Jacob Kainen papers

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

ArchivalResource

Jacob Kainen papers

1905-2009

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw974ec158d-d417-4d06-931d-44a4af17ab27

The papers of painter, printmaker, and curator Jacob Kainen measure 33.3 linear feet and date from 1905 to 2009, with the bulk of the material from 1940-2001. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence/subject files including personal correspondence to and from friends and family members and professional correspondence and records concerning Kainen's activities as an artist, curator, teacher, and art collector. The collection also contains biographical material, writings, diary and journal entries, calendars, inventories, interview and "dialog" transcripts, printed material, photographs, works of art by other artists, and nine scrapbooks.Biographical materials include items concerning Kainen's career as a curator and artist, in addition to a useful bibliography, detailed biographical outline, and a copy of an FBI report compiled on him. Also included are five videocassette recordings of Kainen. Alphabetical correspondence/subject files comprise the bulk of the collection and include both Jacob's and Ruth's correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, artists, art critics, curators, museums, arts organizations, galleries, and many others. There is a significant amount of correspondence with David Acton, the Addison Gallery of Art and Jock Reynolds, William Agee, Australian National Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art, Avis Berman, the British Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Elizabeth Broun and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bryce Butler, Pheobe Cole, the Corcoran Gallery and School of Art, Richard Field, Ruth Fine, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Newton Frohlich, Gordon Gilkey and the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Arshile Gorky, Piri Halesz, Carol Harrison, Donald Holden, Wilhelmina Holladay, John Baptist Jackson, Jim Jordon, Lou Kantor, Harry Lunn Jr., Middendorf Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Peter Morse, Gerald Nordland, Francis O'Connor, Jerome Pollack, Richard Powell, Ann Purcell, Harry Rand, Martin Ries, Joseph Solman, Leo Steinberg, Prentiss Taylor, Victorino Tejera, Valerie Thornton, Joanne Weber, and numerous family members. Writings are by and about Jacob Kainen. Kainen's writings include articles, lectures, exhibition catalog essays, notes, travel notebooks, short stories, poems, and written statements about his artistic motivations and justifications. There are writings about Kainen by Avis Berman, Ruth Cole Kainen, and others. The bulk of the numerous diary entries are from Ruth Cole Kainen's diaries, many of which concern Jacob and their family. There are also annotated and revised diary entries. There is one folder of diary entries and one folder of journal entries by Jacob Kainen and two dismantled journal-like notebooks. The papers include daily calendars and travel itineraries from 1972 through 2001.The papers include transcripts of formal interviews and informal conversations with Jacob Kainen. Transcripts are of informal dinner, telephone, and general conversations between friends, colleagues, artists, and Ruth Cole Kainen. Included are conversations with Avis Berman, Walter Hopps, Harry Rand, Joshua Taylor, and several others. Many of these transcripts were also annnotated by Jacob and Ruth Kainen. Also found are numerous transcripts of more formal interviews with Kainen by art historians, art critics, and students. There are inventories, appraisals, and lists of sold and not sold paintings, as well as color photographs of some of Kainen's works of art. Also found are inventories of the Kainens' art collection. Printed materials include Kainen's exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings of articles by and about Jacob Kainen, and an exhibition guestbook.Photographs are of Kainen with his family and friends, at exhibition openings, and working in his studios. Works of art by others includes handmade greeting cards, limited edition prints, and portfolios given to Jacob Kainen. Nine scrapbooks containing news clippings and exhibition publications document the entirety of Kainen's career as an artist.

eng,

Archives of American Art

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6630562

Archives of American Art

Related Entities

There are 22 Entities related to this resource.

Kainen, Ruth Cole.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6159383 (person)

Kainen, Jacob

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cg0fw3 (person)

b. December 7, 1909; d. March 19, 2001. From the description of Artist file : miscellaneous uncataloged material. (Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)). WorldCat record id: 122635676 Jacob Kainen (1909-2001) was a painter, printmaker, and curator from Washington, D.C. Studied at the Art Students League and Pratt Institute. Kainen died March 19, 2001, at age 91. He is survived by his widow, Ruth Kainen. From the description of Jacob Kainen papers,...

