Oral history interview with Thurston and Sharon Twigg-Smith

Scope and Contents

An interview with Thurston and Sharon Twigg-Smith conducted 2013 April 21-May 25, by Marcia Morse, for the Archives of American Art at the Twigg-Smith's home in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Scope and Contents

Thurston and Sharon Twigg-Smith speak of the Hawaiian Eye; Contempo; Yale Art Gallery; how they began collecting; stamp collecting; moving; the Spalding House; family; the Advertiser; World War II; art in Hawaii; Frank Stella, Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud; Pergussa Three; Georgia O'Keeffe; donating works; buying back works; Honolulu Museum of Art; prints; local art; Twin Farms; Serious Fun; Bay Area artists; changes in the art world, fundraising; the IRS, taxes; donating art; artists in the family; making art; family interest in art; Giclee prints; the pink house; collecting and connecting; Persimmon Puzzles; bidding on works; relationships with dealers; Ed Ruscha; Cy Twombly; Artists of Hawaii; docent work; collecting; John Singer Sargent; and Andrew Rose Gallery. The Twigg-Smiths also recall Laila Roster, Graham Salisbury, Carol Salisbury, Pat Gottfried, Jack Newton, Jacques Reynolds, Sherry Pierce, and Eli Broad.

Biographical / Historical

Thurston Twigg-Smith (1921-2016) is a retired newspaper publisher, philanthropist, and art collector in Honolulu, Hawaii. His wife, Sharon Twigg-Smith (1944- ) is an artist, curator, and art collector in Honolulu, Hawaii. Marcia Morse (1944- ) is an artist and arts writer in Kailua, Hawaii.