Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Herbert Bayer

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.bayer81nov
Creators:
Bayer, Herbert, 1900-1985
Cohen, Arthur A. (Arthur Allen), 1928-1986
Dates:
1981 November 3-1982 March 10
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
105 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Herbert Bayer conducted 1981 November 3-1982 March 10, by Arthur Cohen, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Bayer speaks of his family background and early influences in art and painting, his education and experiences at the Bauhaus school, studies under Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, and his friendship with Marcel Breuer. Bayer also tells of fleeing from Nazi Germany and of his travels in Italy. He concludes the interview with a discussion of his theories of color, the relation of surrealism to his work, the influence of architecture upon his work, the beginning of his interest in sculpture, the relationship of landscape to culture, mathematics and its relationship to painting, and the role of metaphysics in his life.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of Montecito, California.

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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are part of the Archives' 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 others.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 44 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Architecture, Modern -- 20th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Color in art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Surrealism Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Architects -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Breuer, Marcel, 1902- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kandinsky, Wassily, 1866-1944 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Klee, Paul, 1879-1940 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bauhaus Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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