Scope and Contents
An oral history interview with A. Alfred Taubman 2013 June 6-July 13, conducted by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art and the Center for the History of Collecting in America at the Frick Art Reference Library of The Frick Collection.
Scope and Contents
Taubman speaks of growing up in Pontiac; Michigan, his love of drawing; attending the University of Michigan; his early interest in architecture; collecting stamps; his father's involvement with farming; importance of learning drawing; his experiences with dyslexia; moving to Detroit and having kids; collecting artwork; meeting artists and dealers; his involvement with the Detroit Institute of Arts; financial troubles in Detroit; Detroit history; Josef Hoffmann furniture; his time in jail; Sotheby's financial trouble and selling works of art; his children and grandchildren; his houses; displaying artwork; his interest in sculpture; the competition of collecting; sculptures in shopping malls; his friendship with Roy and Dorothy Lichtenstein; collecting artwork and working with William R. Acquavella; his time owning Sotheby's and its impact on collecting; missing out on purchasing a blue period Picasso; collecting in depth and types of work he doesn't often collect; Russian artwork; Ms. Taubman's collecting interests; his time on the board of the Whitney Museum of American Art; working with I.M. Pei; commissioning Richard Meier to build a house; and changes that he brought to Sotheby's. Taubman also recalls Carlos Lopez, Reva Kolodney, Barbara Fleischman, Bill Poplack, Richard Bellamy, Leo Castelli, Green Gallery, Henry Geldzahler, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark di Suvero, James Rosenquist, OK Harris Gallery, Antoine Poncét, Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Detroit Institute of Arts, Coleman Young, Richard Gerstl, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Michael Graves, Jean Arp, John Chamberlain, College for Creative Studies, Sam Sachs, Arman, Crutchfield, Paul von Ringelheim, Roy Lichtenstein, Seymour Evans, Richard Feigen, Illeana Sonnabend, Larry Gagosian, Pablo Picasso, Niarchos, Balthus, Edward Hopper, Marsha Miro, Tom Armstrong, I.M. Pei, Vincent Ponte, and Richard Meier.
