A Finding Aid to the John Kearney papers, 1945-2016, in the Archives of American Art

Scope and Contents

The papers of John Kearney measure 2.7 linear feet and date from 1945-2016. The papers document Kearney's career as a sculptor through personal and professional correspondence, writings, project files and personal business files. Also found are printed materials and photographic material of Kearney and his artwork. Correspondence contains letters with friends, other artists, museums, galleries and city governments. Personal letters document Kearney's friendship with other artists including illustrated letters from Oreste DeQuel; letters regarding his summers in Provincetown and letters to his wife Lynn while Kearney was working in Rome. Professional correspondence relates to the appraisal, purchase and installation of Kearney's sculptures. Writings include biographical notes but primarily consist of writings by others on Kearney and his work, including a memorial service speech written by his daughter Jill Kearney, poems inspired by his sculptures and a page of an article draft on the artist.

Project files contain correspondence, photographic material, applications, planning documents, news clippings and exhibition catalogs detailing installations as well as individual sculptures Kearney worked on. Personal business records contain materials related to professional organizations Kearney participated in, exhibition planning, financial records and subject files on other artists. Documents include invoices, exhibition agreements, a Guggenheim application and materials such as correspondence and planning documents related to the Contemporary Art Workshop, of which Kearney was a co-founder. Printed material comprises a significant portion of the collection and is made up of exhibition announcements, press releases, posters, catalogs and news clippings. Finally, the photographic material series contains photographs of Kearney working and with his sculptures along with photographs of his artwork spanning his career.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged as six series.

Biographical / Historical

John Kearney (1924 –2014) was a Chicago, Illinois based sculptor best known for his sculptures of animals made out of car bumpers. Kearney studied art at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI, after serving four years in the Navy during World War II during which time he learned welding skills repairing naval vessels. He received a Fulbright scholarship to Italy in 1963 and was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome, in 1985, 1992, 1998 and 2003. In 1949 he co-founded the Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago, an organization dedicated to providing affordable studios and exhibition space for emerging and mid-career artists.

While based in Chicago, Kearney spent summers in Provincetown, MA and was a fixture of the artist community there, serving as a member of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and in the Beachcombers, a local club of artists and writers. His public sculptures can be found across Provincetown, as well as in Chicago and in many other cities across the country, including his well-known installation at Oz Park in Chicago of the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Scare Crow and Dorothy and Toto. Kearney also had numerous solo exhibitions and has shown in galleries and museums internationally and across the States, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Cherry Stone Gallery in Wellfleet, MA. A major retrospective of his work was mounted in 1994 at the Mitchell Museum in Mt. Vernon, IL.

Related Materials

Related materials include an Archives of American Art oral history interview with John Kearney, 2009 Mar. 12-13.