Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with James Penney

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.penney81
Creators:
Penney, James, 1910-1982
Brown, Robert F.
Dates:
1981 August 21-December 6
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
2 Items
sound tape reels (3 hr., 9 min.)
79 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Interview of James Penney, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Clinton, New York, on August 21 and December 6, 1981.
Scope and Contents
Penney speaks of growing up in Missouri and Kansas; taking art classes at the University of Kansas; moving to New York during the Depression to pursue his art career; studying at the Art Students League; meeting his first wife, Frances Avery; exhibiting his paintings in New York; visiting museums; mural painting with the WPA; working for the Jordanoff Aviation Corporation during World War II; teaching at Bennington, the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, and Hamilton College; and some of his paintings, including An Epidemic Next Year; Workers in the Snow, Central Park; The Bombed City, 1939; and Rock of Versailles. Penney also recalls Karl Mattern, Raymond Eastwood, Albert Bloch, Randall Brubaker, Chris Ritter, Jackson Pollock, Thomas Hart Benton, George Grosz, Moses Soyer, Stuart Davis, Burgoyne Diller, Bill Palmer, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
James Penney (1910-1982) was a painter and educator.

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 is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are 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 others.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 9 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Educators -- New York (State) -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Grosz, George, 1893-1959 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Soyer, Moses, 1899-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art Students League (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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