McNeil, George, 1908-1995

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6639rf2 (person)

George McNeil (1908-1995) was a painter and printmaker from New York, N.Y. From the description of Oral history interview with George McNeil, 1968 Jan. 9-1968 May 21 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 233007040 Painter, printmaker; New York, N.Y. Died 1995. From the description of George McNeil interviews, 1968 Jan. 9-1968 May 21 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220244497 George McNeil (1908-1995) was a painter and a print...

Rand, Harry, 1947-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63p2snf (person)

Harry Rand (1947-) is a Harvard College and University graduate, (B.A. 1971, Ph.D. 1974) and a curator of the Division of Political and Military History at the Smithsonian Institution. He served formerly as a senior curator of Cultural History at the National Museum of American History and a curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum....

Green, Bernard, 1908-1975

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m16n4p (person)

Bernie Green (1908-1975) was born Bernard Greenwald, and he became a music composer, conductor, and arranger. He graduated from NYU College of Fine Arts in 1932 and first became famous in the mid 1940s as director and composer for the "Henry Morgan Radio Show." Other radio shows he worked on were "The Fat Man" and "The Clock." He also wrote for 1950s television shows such as "Mr Peepers," "Ceasar's Hour," and "The Garry Moore Show." He also wrote music for the Miss Unive...

Ries, Martin, 1926-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n03c46 (person)

Painter, graphic artist, art historian; Scarsdale, N.Y. From the description of Martin Ries papers, 1942-1980. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122599633 ...

Smithsonian American Art Museum

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vf14fx (corporateBody)

Hayter, Stanley William, 1901-1988

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62v332b (person)

Printmaker, died in 1988. From the description of Stanley William Hayter interview, 1971 Mar. 11. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220178377 Stanley William Hayter (1901-1988) was a printmaker from Paris, France. From the description of Oral history interview with Stanley William Hayter, 1971 Mar. 11 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 495595039 ...

Phillips Collection

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6041vwk (corporateBody)

National Gallery of Art (U.S.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69638c2 (corporateBody)

Art museum; Washington, D.C. From the description of National Gallery of Art exhibition catalog, 1910. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122553233 ...

Griffiths, Antony

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63s3tfk (person)

Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rj4mx7 (person)

Frohlich, Newton, 1936-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rd0553 (person)

Portland art museum (Or.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6090wq3 (corporateBody)

Lapinski, Tadeusz, 1928-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xk9j94 (person)

Reynolds, Jock

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g17ft9 (person)

Baltimore museum of art

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h176j4 (corporateBody)

Berman, Avis.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60h6kqq (person)

Writer and art historian, Avis Berman lives and works in New York City. Berman was a close friend of Katharine Kuh's and is Kuh's literary executor. Berman compiled Katherine Kuh's research materials for the memoir that she was working on at the time of her death; the book was subsequently published as My Love Affair with Modern Art: Behind the Scenes with a Legendary Curator in 2006 . Katharine Kuh (1904-1994) was a curator and art dealer born in St. Louis, Missouri. Sh...

Addison Gallery of American Art.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6837qvw (corporateBody)

Broun, Elizabeth.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mg8g59 (person)

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Education Department

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69g9j48 (corporateBody)

Jacob Kainen

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63s3tg1 (person)

Jacob Kainen is remembered as painter, printmaker, teacher, curator, and collector. Born on December 7, 1909 in Waterbury, Connecticut, Kainen's family moved to New York City in 1918. Kainen studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from 1927 until 1930, and at the Art Student's League. In the early 1930s, Kainen became involved in social causes and formed close friendships with the early abstractionists, including John Graham, Ashile Gorky, and Stuart Davis. He joined the Artists'...