Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Sylvan Cole

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.cole00
Creators:
Cole, Sylvan
Berman, Avis
Dates:
2000 June-October
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
83 Pages
Transcript
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

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Prints -- Marketing Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Barnet, Will, 1911-2012 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Drewes, Werner, 1899-1985 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Florsheim, Richard A., 1916-1979 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Frankenthaler, Helen, 1928-2011 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hockney, David Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Johnson, Una E. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kainen, Jacob Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Levine, Jack, 1915-2010 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lewenthal, Reeves, 1909-1987 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lieberman, William Slattery, 1924- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Motherwell, Robert Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Associated American Artists Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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