PRELIMINARY INVENTORY OF THE KIRK VARNEDOE PAPERS, 1890-2006 (bulk 1970-2003)
Finding aid prepared by Annette Leddy
Descriptive Summary
Title: Kirk Varnedoe papers
Date (inclusive): 1890-2006 (bulk 1970-2003)
Number: 2008.M.60
Creator/Collector:
Varnedoe, Kirk, 1946-2003
Physical Description:
61.08 linear feet
(138 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Papers of critic and curator Kirk Varnedoe include student papers and lecture notes, research files for exhibitions and publications,
typescripts and audio tapes of lectures, and a small amount of material related to his position at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
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Language: Collection material is in
English
Biographical/Historical Note
Kirk Varnedoe was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1946 to a wealthy and distinguished Southern family. He attended Williams College,
where he began studying studio art, but soon switched to art history under the influence of Professor Lane Faison. He also
played college football and, after graduating, returned to coach the football team and teach art history for a year. He then
earned a Ph.D. at Stanford under Rodin scholar Albert Elsen, with whom he collaborated on an exhibition and catalog about
the profusion of drawings falsely attributed to Rodin. From 1974 to 1988 he taught first at Columbia University and then at
the Institute of Fine Arts, while also curating exhibitions on Scandinavian painting, Gustave Caillebotte, turn-of-the century
Vienna, and primitivism in Modern Art. From 1988 to 2002 he was the curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern
Art, New York. His exhibitions there, beginning with
High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture, and ending with a major retrospective on Jackson Pollock, attempted to acquaint the museum-going public with art historical
narratives that artists and academics had long accepted. These efforts, together with Varnedoe's Artist Choice series, which
engaged contemporary artists to organize exhibitions of work from the permanent collection, helped move the museum into a
less canonical and more dynamic presentation of modern art.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers. Box 119 contains confidential correspondence and is restricted until 2082. Audio visual
material restricted until reformatting is complete.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Kirk Varnedoe Papers, 1890-2006 (bulk, 1970-2003), The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2008.M.60.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Elyn Zimmerman.
Processing History
Initial rehousing of the collection was performed by Vladimira Stefura. Jan Bender processed the greater part of the collection.
Annette Leddy did a small part of the processing and cataloged and described the collection.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Kirk Varnedoe papers consist primarily of research files related to Varnedoe's publications, exhibitions, and lectures.
Study photographs abound in these files, particularly of Auguste Rodin's drawings, but all Varnedoe's major interests are
well represented, including Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns. Under some research topics are filed exhibition checklists,
installation photographs, and bibliographies. Education and teaching files, containing syllabi, lecture notes, and papers,
reveal a coherent intellectual path from Varnedoe's undergraduate days through the Mellon lectures given the year before his
untimely death. There is scant personal material, mainly consisting of correspondence during his extended periods in France,
and photographs of these travels. Apart from the exhibition material in the research files, Varnedoe's tenure at the Museum
of Modern Art in New York is reflected in a discrete amount of miscellaneous material, such as meeting minutes, calendars,
and memoranda. There are also audio recordings of Varnedoe's Slade and Mellon lectures.
Arrangement
Arranged in eight series:
Series I. Professional correspondence, 1969-2003;
Series II. Personal, 1970-2003, undated;
Series III. Education, 1964-1972, undated;
Series IV. Teaching, 1972-1985, undated;
Series V. Lectures, 1972-2005;
Series VI. Research and Writing, 1890-2006, undated;
Series VII. MOMA files, 1948-2004, undated;
Series VIII. Printed matter, 1971-2006, undated.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956
Rodin, Auguste, 1840-1917
Subjects - Topics
Art exhibitions--20th century
Art, Modern--19th century
Art, Modern--20th century
Contributors
Elsen, Albert Edward, 1927-
Johns, Jasper, 1930-
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.).
Container List
Series I.
Professional correspondence,
1969-2003
Physical Description:
1.25 linear feet
(3 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Letters regarding the authentication of Rodin drawings, exhibition planning, and book publication.
Arrangement note
Arranged in chronological order by year.
