Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with John Stephan

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.stepha86
Creators:
Stephan, John Walter, 1906-1995
Brown, Robert F.
Dates:
1986 May 20-1987 May 7
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
10 Items
Sound recording: 10 sound files (6 hr., 54 min.)
digital, wav
100 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Interview of John Walter Stephan, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, at Newport, Rhode Island, on May 20, 1986 and May 7, 1987.
Scope and Contents
Stephan speaks of Chicago childhood and adolescence; life during the Depression; the Art Institute of Chicago; the 1930s Chicago leftist movement; the WPA and PWAP; The Tiger's Eye art magazine; Rome artistic and literary society; the New York School of artists; Betty Parsons Gallery; the Surrealists; teaching at Fairleigh Dickenson University; Hunter College; and his critiques of Pop and contemporary artists. Stephan also recalls Ruth Walgreen, Dart Stephan, Rainey Bennett, Clyfford Still, Juan de Diego, Caleb Harrison, Aaron Bohrod, Dudley Crafts Watson, Jack Jones, George Constant, Connie Moran, CJ Bulliet, Rudolph Weisenborn, Inez Cunningham, Eva Watson-Schütze, Jesus Torres, Edgar Miller, Katherine Kuh, Increase Robinson, Peterpaul Ott, Mitchell Siporin, Raymond Breinin, Holger Cahill, John Fabian, Eddie Millman, Winn Nathanson, Fairfield Porter, Norman MacLeish, Ossip Zadkine, Betty Parsons, Alfonso Ossorio, Max Ernst, Julien Levy, Peggy Guggenheim, Bill de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Barney Newman, Nicolas Calas, Bob Motherwell, Monroe Wheeler, Myra Shapiro, Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, Alfred Knopf, Robert Flaherty, Jaime Sebartés, Frederick Kiesler, Robert Matta, Mario Praz, Bill Denby, Ben Johnson, Milton Gendel, Walter Auerbach, Jerry Wilhelm, Eugene Goossens, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
John Walter Stephan (1906-1995) was a painter.

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.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are 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


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 6 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 54 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art, Modern -- 20th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Great Depression Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York school of art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pop art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Surrealism Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bennett, Rainey Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bohrod, Aaron Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Breinin, Raymond, 1910- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bulliet, C. J. (Clarence Joseph), 1883-1952 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cahill, Holger, 1887-1960 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Calas, Nicolas Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Constant, George Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Coryllis, Peter Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cunningham, Inez Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
de Diego, Juan Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Denby, Bill Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ernst, Max, 1891-1976 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fabian, John Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Flaherty, Robert Joseph, 1884-1951 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gendel, Milton Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Goossen, E. C. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Guggenheim, Peggy, 1898-1979 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Harrison, Caleb Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Johnson, Ben Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jones, Jack Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kiesler, Frederick Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kline, Franz, 1910-1962 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Knopf, Alfred Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kuh, Katharine Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Levy, Julien Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
MacLeish, Norman, 1898-1949 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Matta, 1912-2002 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Miller, Edgar, 1899-1993 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Millman, Edward, 1907-1964 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Moran, Connie, 1898- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Motherwell, Robert Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nathanson, Winn Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ossorio, Alfonso, 1916-1990 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ott, Peterpaul, 1895-1992 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Parsons, Betty Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Porter, Fairfield Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Praz, Mario, 1896-1982 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Robinson, Increase, 1890-1981 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sebartes, Jaime Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Shapiro, Myra Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Siporin, Mitchell, 1910-1976 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stephan, Dart Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Still, Clyfford, 1904-1980 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Torres, Jesús Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Walgreen, Ruth Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Watson, Dudley Crafts, 1885- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Watson-Schütze, Eva, 1867-1935 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weisenborn, Rudolph, b. 1881 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wheeler, Monroe, 1899- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wilhelm, Jerry Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zadkine, Ossip Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art Institute of Chicago Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fairleigh Dickinson University -- Faculty Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Betty Parsons Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hunter College Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. Work Projects Administration Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Public Works of Art Project Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives of American Art
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Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
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