Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Jacob Kainen Papers, 1905-2009, bulk 1940-2001, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.kainjaco
Creators:
Kainen, Jacob
Kainen, Ruth Cole (1922-2009)
Dates:
1905-2009
bulk 1940-2001
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
33.3 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of painter, printmaker, and curator Jacob Kainen measure 33.3 linear feet and date from 1905 to 2009, with the bulk of the material from 1940-2001. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence/subject files including personal correspondence to and from friends and family members and professional correspondence and records concerning Kainen's activities as an artist, curator, teacher, and art collector. The collection also contains biographical material, writings, diaries, calendars, inventories, interview transcripts, printed material, photographs, works of art by other artists, and nine scrapbooks.

Scope and Content Note

Scope and Content Note
The papers of painter, printmaker, and curator Jacob Kainen measure 33.3 linear feet and date from 1905 to 2009, with the bulk of the material from 1940-2001. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence/subject files including personal correspondence to and from friends and family members and professional correspondence and records concerning Kainen's activities as an artist, curator, teacher, and art collector. The collection also contains biographical material, writings, diary and journal entries, calendars, inventories, interview and "dialog" transcripts, printed material, photographs, works of art by other artists, and nine scrapbooks.
Biographical materials include items concerning Kainen's career as a curator and artist, in addition to a useful bibliography, detailed biographical outline, and a copy of an FBI report compiled on him. Also included are five videocassette recordings of Kainen.
Alphabetical correspondence/subject files comprise the bulk of the collection and include both Jacob's and Ruth's correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, artists, art critics, curators, museums, arts organizations, galleries, and many others. There is a significant amount of correspondence with David Acton, the Addison Gallery of Art and Jock Reynolds, William Agee, Australian National Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art, Avis Berman, the British Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Elizabeth Broun and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bryce Butler, Pheobe Cole, the Corcoran Gallery and School of Art, Richard Field, Ruth Fine, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Newton Frohlich, Gordon Gilkey and the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Arshile Gorky, Piri Halesz, Carol Harrison, Donald Holden, Wilhelmina Holladay, John Baptist Jackson, Jim Jordon, Lou Kantor, Harry Lunn Jr., Middendorf Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Peter Morse, Gerald Nordland, Francis O'Connor, Jerome Pollack, Richard Powell, Ann Purcell, Harry Rand, Martin Ries, Joseph Solman, Leo Steinberg, Prentiss Taylor, Victorino Tejera, Valerie Thornton, Joanne Weber, and numerous family members.
Writings are by and about Jacob Kainen. Kainen's writings include articles, lectures, exhibition catalog essays, notes, travel notebooks, short stories, poems, and written statements about his artistic motivations and justifications. There are writings about Kainen by Avis Berman, Ruth Cole Kainen, and others. The bulk of the numerous diary entries are from Ruth Cole Kainen's diaries, many of which concern Jacob and their family. There are also annotated and revised diary entries. There is one folder of diary entries and one folder of journal entries by Jacob Kainen and two dismantled journal-like notebooks. The papers include daily calendars and travel itineraries from 1972 through 2001.
The papers include transcripts of formal interviews and informal conversations with Jacob Kainen. Transcripts are of informal dinner, telephone, and general conversations between friends, colleagues, artists, and Ruth Cole Kainen. Included are conversations with Avis Berman, Walter Hopps, Harry Rand, Joshua Taylor, and several others. Many of these transcripts were also annnotated by Jacob and Ruth Kainen. Also found are numerous transcripts of more formal interviews with Kainen by art historians, art critics, and students.
There are inventories, appraisals, and lists of sold and not sold paintings, as well as color photographs of some of Kainen's works of art. Also found are inventories of the Kainens' art collection. Printed materials include Kainen's exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings of articles by and about Jacob Kainen, and an exhibition guestbook.
