Oral history interview with Harold Lehman

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

OralHistoryResource

Oral history interview with Harold Lehman

1997 Mar. 28

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f4e9efd8-1e65-4972-bd49-6e277168e3f2

An interview of Harold Lehman conducted 1997 Mar. 28, by Stephen Polcari, for the Archives of American Art. Lehman speaks of his early educational and artistic experiences in New York; taking sculpture classes; moving to California; going to school at Manual Arts; going to Ojai and learning the religious philosophy of Krishnamurti; participating in literary discussion groups and the books he read; his years at Otis Art Institute; working with Sisqueiros, and how the frescoes they created were destroyed by the Red Squad; when he became interested in painting; working with Lorser Feitelson; working with the Public Works of Art Project; moving back to New York and working with the Federal Arts Project; his experiences with Sisqueiros and the artist workshop they set up; his thoughts on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Stalin and Trotsky; his thoughts on social realism; the project he did on Rikers Island; doing mural art; breaking both his arms two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor and how he managed to stay out of the army; working on his mural in Woodstock; working on war bond painting for the government; his art work during the war years; recollections of Jackson Pollack and his interest in Indian Art; going to see the Picasso show; his artistic influences; his thoughts on America's involvement in World War II; his life after the war and what inspired him; his memories of Phil Guston; thoughts on Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg; his life after the war, and other recollections about his life and friends. He recalls Max Maikowski, Jean de Laffiere, Rutolo, Frederick J. Schwankovsky, Phil Guston, Jackson Pollack, Manuel Tolegian, Rueben Kadish, George Stanley, Roger Noble Vernon, D.A. Siqueiros, Luis Arenal, Lorser Feitelson, Helen Lundberg, Leo Katz, Merle Armiduke, Stanley McCoy, Axel Horr (Horn), Carla Mahl (Clara Moore), Louie Serstadt, Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, Arnold Blanch, Harold Rosenberg, Clement Greenberg, Arnold Blanch, and many others.

Sound recording: 7 sound cassettes (560 min.): analog.Transcript: 144 p.

Archives of American Art

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8222804

Archives of American Art

Related Entities

There are 25 Entities related to this resource.

Public Works of Art Project.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67f3m3d (corporateBody)

Cecil Jones was the business director of the PWAP. From the description of Correspondence and related records of Cecil Jones, 1933-1934. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220181044 Rowan was the assistant technical director of the PWAP. He worked closely with Edward Bruce, the director of the PWAP. From the description of Correspondence and personal files of Edward P. Rowan, 1934-1935. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220181019 Federally funded a...

Schwankovsky, Frederick John, 1885-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f76k7q (person)

Painter; California. From the description of Oral history interview with Frederick Schwankovsky 1965 Mar. 1 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 613316073 From the description of Frederick Schwankovsky interview, 1965 Mar. 1. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220196454 From the description of Frederick Schwankovsky interview, 1965 Mar. 1 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 276394278 ...

Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sf2xzx (person)

Clement Greenberg, for many years America's most influential art critic, helped to create an audience and market for New York School artists such as Pollock, Newman, and David Smith. Greenberg wrote for Partisan review in the late 1930s and began writing art reviews for The Nation in the 1940s. Beginning in the 1950s, he abandoned regular reviewing in favor of the occasional article, organized exhibitions, lectured around the world, and served as a consultant for galleries, museums, and dealers....

Orozco, José Clemente, 1883-1949

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6st7r3b (person)

Mexican painter. From the description of Letters to Jean Charlot, 1925-1943. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 78326558 ...

Siqueiros, David Alfaro

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kd22tk (person)

David Alfaro Siqueiros was a leading member of the Mexican muralist movement and a technical innovator of fresco and wall painting. His ideological differences with Diego Rivera attracted much attention in the 1930s. From the description of David Alfaro Siqueiros papers, 1920-1991, bulk 1930-1936. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 80149112 ...

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bk1jrn (person)

Jackson Pollock was born in 1912, in Cody, Wyoming, the youngest of five sons. His family moved several times during his childhood, finally settling in Los Angeles. In 1930 he joined his older brother, Charles, in New York City, and studied with Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League of New York. Pollock worked during the 1930s for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. During 1936 he worked in artist David Alfaro Siqueiros's Experimental Workshop. In...

