Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Adele S. Brown and William H. Calfee

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.brown95
Creators:
Brown, Adele Smith, 1910-
Kirwin, Liza
Calfee, William H. (William Howard), 1909-1995
Dates:
1995 January 11
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
33 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Adele S. Brown and William H. Calfee conducted 1995 January 11, by Liza Kirwin, at Calfee's home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Brown and Calfee speak of their roles in Phillips Studio House. They recall Law Watkins, Karl Knaths, Duncan Phillips, Bernice Cross, Bob Gates, Marjorie Phillips, Alice Acheson, John Marin, George Groves, Harold West, Adelyn Breeskin, Kenneth Noland, Jack Tworkov, Caresse Crosby, Prentiss Taylor, and many others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Brown, an art administrator in Washington, D.C., managed the sales gallery of the Phillips Studio House from 1933-1937. Calfee, a painter and sculptor, taught at the art school affiliated with Studio House from 1933 until it closed in 1945. Phillips Studio House, founded by C. Law Watkins, Associate Director of the Phillips Memorial Gallery, was both an art school and commercial gallery. It opened in November 1933, and closed in 1945 upon Watkins' death. In 1946 Calfee and a group of artists affiliated with the school were asked to form the first art department faculty at American University for which he served as its department head until 1954.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for the transcription of this interview provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Women's Committee.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript available on-line at http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/brown95.htm
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


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 33 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Arts administrators -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Educators -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women arts administrators Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women educators Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculptors -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, Modern Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art Schools -- Washington (D.C.) Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Knaths, Karl, 1891-1971 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Watkins, Law Bradley Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Acheson, Alice Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cross, Bernice Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Groves, George Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Phillips, Marjorie, 1895-1985 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
West, Hal, 1902-1968 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Marin, John, 1870-1953 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gates, Robert Franklin, 1906-1982 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme, 1896-1986 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Crosby, Caresse, 1892- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tworkov, Jack Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Taylor, Prentiss, 1907-1991 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Noland, Kenneth, 1924-2010 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Phillips Studio House Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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