Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Colette Roberts Papers and Interviews with Artists, 1918-1971, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.robecoli
Creators:
Roberts, Colette, 1910-
Dates:
1918-1971
Languages:
The records are in
English
and
French
.
Physical Description:
10.2 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of New York City and Paris art historian, educator, and gallerist Colette Roberts measure 10.2 linear feet and date from 1918 to 1971. Papers include correspondence, writings, teaching records, project proposals, gallery records from Grand Central Moderns Gallery, clippings, Roberts' printed articles, press releases, exhibition catalogs, posters, photographs, and a few works of art on paper. Also found are 124 interviews with contemporary artists conducted by Roberts.

Scope and Content Note

Scope and Content Note
The papers of New York City and Paris art historian, educator, and gallerist Colette Roberts measure 10.2 linear feet and date from 1918 to 1971. Papers include correspondence, writings, teaching records, project proposals, gallery records from Grand Central Moderns Gallery, clippings, Roberts' printed articles, press releases, exhibition catalogs, posters, photographs, and a few works of art on paper. Also found are 124 interviews with contemporary artists conducted by Roberts.
Significant correspondents include Sam Adler, Erwin Barrie, Hubert Damisch, George Deem, Mesdames de Harting and de Tinan, Lamar Dodd, Hélène Drude (Le Point Cardinal gallery), Arne Ekstrom, Albert M. Fine (Fluxus artist), Iqbal Geoffrey, R.G. Gilllet, Adolph Gottlieb, Cleve Gray, Leon Hartl, Jennett Lam, Alberto Cifolelli Lamb, Mike Nevelson, Norman Norotzky, Jacqueline Pavlowsky, Abe Rattner, Ad Reinhardt, H. Sandberg, Philippe Stern, Russell Twiggs, and Zuka.
Writings by Roberts include manuscripts and articles about artists, writings about her own art, personal writings, working notes from interviews and classes, reviews, and translations between English and French.
Among the personal records are Robert's files relating to teaching, charitable activities, and exhibitions. Also found are gallery records from Grand Central Moderns Gallery, including artist résumés, a card file of artworks with provenance information, exhibition catalogs and announcements, membership records, posters, publicity, and sales records.
Printed materials in the collection include clippings, Roberts' printed articles, press releases, and other exhibition catalogs and announcements. Photographs are of Roberts, artists, including Ad Reinhardt, classes, art spaces, and works of art. A small number of artworks on paper are also found, including Fluxus art stamps and a printed picture of Ray Johnson stamped "DOUGHNUT FESTIVAL."
Documentation of interviews with artists conducted by Roberts includes a card index file, a few transcripts, and the original sound recordings. Most of the recordings are interviews with artists that Roberts created during a class she taught at New York University between 1957 and 1971 called "Meet the Artist," including Mary Bauermeister, Romare Bearden, Dorothy Dehner, John Ferren, Ray Johnson, Ivan Karp, Thérèse Le Prat, Richard Lindner, Marisol, Seong Moy, Brian O'Doherty, Man Ray, Ethel Schwabacher, Hedda Sterne, Marie Helena Vieira da Silva, and many others. In preparation for magazine articles, Roberts conducted more extensive interviews with Chryssa, Marcel Duchamp, Adolph Gottlieb, and Louise Nevelson. A few of the recordings of Marcel Duchamp were not created by Roberts. In all, over 100 artists are represented in Roberts' interviews. Other recordings found include lectures and interviews conducted by people other than Roberts.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Correspondence, 1918-1971 (Box 1, 0.5 linear feet)
  • Series 2: Notes and Writings, 1936-1970 (Box 1, 0.3 linear feet)
  • Series 3: Personal Records, 1944-1971 (Box 1-2, 11; 0.7 linear feet)
  • Series 4: Grand Central Moderns Gallery Records, 1952-1970 (Box 2-3, 11; 0.7 linear feet)
  • Series 5: Printed Material, 1938-1971 (Box 3-5, 11-12; 2.0 linear feet)
  • Series 6: Photographs, 1930-1971 (Box 5; 0.2 linear feet)
  • Series 7: Artwork, 1940-1969 (Box 5; 4 folders)
  • Series 8: Interviews with Artists, 1959-1971 (Box 5-10; 5.5 lienar feet)