Photographs are of Kainen with his family and friends, at exhibition openings, and working in his studios. Works of art by others includes handmade greeting cards, limited edition prints, and portfolios given to Jacob Kainen. Nine scrapbooks containing news clippings and exhibition publications document the entirety of Kainen's career as an artist.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The Jacob Kainen papers are arranged into 11 series.
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-2001 (Boxes 1, 32; 0.8 linear feet)
  • Series 2: Correspondence/Subject Files, 1936-2003 (Boxes 1-12, 32-33; 11.8 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Writings, circa 1920s-2002 (Boxes 12-13, 33; 1.6 linear feet)
  • Series 4: Diaries, circa 1952-2002 (Boxes 13-18, 33-38; 10.0 linear feet)
  • Series 5: Calendars, 1953-2008 (Boxes 18-20, 38; 1.7 linear feet)
  • Series 6: Transcripts, circa 1975-1994 (Boxes 20-21, 38; 1.4 linear feet)
  • Series 7: Inventories, 1927-2001 (Boxes 21-22; 1.0 linear feet)
  • Series 8: Printed Material, 1938-2003 (Box 22, 38, OV 31; 0.6 linear feet)
  • Series 9: Photographs, 1905-2000 (Boxes 22-25, 38, OV 31; 3.3 linear feet)
  • Series 10: Works of Art by Others, 1942-2000 (Boxes 25-26, OV 31; 1.2 linear foot)
  • Series 11: Scrapbooks, 1936-1998 (Boxes 27-30, 38; 1.3 linear feet)

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Jacob Kainen (1909-2001) was a painter, printmaker, and curator who worked primarily in Washington, D.C.
Born on December 7, 1909 in Waterbury, Connecticut, Jacob Kainen moved with his family to New York City in 1918. Kainen studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from 1927 until 1930, and at the Art Student's League. In the early 1930s, Kainen became involved in social causes and formed close friendships with the early abstractionists, including John Graham, Arshile Gorky, and Stuart Davis. He joined the Artists' Union and a contributor to its journal, Art Front, along with Stuart Davis and Harold Rosenberg. Jacob's participation in the Artists' Union was later investigated by the FBI.
From 1935 until 1942, Kainen worked for the Graphic Arts Division of the Works Progress Administration in New York City and began exhibiting with the New York School. It was during this period that he married Bertha Friedman. Jacob and Bertha had two sons together, Dan and Paul, and divorced in 1968.
In 1942, Kainen made a life-changing decision to leave New York City and move to Washington, D.C. to accept what he thought would be a temporary position as a scientific aide in the Division of Graphic Arts at the Smithsonian Institution. Kainen quickly became Assistant Curator and Curator in 1946. He served as Curator for twenty years, completely reshaping the department and building the graphic arts collection. His print exhibitions brought the work of S.W. Hayter, Josef Albers, Adja Yunkers, Louis Lozowick, Karl Schrag, José Guerrero, Louis Schanker, Werner Drewes, and Boris Margo to Washington audiences - graphic work that might not have been shown that early in the area.
1947 marked the opening of the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts, where Kainen served as a teacher and guide to several important artists, helping to make the workshop a magnet for new talent and instrumental in furthering the careers of several artists. Although Kainen taught Gene Davis and Alma Thomas and introduced Morris Louis to Leon Berkowitz, he never considered himself a member of the "Washington Color School."
In 1949, the Corcoran Gallery of Art held a retrospective of Kainen's prints and three years later Kenneth Noland organized Kainen's first painting retrospective at Catholic University. Kainen's paintings from the 1940s illustrated a shift away from social realism toward abstract expressionism. In 1956, Jacob Kainen received a grant from the American Philosophical society to conduct research in Europe for his monograph on the English woodcut artist, John Baptist Jackson. He traveled to Europe again in 1962 to study paintings and prints from the Mannerist Period.
