Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Robert Breer

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.breer73
Creators:
Breer, Robert
Cummings, Paul
Dates:
1973 July 10
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
65 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Interview of Robert Breer conducted 1973 July 10, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Breer speaks of his boyhood in Detroit; his family, and its activities in early auto engineering; attending Stanford University and drawing cartoons for its daily paper; Stanford's art department, his U.S. Army service; the influence of the Tannerhill collection; going to Paris and the art scene there in the 1950s; Galerie Denise René; making his first films in 1952; the experimental film movement and his involvement in it; Studio Parnene and its showings of his films; showings in America; tachism; his return to the United States; the Brussels Fair Film Festival; mutascopes; early sculptures; his "Bent Whale" transitional piece; kinetic sculpture; Tinguely and Oldenburg films; descriptions of some of his sculptures; his design for the Pepsi Cola Pavilion at the Japan Expo in 1970; the Bonino Gallery.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Robert Breer (1926-2011) was a sculptor and filmmaker from Tappacu, New York.

Administration

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 others.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 43 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Lyrical abstraction (Art movement) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Filmmakers -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kinetic sculpture Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculptors -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculpture Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Film festivals Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Oldenburg, Claes, 1929- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tinguely, Jean, 1925- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bonino Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Galerie Denise René Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
PepsiCo, Inc. Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stanford University -- Students Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. Army Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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