Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Rosalyn Drexler

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.drexle17
Creators:
Drexler, Rosalyn
Lyon, Christopher
Dates:
2017 May 17-June 2
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
82 Pages
Transcript
5 Items
Sound recording: 5 sound files (3 hr., 26 min.)
digital, wav
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview with Rosalyn Drexler conducted 2017 May 17 and June 2 by Christopher Lyon, for the Archives of American Art, at Garth Greenan Gallery in New York, New York.
Scope and Contents
Drexler discusses her childhood in the Bronx; her experiences studying dance and music; her higher education at Hunter College; attending films and the Yiddish Theater; meeting her husband Sherman Drexler; her time as a professional wrestler; her memories of traveling to the South and encountering Jim Crow segregation; she describes learning about art from Sherman Drexler and her joint exhibition with Sherman; her early work in sculpture; participating in Happenings with Jim Dine; joining Anita Reuben's gallery; her debut as a playwright; her experience writing "I am the Beautiful Stranger;" the changing public perception of her and being classified as an artist; her decision to become a painter and appropriating images for her work; the influence of S. J. Perelman on her plays; her play about Joseph Cornell and ballerina Allegra Kent, and interviewing Allegra Kent; her recent artwork and preparing for her 2017 show at Garth Greenan Gallery; her artwork from the 1980s and 1990s; her comedy writing and sense of humor. Drexler also recalls Chico Marx, Jack Newfield, Igor Youskevitch, Ivan Karp, Anita Reuben, Lucas Samaras, Richard Gilman, Al Carmines, Amiri Baraka, Barbara Ann Teer, Franz Kline, Elaine De Kooning, Bill de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Jack Kroll, Lawrence Alloway, Tom Hess, Barney Newman, Harold Rosenberg, Susan Sontag, Joe Hirshhorn, Henry Geldzahler, Donald Barthelme, Kornblee Gallery, Eva Hesse, Tom Doyle, William Klein, Marilyn Monroe, Alex Katz, Alice Neel, Basquiat, Saturday Night Live, and Lenny Bruce, among others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Rosalyn Drexler (1926- ) is a sculptor, playwright, and novelist in New York, New York. Christopher Lyon (1949- ) is a writer in Brooklyn, New York.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for this interview was provided by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
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

System Details
Recorded on tascam 100MKII 022546.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Women wrestlers Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Segregation -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Playwrights -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women sculptors Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Happenings (Art) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Alloway, Lawrence, 1926-1990 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baraka, Amiri, 1934-2014 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Barthelme, Donald Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Basquiat, Jean-Michel, 1960-1988 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bruce, Lenny Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carmines, Al Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cornell, Joseph Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
De Kooning, Elaine Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dine, Jim, 1935- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Doyle, Tom Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Drexler, Sherman Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Geldzahler, Henry Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gilman, Richard, 1923-2006 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hess, Thomas B. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hesse, Eva, 1936-1970 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hirshhorn, Joseph H. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Katz, Alex, 1927- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kent, Allegra Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Klein, William Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kline, Franz, 1910-1962 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kroll, Jack Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Marx, Chico, 1887-1961 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Monroe, Marilyn, 1926-1962 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Neel, Alice, 1900-1984 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Newman, Barry Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Perelman, S. J. (Sidney Joseph), 1904-1979 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Samaras, Lucas, 1936- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sontag, Susan, 1933-2004 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Teer, Barbara Ann, 1937-2008 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Youskevitch, Igor, 1912-1994 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Garth Greenan Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hunter College -- Students Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kornblee Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Reuben Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions