Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Fairfield Porter

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.porter68
Creators:
Porter, Fairfield
Cummings, Paul
Dates:
1968 June 6
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
65 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Fairfield Porter conducted 1968 June 6, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Porter speaks of his family background and Harvard education; the Art Students League; his involvement with Marxism and his work as an art critic for "Art News" and "The Nation". He discusses his portrait commissions, his choice of subject matter, theories of realism versus abstraction and drawing versus color, and the role of the unconscious and the accidental in his art. He recalls Thomas Hart Benton, Jacques Maroger, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Walter Auerbach, Thomas B. Hess, Clement Greenberg, and Alex Katz.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) was a painter and critic from Southampton, N.Y.

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.
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 others.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 24 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art criticism -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art critics -- New York (State) -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- 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
Coryllis, Peter Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975 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
Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hess, Thomas B. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Katz, Alex, 1927- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Maroger, Jacques, 1884-1962 Personal 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