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Archives of American Art
Oral history interview with Fairfield Porter
Summary
- Collection ID:
- AAA.porter68
- Creators:
-
Porter, FairfieldCummings, Paul
- Dates:
-
1968 June 6
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
65 PagesTranscript
- 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
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions