Kiesler, Lillian, 1910?-2001. Lillian and Frederick Kiesler papers, [circa 1910]-2003. Bulk 1958-2000. - View Resource (original) (raw)

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Kiesler, Lillian, 1910?-2001. Lillian and Frederick Kiesler papers, [circa 1910]-2003. Bulk 1958-2000.

Title

Lillian and Frederick Kiesler papers, [circa 1910]-2003. Bulk 1958-2000.

Abstract

Correspondence, legal, financial and business records, teaching material, exhibition and performance files, artwork, subject files, writings, interviews, photographs, audio and motion picture recordings, monographs and printed material documenting the careers of artists Lillian Kiesler and architect and sculptor Frederick Kiesler. Also found are papers related to Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann and the papers of artist Alice Hodges. Kiesler's personal and professional correspondence, with artists, museums, galleries, collectors, writers, performing artists, actors, musicians, and others. Among the correspondents are Alcopley, Fritz Bultman, Sari Denes, Lyonel Feininger, George McNeil, Hans Hofmann and those in Hofmann's circle including Giorgio Cavallon and Alice Hodges; Jean Dubuffet, Burgoyne Diller, Harry Holtzman (of interest is a letter from Holtzman postmarked March 13, 1935 describing his initial meeting with Mondrian), Henry Miller, James Purdy; Katherine Dreier, Herrel Thomas, Erick Hawkins, Burgess Meredith, Steve Buscemi; Jay Gottlieb, and Mike Diamond. More voluminous is the professional and personal correspondence (1970s -2001) pertaining to Lillian's various performances in downtown venues in New York City. Also are letters from Frederick Kiesler to Lillian; professional correspondence to and from Frederick; letters from Lillian regarding the administration of Frederick's estate; and letters relating to the personal and professional life between Alice Hodges and Hans Hofmann. Material relating to Frederick Kiesler includes correspondence with museums, galleries, archives (Harvard Theatre Collection), and authors and scholars; an inventory list of works on paper by Frederick Kiesler that were given to the Osterreichisches Theater Museum Collection, Vienna; a notebook belonging to Frederick Kiesler noting contractors and job schedules for his projects; and articles, clippings, and other writings about him; bibliographies on Frederick Kiesler compiled by Lillian; a catalogue of his architecture, design, and art; photocopies of Frederick's writings; an inventory of objects in the Frederick Kiesler estate; an interview (sound recordings and transcript) with Lillian Kiesler about Frederick Kiesler, May 6 and 13, 1976, by WUHY-FM, Philadelphia, for "Music of the Age"; included on the tape is a portion of a Frederick Kiesler interview, 1965; a recording of Lillian Kiesler interviewing Richard Kamler about Frederick Kiesler, 1979; and Frederick's dialogue with Leo Castelli. Passports; correspondence with friends, artists, architects, publishers, editors, universities, museums, galleries, and manufacturers, including L. Alcopley, Leopold Arnaud, Armand P. Bartos, Piero and Virginia Dorazio, George Howe, Kay Johnson, Jane Owen, and others; photocopies of letters from Marcel Duchamp, Piet Mondrian, Katherine Dreier, and others; appointment books, 1962-1965; notes; student's work from Kiesler's design class at Juilliard; financial records, 1941-1963, including bills, income memos, cancelled checks, Kiesler and Bartos balance sheets, and other tax records; leases; clippings; printed material; and 4 posters from a Kiesler exhibition at the Yale School of Architecture, 1967; typescript copies of "Catalogue of the Original Works of Frederick Kiesler" (with computer disks of the mss.) and "Inventory of Books in the Personal Library of Frederick Kiesler," both compiled by Lillian Kiesler, 1993; catalogs of Kiesler exhibitions in Vienna, 1988, and at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1989; and Book of the Shrine (1992). Articles by and about Frederick Kiesler, catalogs, and clippings, ca. 1960-1971. Curriculum vitae; bibliography; writings by and about Frederick Kiesler; catalogs; reviews; and clippings. Also included are correspondence and a script regarding "Camera Three," a television program, March 20, 1960, on which Kiesler was the guest and discussed The Endless House. Lillian Kiesler's "Bibliography of Writings By or About Frederick Kiesler, Biographical Chronology, Theatre Productions," 1980, 189 p. Among the papers relating to Hans Hofmann and his school are: a card file on students of the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts in New York City and Provincetown, Mass.; stationary, announcements, brochures, a list of recommended art supplies, and other printed material of the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts; typed transcripts of lectures given by Hofmann in the 1930s; a transcript of an address (5 p.) delivered by Hofmann on February 16, 1941, as part of a symposium on abstract art held at the Riverside Museum in New York City; a 1942 Guggenheim application; "Push and Pull: A Furniture Comedy for Hans Hofmann" by Allen Kaprow; photographs of Hofmann and his house in Provincetown taken by Wilfrid Zogbaum and Tom Milius, 1950s-1960s; exhibition announcements, 1944-1958 (Art of this Century, Arts Club of Chicago, Betty Parsons, Kootz Gallery); and magazines, clippings, and reviews. Also included are art work by Lillian Kiesler and Alice Hodges; greeting cards by Hodges; and one painted memento by Hans Hofmann; printed materials, including catalogs, clippings, a portfolio of facsimile drawings by members of the Abstract Artists Group, 1937; and Alice Hodges' scrapbooks on Lillian Kiesler's activities as an art teacher in the 1940s; photographs of Hofmann, Cavallon, and Hodges; of Frederick from his arrival in America at age 36 to portraits with Edgard Varese made by Duane Michaels (1964); and of Lillian, Maryette Charlton, and Charlton's son, Kirk Winslow; and photographs, negatives, contact sheets of Frederick Kiesler's projects; a slides carousel of Frederick's work prepared by Lillian for a lecture on him; writings; and sound recordings, including an interview of Kiesler by Mimi Poser at the Guggenheim Museum, October, 1976, for a broadcast on WNYC; interviews of Varese-Meredith and Kiesler, 1961, and Lillian Kiesler on Lee Krasner.

Extent

48.2 linear ft. (partially microfilmed on 4 reels)