Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Richard Haas Papers, 1937-2012, bulk 1970-2012, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.haasrich
Creators:
Haas, Richard, 1936-
Dates:
1937-2012
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
6 Linear feet
Repository:
The Richard Haas papers measure 6 linear feet and are dated 1937 to 2012, bulk 1970-2012. His work and career as a muralist, printmaker, and educator are documented by correspondence, writings, printed material, sketchbooks, and photographs.

Scope and Content Note

Scope and Content Note
The Richard Haas papers measure 6 linear feet and are dated 1937 to 2012, bulk 1970-2012. His work and career as a muralist, printmaker, and educator are documented by correspondence, writings, printed material, sketchbooks, and photographs.
Haas's correspondence relates to commissions, exhibitions, lectures, publications, teaching, and other professional activities. Correspondents include clients, galleries, professional organizations, critics, artists, architects and others. Also found is small amount of personal correspondence. Writings and notes by Haas include artist's statements, notes, lectures, a travel diary, papers and class notes from his undergraduate and graduate student days. Writings about him are a New Museum exhibition catalog text and a student paper. Subject files relate to Haas's professional activities and interests. They document exhibitions and projects, relationships with galleries, membership and participation in various organizations, and routine business matters. Sketchbooks (17 volumes) contain drawings, sketches, and a few watercolors, along with scattered writings and notes.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1990, 2009 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1964-2008 (Box 1; 1 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1954-2012 (Box 2; 0.8 linear feet)
  • Series 4: Subject Files, 1970-2011 (Boxes 2-4; 2.2 linear feet)
  • Series 5: Printed Material, 1956-2012 (Boxes 5-6; 1.2 linear feet)
  • Series 6: Artwork, 1954-2005 (Box 6; 0.1 linear feet)
  • Series 7: Sketchbooks, 1976-2009 (Box 6; 0.5 linear feet)
  • Series 8: Photographs, 1937-2006 (Box 6; 0.1 linear feet)

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Richard Haas (b. 1936) is a mural painter of "architecture of illusion," his term describing the trompe l'oeil architectural subjects for which he is best known. His work as a printmaker also focuses on architecture, with iconic buildings of New York and other cities serving as subject matter. Hass is also an educator who has taught painting and printmaking at University of Minnesota, Michigan State University, Bennington College in Vermont, and School of Visual Arts in New York City.
During World War II, the Haas family moved from Spring Green, Wisconsin to Milwaukee. As a teenager, Richard spent two summers working with his great uncle, a master stone mason employed by Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin. He proved to be less interested in stonework than in exploring Wright's library and watching the young architects draw. He considered becoming an architect, but eventually concluded the artistic side of architecture was more attractive than the day to day work of an architect.
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (B.S., 1959), Hass worked as an art teacher in a Milwaukee high school. He attended graduate classes at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee where visiting artist Jack Tworkov was his teacher. At the University of Minnesota (M.F.A., 1964), Haas studied with Peter Busa and Malcolm Myers. As an assistant professor at Michigan State University from 1964 to 1968, Haas's colleagues included Angelo Ippolito and Charles Pollock, and he met a number of important artists and critics who visited the campus. Haas moved to New York City in 1968 and soon accepted a part-time position teaching printmaking at Bennington College. He commuted weekly between New York and Vermont for the next decade.
During the 1960s Haas was a Color-field painter. He also continued making etchings and lithographs, and by 1970 several galleries were selling his architectural prints. His first outdoor mural, painted in the So Ho section of New York City in 1975, attracted attention and commissions followed. Mural commissions include: Boston Architectural Center (1977); Edison Bothers Store, Inc., St. Louis (1984); Home Savings of America, multiple locations in Florida and California (1990-1991); City of Huntsville, Texas (1991); Federal Building and Courthouse, Kansas City, Kansas (1994); and Yorkville Mural, New York City (2004.)
Haas, who began exhibiting while still a student, has participated in a large number of group shows and enjoyed many solo exhibitions. He was elected a National Academician, National Academy of Design, was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship, and has been a MacDowell Fellow. Among other honors, Haas has received the American Institute of Architects Medal of Honor, New York City Municipal Art Society Award, Doris C. Freedman Award for Public Art, and the Jimmy Ernst Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Mr. Haas, who works in New York City, is represented by David Findlay, Jr. Gallery. His wife, Katherine Sokolnikoff, is a sculptor and arts administrator; they live in Yonkers, New York.

Administration

Author
Catherine S. Gaines
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Donated by Richard Haas in 2012.
Processing Information
This collection was processed to a minimum level and a finding aid prepared by Catherine S. Gaines in 2012. The Archives of American Art has implemented minimal processing tactics when possible in order to increase information about and access to more of our collections. Minimal processing included arrangement to the series and folder levels. Generally, items within folders were simply verified with folder titles, but not arranged further. Folders within boxes were not numbered. The collection was rehoused in archival containers and folders, but not all staples and clips were removed.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Richard Haas papers, 1937-2012, bulk 1970-2012. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions on Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
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.

Related Material
An interview of Richard Haas conducted January 13 and March 16, 2009, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art's U.S. General Services Administration, Design Excellence and the Arts oral history project, at Haas' studio, in New York, N.Y.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Watercolors Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketchbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Travel diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Drawings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketches Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art -- Study and teaching Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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