Box 1
1969-1972
Scope and Content Note
Including letters from the National Gallery regarding Varnedoe's Rodin exhibition, from Praeger, Inc. regarding the Rodin
book, and various letters regarding authentication of Rodin works.
Box 2
1973-2003
Scope and Content Note
Including letters from artists Duane Hansen and Cy Twombly, and regarding the exhibition
Primitivism and Modern Art, and regarding various speaking engagements.
Series II.
Personal items,
1967-2003, undated
Physical Description:
1.04 linear feet
(3 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Letters from friends and colleagues, memorabilia, and photographs, mainly of travels.
Arrangement note
Arranged in rough chronological order within the two media categories of correspondence and photography.
Box 3
Correspondence,
1970-2003, undated
Scope and Content Note
Including letters from friends and colleagues congratulating Varnedoe on appointments, expressing gratitude for his support,
and offering sympathy for his final struggle with illness.
Box 4, 120
Photographs, slides, and miscellaneous,
1967-2001, and undated
Scope and Content Note
Including primarily photographs of travels in Europe, with some related memorabilia.
Series III.
Education,
1964-1972, undated
Physical Description:
3.75 linear feet
(9 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
A comprehensive record of Varnadoe's undergraduate and graduate studies, with term papers, lecture notes, transcripts, and
assorted materials.
Arrangement note
Materials from Williams College and Stanford University are grouped separately and arranged in rough chronological order by
year.
Box 5-7
Williams College,
1964-1968
Scope and Content Note
Including term papers, lecture notes, address books, an art review from student newspaper, and transcripts. Also present are
Varnadoe's curricula for a semester of post-graduate teaching at Williams (1968) and a narrative resume describing his choices
and decisions during this stage of his life.
Box 7-13
Stanford University,
1968-1972
Scope and Content Note
Including Varnedoe's notes from his classes with Dr. Albert Elsen and others, photocopied pages from art historical textbooks,
a heavily annotated copy of an issue of
Stanford Today about Van Gogh, and a complete set of term papers from his graduate career. Also present are documents about Varnedoe's involvement
in campus anti-war protests and art-related activism.
Series IV.
Teaching,
1972-1985, undated
Physical Description:
2.92 linear feet
(7 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Lecture notes, syllabi, bibliographies, slides, and photocopied related readings.
Arrangement note
Materials are grouped by institution in the sequence in which Varnadoe taught in them.
Box 14, 133
Stanford University,
1972-1974
Box 15-16
Columbia University,
1974-1979
Box 17
New York University,
1980-1985
Box 18
Las Meninas symposium, New York University,
1984
Box 20-34, 138
Series V.
Lectures,
1972-2005
Physical Description:
7.7 linear feet
(16 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Research notes, drafts, study photographs, and in some cases, audio recordings and floppy disc records of the lectures.
Arrangement note
Arranged in chronological order by year.
Box 20
1972-1989
Scope and Content Note
On topics such as Caillebotte, Rodin, photography, and primitivism in Modern Art.
Box 21
1990-1992
Scope and Content Note
On such topics as Pollock, Munch, collecting, and including the commencement address Varnedoe gave at Stanford.
Slade lectures: the Poverty of Postmodernism,
1992-1993
Box 25
1993-1994
Scope and Content Note
On topics such as Pollock and Twombly, and including Varnedoe's commencement speech at Williams College.
Box 26, 120
1994-1997
Scope and Content Note
On such topics as Twombly and Jasper Johns, and including Varnedoe's eulogy for Leo Castelli. Including views of Varnedoe
in the act of lecturing.
Box 27
1998-2000
Scope and Content Note
On such topics as Lichtenstein, Pollock, David Smith, and Marcia Tucker
Box 28
2001
Scope and Content Note
On topics such as Roulin and Van Gogh, and for George Segal's memorial.
Box 29
2002
Scope and Content Note
On topics such as Matisse/Picasso, Van Gogh/Gauguin, and Rembrandt.
Mellon lectures: Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art Since Pollock,
2003-2005
Series VI.
Research and Writings,
1890-2006, undated
Physical Description:
34.59 linear feet
(86 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Files on the artists or topics Varnadoe wrote on or curated exhibitions about, with ample visual material, historical scholarship
in the form of photocopied articles and books, and often including correspondence with artists or the sponsoring institutions,
and occasionally also exhibition installation photographs and checklists.
