As part of the Smithsonian-wide 150th Birthday Party, the 

 AAA celebrated with its own pavilion on the Mall and a live- 

 ly program specially commissioned for the occasion. At the 

 party, the Archives and the Washington Stage Guild 

 presented "From Reliable Sources," an original theater piece 

 incorporating an array of personal letters, diaries, writings, 

 and other unique sources from the Archives of American Art 

 that entertained and informed audiences about the joys and 

 difficulties of being an artist in America. The theater piece, 

 which involved four actors and two musicians, was repeated 

 twelve times during the birthday weekend to standing-room- 

 only crowds. 



Acquisitions 



Among the most significant collecting projects of the past 

 year is the acquisition of the papers of Aaron Bohrod (1907— 

 1992) artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin at 

 Madison from 1948— 1973. There are photographs of nearly all 

 of his paintings, many of which are enigmatic arrangements 

 of thrift-store tchotchkes of Bohrod s signature trompe 1'oeil 

 style. The papers also include correspondence, draft writings, 

 ledger books, and printed material. Of special interest are his 

 written recollections of his studies with John Sloan at the Art 

 Students League in New York in the early 1930s, Bohrod's 

 large scrapbooks documenting his assignments as an artist 

 war-correspondent for Life magazine in 1943, and his many 

 portrait covers for Time magazine. 



Another significant gift was the papers of artist Enrique 

 Riveron, born in Cuba in 1906. He studied in Cuba, Spain, 

 France, Italy, and Belgium. He worked as a cartoonist and il- 

 lustrator in Havana and New York (for The New York Times. 

 New Yorker, and Cine Mundiaf). He was also a staff artist for 

 Walt Disney Studios in California. In 1941 he focused on 

 painting and sculpture and moved to Miami in 1964. The 

 papers, dating from 1924 to 1994, include letters from Mario 

 Carreno, Julio de Diego, Antonio Gattorno, Langston 

 Hughes, Juan Jose Sicre, Alfredo Lozano, Antonio Prohias, 

 Alma Reed, Ad|a Yunkers, and others; postcards; writings by 

 Riveron; cartoons by Riveron in magazines and other publica- 

 tions; scrapbooks; newspaper and magazine clippings; exhibi- 

 tion catalogs and announcements; photographs of Riveron, 

 Cundo Bermudez. Esther Fernandez, Angel Lazaro, Leo Matiz, 

 Juan Jose Sicre, Luis Gomez Wanguemert, Mario Carreno, 

 Amelia Pelaez, and others; and miscellany. 



In FY 1996, the Archives collected additional gallery 

 records from the Forum Gallery, the Grace Borgenicht Gal- 

 lery, the Zabriskie Gallery, and the Schoelkopf Galleries. The 

 papers of these galleries record the changing gallery world of 

 the end of the twentieth century. 



Also important in FY 1996 was the loan (for microfilming) 

 of the papers of the key late surrealist Kurt Seligmann who 

 died under mysterious circumstances. These include letters 

 and writings of a central figure who settled in America in the 

 1940s and "knew everyone." 



Also acquired in FY 1996 was an addition to the papers of 

 Wells Sawyer (1863— 1959), Helen Sawyer Farnsworth (1900— ), 

 and Jerry Farnsworth (1895— 1982). Sawyer, a painter, was a 

 prominent member of the Washington, DC art community at 

 the turn of the century and is also notable for his work as the 

 staff artist on early archaeological expeditions to paleo-Indian 

 sites in southern Florida. Helen and Jerry Farnsworth, each 

 painters, ran the popular Farnsworth School of Art from the 

 1930s into the 1960s, in Truro, MA, and during the winter, in 

 Sarasota, Florida. 



An addition to the papers of Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) was 

 also acquired. Kent — painter, illustrator, designer, writer, left 

 wing political activist, and traveler — was among the best known 

 illustrators of the first half of this century. Kent was also very 

 prominent in artists' unions during the Great Depression and a 

 staunch defender of rights of free expression during the Mc- 

 Carthy era of the 1950s. The matetial consists of correspondence, 

 diaries, journals, notes and writings, business and legal records, 

 photographs, textiles, ceramics, and metalware designed by 

 Kent. This addition |oins our earlier acquisitions, which are the 

 most heavily used papers of an individual in the Archives. 



Another important collection received was the complete 

 gallery records of the ARCO (Atlantic Richfield) Centet for 

 the Visual Arts. Important additions to the papers of Peter 

 Selz, Jacob Lawrence, and Emerson Woelffer have also been 

 received, and a large collection of William and Marguerite 

 Zorach's letters have also been received. Files, records, and cor- 

 respondence from the Farns Gallery in Bellevue and Seattle, 

 Washington, were acquired in FY 1996. The Gallery is con- 

 sidered to be one of several important and influential galleries 

 in the Pacific Northwest. 



Other Collections Activities 



With funds from the Latino Pool, the Archives hired a repre- 

 sentative to locate significant papers documenting the history of 

 Lanno art in South Florida. She is contacting art institutions, gal- 

 leries, collectors, critics, and artists of Cuban, Salvadoran, Puerto 

 Rican, Mexican, and Spanish heritage in the Miami, Fort Lauder- 

 dale, and Palm Beach area, laying the necessary groundwork for a 

 focused collecting project that will broaden and enhance the 

 Archives considerable Lacino holdings. 



Also, the papets of Carlos Almaraz/Elsa Flores are being 

 processed under the Latino Documentation Proiect. Oral his- 

 tory interviews were conducted with Rupett Garcia, Mel 

 Casas, and Jacinto Quirarte as part of the same project. 



Oral History Interviews 



Oral history interviews are an important component of the Ar- 

 chives collections. In FY 1996, the New York Regional Center 

 conducted interviews with Harold Lehman, lifelong friend of 

 Philip Guston, Jackson Pollock, Reuben Kadish, and David 

 Alfaro Siqueiros. In seven tapes. Lehman traces their journey 

 from Southern California to New York and world importance. 



^ 