Feitelson, Lorser, 1898-1978

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rj4p39 (person)

Painters; Los Angeles, Calif. Husband and wife. Feitelson, who also was a graphic artist and teacher, and director of the WPA in California, died in 1978. Lundeberg died in 1999. From the description of Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg papers, circa 1890s-2002 (bulk 1919-1999). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 297147697 Lorser Feitelson, b. 1898; d. 1978, Painter and art administrator, Federal Art Project of Los Angeles, Calif. From the description of Oral hist...

McCoy, Stanley.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fn1d4j (person)

Katz, Leo, 1887-1982

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nc62rg (person)

Painter, writer; Bronx, N.Y. b. 1887, in Austria; d. 1982. From the description of Leo Katz papers, 1924-1972. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81787106 ...

Maikowski, Max.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c252z6 (person)

Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dv1rck (person)

Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978) was a writer and educator from New York, N.Y. From the description of Oral history interview with Harold Rosenberg, 1970 Dec. 17-1973 Jan. 28. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 495596710 Writer, educator; New York, N.Y. From the description of Oral history interview with Harold Rosenberg, 1970 Dec. 17-1973 Jan. 28. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 226956443 Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978) was a writer and art critic of New York, N.Y....

Guston, Philip, 1913-1980

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6md9p24 (person)

xmlns="urn:isbn:1-931666-33-4">Painter. From the description of Oral history interview with Philip Guston, 1965 Jan. 29. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78587878 Philip Guston, born Phillip Goldstein (June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980), was a painter and printmaker in the New York School, an art movement that included many abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. In the late 1960s Guston helped to lead a transition from abstract expressionism to neo...

de Laffiere, Jean.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j108r9 (person)

Lehman, Harold (American painter and muralist, 1913-2006)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tm7hzw (person)

Harold Lehman (1913-2006) was a painter, lithographer, designer, and sculptor from New York, N.Y. From the description of Oral history interview with Harold Lehman, 1997 Mar. 28. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78938500 ...

Arenal, Luis

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60007wc (person)

Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v40wfj (person)

Mexican painter and muralist. From the description of Declaration in connection with a watercolor and a drawing sold to Mrs. Schwartz, 1934 March 7, Mexico City. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 81939422 Diego Rivera, a renowned Mexican mural painter, was commissioned by Mrs. Samuel Strong in 1935 to paint a portrait of her friend, Kathleen Burke, of Cleveland, Ohio. From the description of Receipt from Diego Rivera, 1935 Mar. 5. (Unknown). WorldCa...

Kadish, Reuben, 1913-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tm7hgm (person)

Kadish, Reuben, 1913-1992, Painter, sculptor and mural painter of New York, N.Y.; d. 1992. From the description of Oral history interview with Reuben Kadish, 1992 Apr. 15 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 646401374 Painter, mural painter; New York, N.Y.; d. 1992. From the description of Oral history interview with Reuben Kadish, 1964 Oct. 22 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81787825 Painter, sculptor and mural painter; Ne...

Stanley, George M. (American sculptor, 1903-1977)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m61s28 (person)

Horr, Axel.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6668mc5 (person)

Serstadt, Louie.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q52wjr (person)

Mahl, Carla.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w382tj (person)

Armiduke, Merle.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f76k4c (person)

Lundeberg, Helen, 1908-1999

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6571gs8 (person)

Helen Lundeberg (1908-1999) was a painter from Los Angeles, Calif. From the description of Oral history interview with Helen Lundeberg, 1980 July 19-Aug. 29. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84232719 ...

Polcari, Stephen

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dz0g74 (person)

Blanch, Arnold, 1896-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c252pm (person)

Painter, lithographer, etcher, illustrator, writer, teacher, and lecturer. From the description of Arnold Blanch papers, 1928-1933. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122647922 Painter, mural painter; Woodstock, N.Y. From the description of Arnold Blanch interview, 1963 June 13-Aug. 3. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220194764 From the description of Arnold Blanch interview, 1964 Nov. 4. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220192081 From the description o...