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Descriptive Summary |
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| Creator: | John Cuddihy | |
| Title: | Robert Motherwell Scrapbooks | |
| Dates: | 1944-1978 | |
| Quantity: | Five 2" scrapbooks in bound book form One over-sized folder |
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Arrangement |
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| Only the most important material has been noted in the album descriptions below. The pages in-between will have additional material such as news clippings and other ephemera. A brief note on condition and content appears before the description of individual scrapbooks. | ||
| The Papers are organized into five Series: | ||
| Volume I: 1944 - 1961 | ||
| Volume II: 1959 - 1965 | ||
| Volume III: September 1965 - May 1969 | ||
| Volume IV: 1968 - 1977 | ||
| Volume V: 1956 - 1978 | ||
| Appendix A: Photostats | ||
John Murray Cuddihy was born c.1922 into a wealthy Irish-American family. He is the son of H. Lester Cuddihy and Julia Murray Cuddihy, and the grandson of the publisher Robert J. Cuddihy. Robert Henri painted a portrait of him as a child in 1928. He married Heidi DeHaven in the early 1960s. Pursuing an academic career in sociology, Cuddihy received three masters degrees: two from Columbia University and a third from the New School for Social Research in New York City. He completed a Ph.D. in Sociology at Rutgers University; his dissertation was later published as The Ordeal of Civility: Freud, Marx, Levi-Strauss and the Jewish Struggle with Modernity in 1974. His book No Offense: Civil Religion and Protestant Taste was published in 1978. He taught at Vassar College, Columbia University, and the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry before taking a position in the sociology department at Hunter College. Cuddihy was also a Senior Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities. His research interests included the sociology of knowledge, the sociology of intellectuals, and the overlap of sociology with anthropology. He was a member of the doctoral faculty at the Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York (GSUC). Cuddihy retired from Hunter College in the fall of 1997.
Cuddihy's engagement with the work of Robert Motherwell was long and intense, resulting in five scrapbooks. The project proceeded with the eminent painter's approval and often his help as well, as Motherwell sent several items to Cuddihy for inclusion in the scrapbooks.
Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) was a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism. Educated at Stanford University and briefly in Harvard University's philosophy department, Motherwell concentrated his energies on painting soon after his arrival in New York City in 1939. Beginning in 1945, he showed exclusively with the Samuel Kootz gallery until moving to the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1958. He had his first major museum retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in 1965, which subsequently travelled to major venues in Europe. During the remaining decades of his life, Motherwell saw great success with many museum exhibitions devoted to his work.
In 1944, Motherwell helped found the groundbreaking Documents of Modern Art series with Wittenborn, Schultz, Inc. He served as general editor of the series until it was discontinued in 1953. He also edited the prodigious 1951 volume The Dada Painters and Poets. (The series was reactivated in 1968 with Arthur A. Cohen as co-editor and again in 1979 with Jack Flam as co-editor).
The Robert Motherwell Scrapbooks, complied by John Cuddihy, consist of five 14 ½" x 11 ½" scrapbooks and additional ephemeral material for a total of one linear foot of material. Containing material with inclusive dates of 1944 - 1978, the Scrapbooks document the development of Robert Motherwell's career. They include exhibition catalogues, hundreds of newspaper and magazine clippings, exhibition invitations and checklists and other ephemera as well as photographs of Motherwell's work, records of Cuddihy's own collection, and various personal papers relevant to Cuddihy's interest in Motherwell. The latter includes records of sale, Cuddihy's diagrams of works by Motherwell and correspondence between Cuddihy and various dealers and museums, such as the Jewish Museum, the Sam Kootz Gallery, the Sidney Janis Gallery, The Museum of Modern Art, the Bennington College Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the American Federation of Artists (AFA), the Pasadena Art Museum, the Smith College Art Museum, and Dore Ashton, on behalf of Cooper Union. The scrapbooks also include several letters and cards from Motherwell, and one from Helen Frankenthaler, Motherwell's former wife. The final scrapbook contains several autobiographical items, including the covers of Cuddihy's two publications.
Photostats that duplicated some of the material contained in the scrapbooks have been deaccessioned. Select items have been maintained and are listed as Appendix A.
The Robert Motherwell Scrapbooks have been microfilmed with funding provided by the Dedalus Foundation. As a preservation measure, researchers must view the microfilm copy rather than the original scrapbooks. The microfilm may be consulted in the Archives Reading Room in the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building of The Museum of Modern Art, located on 54th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, New York, NY 10019.
The Robert Motherwell Scrapbooks are stored at MoMAQNS, 45-20 33rd Street, Long Island City, New York 11101.
The records are open for research and contain no restricted materials.
The Robert Motherwell Scrapbooks are the physical property of The Museum of Modern Art. Literary rights, including copyright belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with The Museum of Modern Art. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archivist.
Index Terms |
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| This collection is indexed under the following headings in DADABASE, the library catalog of The Museum of Modern Art. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings. | ||
| Persons: | ||
| Cuddihy, John Murray. | ||
| Subjects: | ||
| Motherwell, Robert -- Archives. | ||
| Motherwell, Robert -- Exhibitions. | ||
| Document Types: | ||
| Exhibition catalogs. | ||
| Photoprints. | ||
| Scrapbooks. | ||
A copy of the microfilm is held at the Dedalus Foundation, located at 555 W. 57 Street, Suite 1222 New York, NY 10019 (tel: 212.220.4220; fax: 212.220.4225).
The George Wittenborn Papers contain documentation about Robert Motherwell, see finding aid for further information.
The Sound Recordings of Museum-Related Events include lectures and discussions in which Motherwell was a speaker and/or where his artwork is discussed.
The Department of Public Information Records contains clippings about MoMA exhibitions that featured works by Motherwell.
The Department of Circulating Exhibitions Records has correspondence, checklists and preparatory material for the circulating versions of MoMA exhibitions in which works by Motherwell were included.
The Records of the International Program include information about MoMA exhibitions that circulated internationally in which Motherwell's artworks were featured.
A comprehensive collection of materials related to Motherwell may be found at The Dedalus Foundation, New York.
In c.1965, photostat copies of the first two scrapbooks were placed on deposit by Cuddihy at The Museum of Modern Art's Library. In December of 1978, Cuddihy donated the complete set of original scrapbooks outright; they were officially accepted by the Library on December 22, 1978. On April 21, 1999, the scrapbooks and photostat copies were transferred from the Library to the Museum Archives, where they were processed in 2001.
The long version must be used for the first citation. For subsequent citations, the abbreviated version may be used.
Long version:
Robert Motherwell Scrapbooks, [series.page]. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York.
Abbreviated version:
Motherwell, [series.page]. MoMA Archives, NY.
Microfilm long version:
Robert Motherwell Scrapbooks [Reel;Frame]. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Microfilm abbreviated version:
Motherwell [Reel;Frame]. MoMA Archives, NY.
The scrapbooks are in fragile condition. Scrapbook I is the most delicate of the books and has many significant tears in the pages. The books were microfilmed to ensure long-term preservation. During the microfilming process, the books were disbound. The original scrapbooks should only be consulted when the corresponding microfilm does not give necessary detail.
Explanation of Abbreviations
ALS is an Autographed Letter Signed.
TLS is a Typed Letter Signed.
TL stands for Typed Letter.
MoMA is The Museum of Modern Art.
n.d. stands for no date.
re: stands for regarding.
AN is an Autographed note not signed
ANS is an Autographed note signed
ACS is an Autograph card or message signed
JC is John Cuddihy
RM is Robert Motherwell
AFA stands for the American Federation of Artists