Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Beverly Buchanan Papers, 1912-2017, bulk 1970s-1990s, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.buchbeve
Creators:
Buchanan, Beverly, 1940-
Dates:
1912-2017
bulk 1970s-1990s
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
18 Linear feet
34.2 Gigabytes
Repository:
The papers of African American sculptor, painter, and land artist Beverly Buchanan measure 18 linear feet and 34.2 gigabytes, and date from 1912 to 2017 with the bulk of the material dating from the 1970s to the 1990s. The collection contains biographical material, including audiovisual and born-digital interview recordings; correspondence; writings; and exhibition and project files, including audiovisual documentation from Bernice Steinbaum Gallery/Steinbaum Krauss Gallery. Material related to professional activities; personal business records; printed material, including born-digital and audiovisual records; scrapbooks; photographic material, including photograph albums; and artwork are also found in the collection.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The papers of African American sculptor, painter, and land artist Beverly Buchanan measure 18 linear feet and 34.2 gigabytes, and date from 1912 to 2017 with the bulk of the material dating from the 1970s to the 1990s. The collection contains biographical material, including audiovisual and born-digital interview recordings; correspondence; writings; and exhibition and project files, including audiovisual documentation from Bernice Steinbaum Gallery/Steinbaum Krauss Gallery. Material related to professional activities; personal business records; printed material, including born-digital and audiovisual records; scrapbooks; photographic material, including photograph albums; and artwork are also found in the collection.
The Beverly Buchanan papers contain biographical material including address books, calendars, awards and education certificates, identification documents, family history research material, and audiovisual and born-digital interview recordings; correspondence with friends and colleagues including Lucy Lippard and Lowery Stokes Sims, and with galleries and museums such as Bernice Steinbaum Gallery/Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, the Georgia Museum of Art, and the High Museum of Art. Also included are writings such as artist's statements, journals and notebooks, notes, and writings by others about Beverly Buchanan; exhibition and project files including audiovisual documentation from Bernice Steinbaum Gallery and Steinbaum Krauss Gallery of various exhibitions; material related to professional activities including teaching files and grant and fellowship applications; personal business records such as sales and consignment records; printed material including clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazines, posters, audiovisual and born-digital recordings, including A World of Art profile, and other published material; and scrapbooks, including one documenting Buchanan's City Walls series, containing primarily photographs and artwork with some printed material. The collection also contains photographic material including photographs, snapshots, negatives, and photograph albums; and artwork including sketchbooks, drawings, folded cardboard artwork, and illustrated cards.

Arrangement

Arrangement
This collection is arranged as ten series.
  • Series 1: Biographical Material, 1917-2015 (Box 1, Boxes 19-20, Box 24; 0.6 linear feet)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1919-1954, 1967-2017 (Boxes 1-2; 0.9 linear feet; ER01, 0.017 GB)
  • Series 3: Writings, 1960-circa 2009 (Boxes 2-3, Box 24; 0.7 linear feet)
  • Series 4: Exhibition and Project Files, 1974-2001, 2010-2017 (Boxes 3-4, Box 24, OV 21, FCs 22-23; 1.9 linear feet; ER02, 0.020 GB)
  • Series 5: Professional Activities, 1962, 1979-2005 (Box 4, Box 19, Box 24; 0.3 linear feet)
  • Series 6: Personal Business Records, 1966-2010 (Box 4; 0.3 linear feet)
  • Series 7: Printed Material, 1912, 1923-2014 (Boxes 4-7, Box 19, Box 25, OV 21; 3.9 linear feet)
  • Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1970-circa 1977 (Box 7, Box 20; 0.3 linear feet)
  • Series 9: Photographic Material, circa 1920s-2013 (Boxes 7-13, Boxes 16-18, Box 20; 8.8 linear feet; ER03, 1.03 GB)
  • Series 10: Artwork, 1956-2013, undated (Boxes 13-15, Box 20; 0.7 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015) was an African American sculptor, painter, and land artist in Macon, Georgia. Born in Fuquay, North Carolina and raised in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Buchanan studied medical technology at Bennett College before going on to earn two master's degrees in parasitology and public health from Columbia University in 1968 and 1969. Her artistic career began in 1971 when she enrolled in a class at the Art Students League in New York City taught by Norman Lewis. She moved to Georgia in 1977.
Buchanan is most well known for her "shack" sculptures and paintings, depictions of houses tied to Southern identity and memory.
Buchanan has been included in exhibitions at institutions such as Cinque Gallery, Truman Gallery, the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, GA, the Chrysler Museum, and a traveling retrospective exhibition organized by the Montclair Art Museum. Her work is included in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, High Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Beverly Buchanan has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Anonymous Was a Woman Award, and the Women's Caucus for Art lifetime achievement award, among others. She died in 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Administration

Author
Rayna Andrews
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Beverly Buchanan papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2018 by Jane Bridges, and in 2021 by Bridges and Susan Welsh, Buchanan's executors.
Processing Information
The collection was minimally processed and a finding aid prepared by Rayna Andrews in 2019 with funding from the Henry Luce Foundation. Born-digital materials were processed by Jess Purkis in 2019 and George Apodaca in 2021. The 2021 addition was processed in 2021 by Rayna Andrews with funding provided by the Roy Lichtenstein foundation.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Terms of Use
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Preferred Citation
Beverly Buchanan papers, 1912-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Sculptors -- Georgia Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Georgia Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Environmental artists -- Georgia Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Environment (Art) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women sculptors Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketchbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photograph albums Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Motion picture film Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bernice Steinbaum Gallery (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Steinbaum Krauss Gallery (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lippard, Lucy R. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sims, Lowery Stokes Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scott, Arden Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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