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Colette Roberts was a French artist, curator, gallery director, and scholar who emigrated to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City and remaining there until her death in 1971.
Roberts was born in Paris, France in 1910. She studied art with Roger Bissière at the Académie Ranson and with Henry Focillon at the Ecole du Louvre, and she later attended the Institut d'Art et Archeologie at the Sorbonne. Roberts came to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City, and became an American citizen three years later. In her early years in the United States, Roberts lectured and wrote on art and literature, and was active in various war-relief organizations, raising money and organizing benefits for organizations such as the American Red Cross and UNICEF. She was the gallery director for the National Association of Women Artists' Argent Galleries from 1947 to 1949, secretary to the curator of Far Eastern Art at New York's Metropolitan Museum from 1950 to 1951, and art editor for "France Amérique," the French-language newspaper in New York, beginning in 1953.
Roberts became gallery director of the Grand Central Moderns Gallery (New York, NY) in 1952 and remained in that position until 1968, when the gallery closed. The gallery was opened in 1946 by Erwin S. Barrie of the Grand Central Galleries for the promotion of living American artists. Among the artists represented there were Jennett Lam and Seong Moy. During this period she was also an instructor at New York University and Queens College, teaching art history and contemporary art. In 1957, she began a course at New York University called "Meet the Artist," for which she took her classes to the studios of working artists to see and discuss their work. In the early 1960s, she began to tape record her interviews of artists for this course, a practice which continued until her death in 1971. In 1968, Roberts worked briefly as Gallery Director for the A.M. Sachs Gallery (New York, NY), and as an oral history interviewer for the Archives of American Art.
Roberts wrote extensively on contempoary art, including articles and monographs on Mark Tobey (1960, Grove Press), Louise Nevelson (1964, The Pocket Museum), and Marcel Duchamp. She was a regular contributor to Aujourd'hui and Art and Architecture magazines.

Administration

Author
Megan McShea
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc.
Provenance
The sound recordings and transcripts of interviews with artists, were donated by Colette Roberts in 1970. The remaining papers were donated by her son, Richard B. Roberts, in 1973.
Separated Material
A copy of a 1967 oral history with Adolf Gottlieb conducted by Dorothy Seckler for the Archives of American Art oral history program, which was found in Roberts' papers, has been returned to the Archives' oral history collection.
Alternative Forms Available
All of the sound recordings in this collection were digitized for research access in 2009-2010 and are available at the Archives of American Art offices. Researchers may view the original sound tape reels for the archival notations on them, but original reels are not available for playback due to fragility.
Processing Information
Interviews and papers were initially maintained as two separate collections, and Colette Roberts papers were loosely arranged and microfilmed upon accession on reels 2743-2745 and 3471; the microfilm is no longer in circulation. The recordings were digitized for preservation and access in 2009 and 2010. Papers were integrated with the recordings, and the entire collection was re-processed by Megan McShea in 2010.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Colette Roberts papers and interviews with artists, circa 1930-1971. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions on Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment. 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.

Related Material
Additional papers and recordings of Colette Roberts are held by Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Transcripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Reviews (documents) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Articles Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Notes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manuscripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art -- Study and teaching Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fluxus (Group of artists) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Marisol, 1930-2016 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Moy, Seong Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chryssa, 1933- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Schwabacher, Ethel, 1903-1984 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
O'Doherty, Brian Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ray, Man, 1890-1976 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Grand Central Moderns (Gallery) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Johnson, Ray, 1927- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ferren, John, 1905-1970 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gottlieb, Adolph, 1903-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Le Prat, Thérèse Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York University -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lindner, Richard, 1901-1978 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Le Point Cardinal (Gallery) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
British Broadcasting Corporation Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bauermeister, Mary, 1934- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967 -- Photographs Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sterne, Hedda, 1910- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Vieira da Silva, Maria Helena, 1908-1992 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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