January 2, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Ackerman talks about his childhood in San Francisco in a wealthy family of German-Jewish descent; travels with his family in Europe; early exposure to art and art history; education at the Cate School, California; education at Yale University, 1938-41, including recollections of teachers and curriculum, especially the charismatic teaching of Henri Focillon; graduate work at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1941 and 1945-52, including curriculum and teachers such as Karl Lehmann, Richard Krautheimer, and Erwin Panofsky; World War II experience in signal intelligence; early publications and their fortunate effect on his career, and contrast of those who solely pursued facts and those who also have ideas.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
James Ackerman (1919-2016) was an art and architecture historian from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on Archives of American Art's website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
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.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hrs., 47 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art historians -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Focillon, Henri, 1881-1943 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Krautheimer, Richard, 1897- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lehmann, Karl, 1894-1960 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Panofsky, Erwin, 1892-1968 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York University. Institute of Fine Arts Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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