Arrangement note
Arranged in three subseries.
Series VI.A.
Artists,
1890-2006, undated
Physical Description:
28.0 linear feet
(67 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Files contain notes, readings, drafts of essays, study photographs and slides, with occasional audiotaped interviews of living
artists.
Arrangement note
Arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of the artist.
Box 34-42, 121
Gustave Caillebotte,
1972-2001
Box 43-49
Jasper Johns,
circa 1960-1996
Box 50-51
Matisse/Picasso,
1959-2003
Box 52-58
Jackson Pollock,
1926-2006
Box 59-82, 122-125, 133
Auguste Rodin,
1892-2003
Scope and Content Note
Including numerous authentication files, and research dating from Varnedoe's Stanford years through the 1990s when he wrote
A Fine Regard.
Box 83-86, 133
Scandinavian artists,
circa 1950- circa 1988
Scope and Content Note
Research on various artists for Varnedoe's
Northern Lights exhibition in 1982, and book published in 1988.
Cy Twombly,
1920-2000, undated
Box 88-90, 121, 133
Drafts, readings, photographs
Box 91-93
Vincent Van Gogh,
circa 1890-2003
Series VI.B.
Topics,
1911-2002, undated
Physical Description:
2.5 linear feet
(7 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
A selection of topics Varnadoe pursued during his lifetime.
Arrangement note
Arranged in alphabetical order by topic.
Box 97
High and Low,
1962-1992
Scope and Content Note
Including reviews of the landmark show and numerous installation shots.
Box 98-99, 126-127
Ruins,
1968-2001
Scope and Content Note
Box 99 contains eleven notebooks with Varnedoe's reflections on ruins and other themes, mainly from his 1977 research trip.
Series VI.C.
Assorted,
1944-2003, undated
Physical Description:
4.09 linear feet
(12 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Including articles about critical theory, clippings of general interest, and research possibly related to other curatorial
and writing interests. Includes card catalog of Varnedoe's upstate New York library and audio visual material relating to
topics other than the artists listed in subseries VI.A.
Arrangement note
Arranged in chronological order by year.
Box 101-106
Articles by others,
1944-2003
Box 128-133
Slides,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Including views of monuments in Europe and commercially available slides of the work of various artists.
Box 134, Folder F1-F4
Films,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Including four reels, 3 unidentified, 1 about the artist Krogh.
Box 137, Folder C32-C33
Audiotapes,
circa 1995
Scope and Content Note
Including a Varnedoe interview with Jeff Koons.
Box 138, Folder D1-D15
Compact digital media,
circa 1980 - circa 2003
Scope and Content Note
There are 15 discs, including one recording the card catalog of Varnadoe's library. The floppy discs generally pertain to
lectures.
Series VII.
Museum of Modern Art files,
1948-2004, undated
Physical Description:
1.25 linear feet
(3 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Including minutes of meetings, reports about art institutions other than MOMA, memoranda, and assorted correspondence.
Arrangement note
Arranged in rough chronological order by year.
Box 107
Papers by museum world colleagues and Varnedoe about Museum collecting and management,
1948-2004
Scope and Content Note
Including interview with Adam Gopnik, and plans for museum expansion.
Box 108
MOMA catalogs and calendars, memos, minutes of meetings regarding MOMA expansion and the Painting and Sculpture committee
Box 109
MOMA Cycle III meeting notes
Series VIII.
Printed matter,
1971-2006, undated
Physical Description:
8.58 linear feet
(9 boxes)
Scope and Content Note
Including a fairly complete clipping file and mainstream serial collection on Varnedoe, documenting his career, with seemingly
random selections of art ephemera.
Arrangement note
Materials are grouped by type.
Box 110
Articles about Varnadoe,
1976-2001
Box 111-114
Proofs of
Pictures of Nothing,
2006
Scope and Content Note
Including correspondence with Varnedoe's widow.
Box 115
Postcards of art,
undated
Box 116
Announcements and brochures,
1972-1999, undated
Box 118
Miscellaneous,
1977-1991, undated
