Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Phillip A. Bruno

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.bruno09
Creators:
Bruno, Phillip A.
McElhinney, James Lancel, 1952-
Dates:
2009 January 13-21
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
46 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Phillip A. Bruno conducted 2009 January 13-21, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art, at the Archives of American Art, in New York, New York.
Scope and Contents
Bruno speaks of some his earliest impressions of art while growing up in New York and Paris; attending Columbia University, where he majored in the history of painting and architecture and studied under Meyer Schapiro; his first job at the Weyhe Gallery as a gallery assistant; helping create the Grace Borgenicht Gallery, where he served as director for five years; traveling to Mexico, meeting Jose Cuevas and exhibiting his work at the Edward Loeb Gallery in Paris; traveling to Brazil and meeting a family of naturalist painters who emphasized the importance of painting outdoors, unlike many painters from the New York school; working with Henry Clews and the La Napoule Art Foundation; selling a piece of Salvador Dali jewelry made by Carlos Alamanni to Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy Magazine; working as director of The World House Gallery and selling works by Fancis Bacon and Max Ernst to clients such as Joseph Hirshhorn and Roy Neuberger; organizing a exhibition of artists shown at the Brussels World Fair in 1958 at World House and meeting George Staempfli through the artist Joan Brown; moving from World House to the Staempfli Gallery in 1960 to work as co-director; the Staempfli Gallery's role in the international art world; an original drawing by Leonard Baskin inscribed to Phillip in 1954; selling the work of artists such as Harry Bertoia, Fritz Koening, and David Park; meeting Henri Matisse in Paris at the age of 21; visiting the studios of Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko; the difference between galleries that can spot new talent and galleries that sell certain artists well; the art market becoming less idealistic and more commercial; the rising importance of auction houses and the possibility of their taking the place of traditional art galleries; the move of the Staempfli Gallery to the SoHo neighborhood and soon after, leaving Staempfli for Marlborough, where he was one of the New York directors for 18 years; his appreciation for the creativity of others, retirement and current plans to write his memoirs. Bruno also recalls Milton Avery, Gabor Peterdi, Hans Muller, Ralston Crawford, Randall Morgan, Charlotte Willard, Dorthy Satterlee, Masayuki Nagare, Claude Bemardin, Kubach-Wilmsen, Louise Nevelson, Cladio Bravo, Lopez Garcia, Alberto Giacometti, The Barnes Foundation, Richard Estes, Alex Katz, and Neil Wlliver.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Phillip A. Bruno (1930- ) is an art collector and director of Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for this interview was provided by the Widgeon Point Charitable Foundation. 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
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 discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 45 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gallery directors -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Avery, Milton, 1885-1965 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bacon, Francis, 1909-1992 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bertoia, Harry Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bravo, Claudio, 1936-2011 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brown, Joan, 1938-1990 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Clews, Henry, 1876-1937 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Crawford, Ralston, 1906-1978 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cuevas, José Luis, 1934- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ernst, Max, 1891-1976 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Estes, Richard, 1932- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hefner, Hugh M. (Hugh Marston), 1926- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hirshhorn, Joseph H. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Katz, Alex, 1927- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Koenig, Fritz, 1924- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kubach-Wilmsen, Anna Maria, 1937- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kubach, Wolfgang, 1936- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Matisse, Henri, 1869-1954 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Morgan, Randall, 1920- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nagare, Masayuki, 1923- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Neuberger, Roy R. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Park, David, 1911-1960 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Peterdi, Gabor Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Schapiro, Meyer, 1904- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Staempfli, George W. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Willard, Charlotte Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Barnes Foundation Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Columbia University -- Students Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Grace Borgenicht Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
La Napoule Art Foundation, Henry Clews Memorial Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Marlborough Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weyhe Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World House Galleries Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Exposition universelle et internationale (1958 : Brussels, Belgium) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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