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Archives of American Art
Oral history interview with Max Spivak
Summary
- Collection ID:
- AAA.spivak63
- Creators:
-
Spivak, Max, 1906-1981Phillips, Harlan B. (Harlan Buddington), 1920-1979New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
- Dates:
-
circa 1965
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
58 PagesTranscript
- Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
An interview of Max Spivak conducted circa 1963, by Harlan Phillips, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Spivak speaks of how he went from being an accountant to doing art; moving to Paris for three years, and how this experience changed his life; the difference between painting in Europe and painting in America; moving back to New York; why he decided to leave Paris and move back to New York; the importance of intuitive feeling; his involvement with the Gibson Committee; how he and some members of the Gibson Committee thought of the WPA; his experiences with the PWAP at the Whitney Museum; picketing outside the Mirror; his and the other artists experiences with the Project; the development of the Artist Congress; the nature of art; his work on mosaic murals; how art started losing support from the government by the late thirties; doing murals for big companies; the waning moments of the Project. He recalls Arshile Gorky, Holger Cahill, Audrey McMahon, Lee Krasner, Harold Rosenberg, Harry Knight, Lou Block, and others.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Max Spivak (1906-1981) was a painter and designer in New York, N.Y.
Administration
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript available on-line at http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/spivak63.htm
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Digital Content
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
More Information
General
General
Originally recorded 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 32 min.
General
Interview date changed to circa 1965 because the blackout of November 1965 is discussed in the interview.
Keywords
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
Business Number: Phone: 202-633-7950
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions