Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Barbara Rose Papers, 1962-circa 1969, at the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.rosebarb
Creators:
Rose, Barbara
Dates:
1962-circa 1969
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.4 Linear feet
Repository:
The Barbara Rose papers date from 1962 to circa 1969 and measure 1.4 linear feet. Papers include letters, writings, printed material, interviews with artists, panel discussions, and lectures relating to Barbara Rose's research as an art historian.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The Barbara Rose papers date from 1962 to circa 1969 and measure 1.4 linear feet. Papers include letters, interviews with artists, panel discussions, lectures, writings, and printed material relating to Barbara Rose's work as an art historian and critic.
Letters consist of responses to queries and questionnaires Rose and Irving Sandler sent to contemporary artists as research for writing projects. Questionnaires were sesnt in preparation for an article in
Art in America
on artists' sensibility of the 1960s, with responses from Robert Motherwell, Robert Craig Kauffman, Len Lye, Robert Morris, George Segal, David Hare, and others. A separate query asked sculptors for their assessment of contemporary sculptor's needs and the potential for patronage, and responses are found from Carl Andre, Charles Frazier, Robert Murray, Anthony Padovano, Ron Bladen, Roy Lichtenstein, Len Lye, Sol LeWitt, Heinz Mack, Otto Peine, Dan Flavin, and Donald Judd.
Interviews conducted by Rose between 1965 and circa 1969 are found with Richard Bellamy, Leo Castelli, James E. Davis, Henry Geldzahler, Ivan Karp, Lee Krasner, John Lefebre, John Myers, Donald Judd with Frank Stella, and Tom Wesselmann. All interviews include original sound recordings, and the Judd and Stella, Krasner, and Myers interviews include transcripts. Panel discussions and lectures include sound recordings and transcripts of seven events on a variety of contemporary art and architecture subjects held between 1962 and 1968. Sound recordings are present for five of the events on 10 sound tape reels, and transcripts are present for all events. Participants in the panel discussions and lectures include Barbara Rose, Ronald Davis, Dan Flavin, Robert Kauffman, John Harvey McCracken, Friedel Dzubas, Ansel Adams, Arthur Bierman, Kenneth Rexroth, Edward Taylor, Ernst Karl Mundt, John Bowles, Roy Dean De Forest, Seymour Locks, Walter Hopps, Mark Di Suvero, Donald Judd, Robert Morris, Kynaston McShine, Walter Darby Bannard, Donald Judd, Larry Poons, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Meier, Paul Rudolph, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Murray.
Writings include photocopied typescripts of "Myth, Symbol, or Me," by Emily Wasserman and "Excerpts from a Work Journal on Flying Sculpture," by Charles Frazier. Printed material consists of two copies of the premiere issue of the
57th Street Review
, from Nov. 15, 1966.

Arrangement

Arrangement
This collection is arranged as 4 series.
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Letters (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
  • Series 2: Interviews (0.6 linear feet; Box 1)
  • Series 3: Panel Discussions and Lectures (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
  • Series 4: Writings and Printed Material (0.1 linear feet; Box 2)

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Barbara Rose is an American art historian and critic who has published widely in the field of modern American art. Born in 1938 in Washington, DC, Rose studied at the Sorbonne, Smith College, Barnard, and finally, Columbia University under Meyer Shapiro. Rose became immersed in the New York-based circle of modernist artists and curators in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and made her substantial contribution to the discourse on contemporary art with the insider's perspective this afforded her. In 1961, she married the painter Frank Stella and they had two children before their divorce in 1969.
Rose taught at Yale University, Sarah Lawrence, University of California at Irvine and San Diego, and the American University Art in Italy program, and was senior curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, from 1981-1985. A prolific writer, Rose is the author of
American Art Since 1900
(1967),
The Golden Age of Dutch Painting
(1969),
American Painting: The 20th Century
(Skira, 1969), and monographs on the artists Magdalena Abankawicz, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Rauschenberg, Alexander Liberman, Larry Rivers, and others, as well as dozens of exhibition catalog essays. She held editorial positions at
Art in America
,
Vogue
,
Artforum
,
Partisan Review
, and
Journal of Art
, and her writing has also appeared in
Art International
,
Studio International
,
Arts Magazine
, and
ARTnews
, among many others.

Administration

Author
Megan McShea
Separated Materials
Additional papers of Barbara Rose are held by The Getty Research Institute.
Processing Information
This collection was processed in 2016 by Megan McShea.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated 1971-1977 by Barbara Rose.
Existence and Location of Copies
All of the sound recordings in this collection were digitized for research access in 2013 and are available at the Archives of American Art offices.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Barbara Rose papers, 1962-circa 1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Conditions Governing Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Related Materials
Barbara Rose papers, 1940-1993 (bulk 1960-1985) are located at The Getty Research Institute Special Collections.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Transcripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lectures Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, American Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dzubas, Friedel, 1915- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Davis, Ron, 1937- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Frazier, Charles Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Davis, Jim, 1901-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Geldzahler, Henry Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Flavin, Dan, 1933- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Di Suvero, Mark, 1933- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
De Forest, Roy, 1930-2007 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bierman, A. K., 1923- (Arthur Kalme) Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hopps, Walter Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bannard, Walter Darby, 1934- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bellamy, Richard Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Castelli, Leo Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hare, David, 1917-1992 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bladen, Ronald, 1918-1988 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bowles, John Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mack, Heinz, 1931- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Meier, Richard, 1934- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Andre, Carl, 1935- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rexroth, Kenneth, 1905-1982 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kauffman, Craig, 1932-2010 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Judd, Donald, 1928- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lichtenstein, Roy, 1923-1997 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
LeWitt, Sol, 1928-2007 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lefebre, John Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Murray, Robert, 1936- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Padovano, Anthony Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wesselmann, Tom, 1931-2004 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Myers, John Bernard Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Poons, Larry Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Morris, Robert, 1931-2018 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
McCracken, John, 1934-2011 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rose, Barbara Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sandler, Irving, 1925- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Oldenburg, Claes, 1929- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mundt, Ernest Karl, 1905- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stella, Frank Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Taylor, Edward Silverstone Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Piene, Otto, 1928- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lye, Len, 1901-1980 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wasserman, Tamara E. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Locks, Seymour, 1919- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Segal, George, 1924-2000 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rudolph, Paul, 1918- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Motherwell, Robert Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
McShine, Kynaston Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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