From 1966 until 1970, Kainen worked as the Curator of prints and drawings at the National Collection of Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum). He married Ruth Cole in February of 1969. Kainen retired from the Smithsonian a year later to devote himself full-time to his art, but continued to serve as a special consultant to the Smithsonian American Art Museum for nineteen years. In 1971 and 1972, Kainen taught painting and the history of printmaking at the University of Maryland. A retrospective of Kainen's paintings was held in 1993 at the National Museum of American Art (SAAM).
Throughout his artistic career, Kainen experimented with different mediums and explored different styles, yet he identified himself as a painter. Jacob Kainen participated in at least twenty-five one man shows and several group exhibitions. His works are in collections across the United States and abroad, including the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the British Museum. He worked in his studio up until the time of his death on March 19, 2001 at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Administration

Author
Rachel Edford and Erin Kinhart
Separated Material
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 565, 2147-2149, and 2200) including correspondence, writings by Kainen, and papers relating to the Smithsonian Institution Loyalty Board's investigation of Jacob Kainen from 1942-1954. Most, but not all, of the loaned materials were included in later gifts. Loaned materials not donated at a later date remain with the lender and are not described in the container listing of this finding aid.
Provenance
Jacob and Ruth Kainen first lent the Archives of American Art material for microfilming from 1973-1981, the bulk of which was included in the later gifts. Papers were then donated in multiple accretions between 1981-2007 by Jacob and Ruth Kainen, and in 2009 from the estate of Ruth Kainen via executor Teresa Covacevich Grana. Also in 2003, eight photographs of Jacob and Ruth Kainen were transferred from the National Portrait Gallery to the Archives of American Art.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Rachel Edford in 2003 with funding provided by the Judith Rothschild Foundation. Later additions were processed and merged with the collection and the finding aid was updated by Erin Kinhart in 2015-2016 and in 2018 by Ryan Evans.
Existence and Location of Copies
Portions of the collection and material lent for microfilming are available on 35mm microfilm reels 565, 2147-2149, 2200 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
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
Jacob Kainen papers, 1905-2008, bulk 1940-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Related Material
Found among the holdings of the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview of Jacob Kainen conducted by Avis Berman in 1982 for the Archives' "Mark Rothko and His Times" oral history project. Also found are microfilm copies of Bertha Kainen's correspondence with Avis Berman regarding Berman's essay about Jacob Kainen.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Painters -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painting, Modern -- Washington (D.C.) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painting, Abstract -- Washington (D.C.) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Transcripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Videotapes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Visitors' books Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Artists' studios -- Photographs Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Curators -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Washington (D.C.) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art teachers -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lectures Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printmakers -- Washington (D.C.) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Prints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Greeting cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Acton, David, 1953- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Addison Gallery of American Art Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jordon, Jim Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Agee, William C. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Butler, Bryce Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tejera, V. ((Victorino)) Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
O'Connor, Francis V. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brooklyn Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kalonyme, Louis Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Australian National Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hopps, Walter Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Frohlich, Newton, 1936- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Powell, Richard J., 1953- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cole, Phoebe Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Holladay, Wilhelmina Cole, 1922- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Broun, Elizabeth Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gilkey, Gordon Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fine, Ruth, 1941- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baltimore Museum of Art Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Middendorf Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Berman, Avis Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Thornton, Valerie Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Smithsonian American Art Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rand, Harry Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Corcoran School of Art (Washington, D.C.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Taylor, Joshua Charles, 1917- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fort Wayne Museum of Art Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Halasz, Piri Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lunn, Harry, 1933-1998 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jackson, John Baptist, 1701-1780? Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Harrison, Carol Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Purcell, Ann Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weber, Joanne Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Solman, Joseph, 1909-2008 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nordland, Gerald Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ries, Martin, 1926- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pollack, Jerome Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
National Gallery of Art (U.S.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Reynolds, Jock Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Steinberg, Leo Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Holden, Donald Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Taylor, Prentiss, 1907-1991 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Morse, Peter Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Corcoran Gallery of Art Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
British Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
Business Number: Phone: 202-633-7950
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions