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Archives of American Art
Oral history interview with Sylvan Cole
Summary
- Collection ID:
- AAA.cole00
- Creators:
-
Cole, SylvanBerman, Avis
- Dates:
-
2000 June-October
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
83 PagesTranscript
- Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
An interview of Sylvan Cole conducted 2000 June-October, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
The interviews took place over five sessions in New York, New York. Cole discusses the history of Associated American Artists, the gallery for whom he began working in 1946, and its marketing techniques, customer base, and personalities, such as its founder, Reeves Lewenthal. He also traces his own development as a dealer in prints after he left AAA and recalls many artists and other figures in the art world, including Will Barnet, Werner Drewes, Richard Florsheim, Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Hans Hofmann, Edward Hopper, Una Johnson, Jacob Kainen, Jack Levine, William S. Lieberman, Robert Motherwell, and Raphael Soyer.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Sylvan Cole (1918-2005) was an art dealer and writer of New York, New York.
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.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript available on-line.
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 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 6 min.
General
Sound quality is fair; beginning and endings of tapes tend to be garbled and low.
Keywords
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions