Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with S. Morton Vose

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.voses86
Creators:
Vose, S. Morton (Seth Morton), 1909-2007
Brown, Robert F.
Dates:
1986 July 24-1987 April 28
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
87 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of S. Morton Vose conducted 1986 July 24-1987 April 28, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Vose speaks of the pervasive effect of his family's art gallery upon his life; studying languages at Harvard College; his affiliation with the gallery from 1927 on; the increasing emphasis on American painting during his career at the Vose Gallery, and the gradual de-emphasis on European work. He reminisces about some Vose Gallery clients, especially Maxim Karolik, and some art dealers; he discusses a traveling exhibition he was involved in; he speaks of the gallery's relations with prominent museum personnel, such as William Reinhold Valentiner and E.P. Richardson. Vose also discusses the pitfalls of appraising art collections, his father's last years, and the firm's move, and his recent work on a dictionary of American painters. He recalls William Morris Hunt, Thomas Robinson, Leopold Seyffert, Catherine Morris Wright, Maxim Karolik, Elizabeth Paxton, Paul Sample, John Whorf, Hermann Dudley Murphy, Winslow Homer, James Fitzgerald, Arthur Healey, and many others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Seth Morton Vose (1909-2007) was an art dealer and art historian from Brookline, Massachusetts.

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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are part of the Archives' 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


Using the Collection

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

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 25 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art historians -- Massachusetts -- Brookline Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art dealers -- Massachusetts -- Brookline Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Karolik, Maxim Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Richardson, Edgar Preston, 1902-1985 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Paxton, Elizabeth Okie Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Robinson, Thomas V., 1938- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hunt, William Morris, 1824-1879 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sample, Paul, 1896-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Whorf, John, 1903-1959 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Murphy, Hermann Dudley, 1867-1945 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Seyffert, Leopold Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Vose Galleries of Boston Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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