Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Jeanne L. Wasserman

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.wasser93
Creators:
Wasserman, Jeanne L.
Brown, Robert F.
Dates:
1993-1994
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
5 Items
sound cassettes (7 hrs., 30 min.)
analog.
125 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Interview of Jeanne L. Wasserman, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Cambridge, MA from January 28, 1993-July 19, 1994.
Scope and Contents
Wasserman speaks of her parents' cultural interests; first becoming interested in sculpture after visiting a Rodin exhibition in Paris with her family; visiting art galleries and studying painting in New York City as a young woman; her education at Fieldston and Radcliffe; trying to get a job in New York after college; working in advertising; meeting her husband, Max, and building a business with him; beginning to collect art; putting together a collection for the condominium project, 180 Beacon; the opening of 180 Beacon; working on a condominium project in the Virgin Islands; curating sculpture exhibitions at the Fogg Museum and at Wellesley; writing the catalogue for a Daumier exhibition at the Fogg; serving on the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; organizing forums on contemporary art with the Council of the Arts at MIT; becoming involved with Harvard's Institute for Learning in Retirement; and notable purchases of work by Daumier, Rodin, Degas, Giacometti, de Chirico, Nicolas Schöffer, Henry Moore, and others. Wasserman also recalls Alfred Stieglitz, Peppino Mangravite, Elie Nadelman, Hyman Swetzoff, Joseph Hirshhorn, Erica Brausen, René and Charles Gimpel, Louise Nevelson, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Robert Indiana, Claes Oldenburg, Denise René, Yaacov Agam, George Rickey, George Segal, David Ross, Milena Kalinovska, Jacques de Caso, Yulla Lipchitz, Vera List, Jim Cuno, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Jeanne L. Wasserman, (1915-2006) was a museum curator and art collector from Boston, 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.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
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.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 12 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art museum curators -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art museums -- Massachusetts Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Agam, Yaacov, 1928- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Beale, Arthur Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cook, Christopher Capen, 1932- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Coolidge, John, 1913-1995 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hyde, Andrew C. (Andrew Cornwall), 1941- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Indiana, Robert, 1928-2018 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mangravite, Peppino, 1896- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Messer, Thomas M. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Oldenburg, Claes, 1929- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Plaut, James S. (James Sachs), 1912-1996 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Prokopoff, Stephen S. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rickey, George Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ross, David A., 1949- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Saint-Phalle, Niki de, 1930-2002 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Thurman, Sue M., 1927-2012 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tinguely, Jean, 1925- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wasserman, Max, 1913-1986 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fogg Art Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, Mass.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- Art collections Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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