Paul Outerbridge papers, 1915-1979 (bulk 1922-1958).

ArchivalResource

Outerbridge, Paul. Paul Outerbridge papers, 1915-1979 (bulk 1922-1958).

Paul Outerbridge papers, 1915-1979 (bulk 1922-1958).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/146001796

The archive constitutes the surviving body of papers relating to Outerbridge's artistic and professional life. Although a substantial portion of the archive is undated, the bulk can be situated between 1922, the year of Outerbridge's first published photographs, and his death in 1958. Included are approximately 250 letters to and from Outerbridge, primarily concerning the acquisition, exhibition, and publication of his work. Monthly diaries for four years detail his daily life in the 1920s and offer a glimpse of the artistic life of New York and Paris, the cities in which he lived at the time, with references to numerous artists including Alexander Archipenko, Man Ray, Edward Steichen, Marcel Duchamp, Berenice Abbott, Kiki de Montparnasse, and Constantin Brancusi. A large portion of the archive consists of Outerbridge's writings, which range from early poems to a draft and proof of his book to typescript drafts of articles, two with accompanying color transparencies and black and white photographs. Among the articles are drafts of every issue, from 1954 until his death, of Outerbridge's monthly column "About Color" for U.S. camera. Other articles describe travel destinations and profile individual artists such as landscape painter Bob Wood, Argentine painter Benito Quinquela Martín, and celebrity photographer Maurine Loomis. Also included are writings by others, primarily poems and brief excerpts, but also a typescript of a play by Alvan L. Barach. Preliminary sketches and drawings, a student notebook, and a teaching notebook provide insight into Outerbridge's creative process. Detailed notes, exposure records, cost analyses, and lighting diagrams document his working methods. The published results are contained in a two-volume scrapbook and a portfolio. With approximately 500 tear sheets from periodicals such as House beautiful, Vogue, Good housekeeping, Harper's bazaar, Popular photography, American photography, and U.S. camera, the portfolio and scrapbook together comprise a comprehensive collection of Outerbridge's published work. The archive also includes resumes, transcribed comments about Outerbridge's work, an incomplete autobiography (1929), and brief biographical and autobiographical statements written at different stages in his career. Materials collected intermittently by Outerbridge, including newspaper clippings, printed ephemera, and drawings, point to his varied interests and associates. Among the drawings are portraits of Outerbridge (1938) and Man Ray (1937), and two caricatures of Man Ray with a halo and wings (1937), all by Arnold Allen Epstean. Also included are obituaries, correspondence, and other materials collected by his widow, Lois Outerbridge, after his death.

16 linear ft. (17 boxes)

Getty Research Institute