Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Charles R. Strong

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.strong98
Creators:
Strong, Charles, 1938-
Karlstrom, Paul J.
Dates:
1998 March 14-30
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
58 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Charles Strong conducted 1998 March 14 and 30, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in Karlstrom's home, San Francisco, California.
Scope and Contents
Strong discusses his background and early years growing up in Greeley, Colorado; his interest in California and abstract expressionism leading him to enroll at San Francisco Art Institute; his experience at SFAI, including teachers, students, and the independence to develop his own direction; New York vs. San Francisco styles and the myth of west coast abstraction imitating New York; his reasons for staying in California; main influences in his art; his admiration for the Old Master artists; the resolution of the conflict between control and intuition on his own work; the differences between northern and southern California abstraction, and the central role of Bay Area abstraction in the west; and his early work. The interview concludes with Strong's accounts of his approach and goals, his imagery, and his ongoing desires to get at what he sees as the "essence" of Abstract Expressionism.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Charles Strong (1938- ) is a curator, painter, and graphic artist of San Francisco, California.

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 available on line
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 administrators. Funding for this interview is provided by The Martin Foundation.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 49 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Artists -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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