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INVENTORY OF THE HARALD SZEEMANN PAPERS
2011.M.30
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Title: Harald Szeemann papers
Date (inclusive): 1892-2010, bulk 1957-2005
Number: 2011.M.30
Creator/Collector:
Szeemann, Harald
Physical Description:
1400.0 linear feet
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Harald Szeemann's vast archive traces his career as a visionary curator of more than 200 exhibitions over the course of almost
five decades, from 1957 to 2005. An advocate of movements such as conceptualism, land art, Happenings, and performance, and
of artists such as Joseph Beuys, Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, and Cy Twombly, Szeemann developed a new form of "exhibition-making"
that centered on close collaborative relationships with artists and a sweeping global vision of contemporary visual culture.
His papers thoroughly document his curatorial practice, including preliminary notes for many projects, written descriptions
and proposals for exhibitions, installation sketches, photographic documentation, research files, and extensive correspondence
with colleagues, artists and collaborators. At this time, only the photographic material in Series IV is available for research.
The remainder of the archive is unprocessed. Each series will be opened for use as processing is completed.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language: Collection material is primarily in
German
Biographical / Historical Note
Perhaps the most influential curator of his generation, Harald Szeemann (Swiss, 1933-2005) organized more than 200 exhibitions
over a career that spanned almost five decades. He studied art history, archaeology and journalism in Bern and Paris and had
a brief but successful theatrical career before he organized his first exhibition in 1957. At age 28 he became one of the
youngest museum directors in the world when he was appointed to head the Kunsthalle Bern in 1961. Szeemann gained prominence
for a lively and experimental series of exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Bern that included early projects with Robert Rauschenberg,
Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, and Christo. In addition to showcasing current developments in contemporary art such as kinetic
art, op art, and Happenings, Szeemann also examined areas of early 20th-century modernism such as Dada and surrealism, and
artists such as Duchamp, Malevich, and Kandinsky.
Following his 1969 exhibition
Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form, a sprawling and controversial international survey of postminimalism and arte povera, Szeemann left the Kunsthalle Bern
to become an independent curator. Calling his business the "Agentur für geistige Gastarbeit," or "Agency for Spiritual Guest-Labor,"
Szeemann developed a new form of "exhibition-making" that centered on close collaborative relationships with artists and a
sweeping global vision of contemporary visual culture. Because he traveled extensively and frequently, he was able to integrate
emerging developments from disparate parts of the world into exhibitions that became touchstones of their time. Taking on
the organization of
Documenta V in 1972, Szeemann transformed the exhibition into a vast and dynamic survey of young artists from across the world. Likewise,
when asked to co-direct the Venice Biennale in 1980, Szeemann introduced a new concept that became a mainstay of the Biennale:
the "Aperto," an international and multigenerational group exhibition that contrasted with the Biennale's traditional focus
on national pavilions. He continued to survey art-making from all parts of the world in the biennials he later organized in
Lyon, Seville, and Kwangju, as well as his return to the Venice Biennale in both 1999 and 2001.
Szeemann often tackled enormous themes that cut across regions and spanned the 19th and 20th centuries. Exhibitions focused
on topics such as utopia, disaster, and the "Plateau of Humankind" offered sweeping and provocative surveys, while exhibitions
such as
Visionary Belgium (2005),
Austria in a Lacework of Roses (1996), and
Blood and Honey: Future's in the Balkans (2003) aimed at examining narrower topics and regions in interdisciplinary depth. Szeemann also became known for producing
definitive survey exhibitions of individual artists - not only on contemporary artists such as Joseph Beuys, Sigmar Polke,
and Bruce Nauman, but also about earlier cultural icons such as Charles Baudelaire, James Ensor, and Egon Schiele. Szeemann
died in 2005 at the age of 71, shortly before the opening of his exhibition
Visionary Belgium.
See also the
chronology of Szeemann's projects .
Series IV is open for use by qualified researchers with the following exceptions. Boxes 81, 214, and 224 are sealed pending
further review. Boxes 82, 215, and 252-267 are unavailable until conservation treatment is completed. Audiovisual materials,
nitrate negatives and computer files are unavailable until reformatted. The remainder of the archive is unprocessed. Each
series will be opened for use as processing is completed.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Harald Szeemann papers, 1892-2010, bulk 1957-2005, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2011.M.30.
Acquired in 2011.
Alexis Adkins, Laura Schroffel, Medria Martin and Emmabeth Nanol processed and cataloged Series IV under the supervision of
Andra Darlington. Szeemann's original organization of the material was retained, and previously unfiled items were integrated
into the orginal order whenever possible.
Conservation treatment for some of the photographs was done by Mark Benson and Teresa Mesquit. Nitrate negatives were rehoused
by Alexis Adkins in consultation with Teresa Mesquit and are permanently restricted.
The series are being processed out of order, with Series IV being processed first, followed by Series I (to becompleted July
2013) and Series II (to be completed July 2014). As a result, the box numbers are non-sequential.
Scope and Content of Collection
Harald Szeemann's vast archive documents his career as a visionary curator for almost five decades, from 1957 to 2005. Included
are project files tracing the development of numerous exhibitions and other projects, extensive correspondence with noted
artists and cultural figures throughout the world, photographic documentation of exhibitions and artworks, video art and recorded
interviews, exhibition announcements and other ephemera from hundreds of museums and galleries, Szeemann's research files
on a broad range of topics, a small group of personal papers, and his business records. Only the photographic material in
series IV is open for research at this time. The remainder of the archive is unprocessed. Each series will be opened for research
as processing is completed.
Series IV contains more than 40,500 photographic prints, negatives, slides, and transparencies. Included is extensive documentation
of many of Szeemann's exhibitions and other projects; photographs of artists with whom he worked and their individual artworks
and performances; a collection of portraits of the Monte Verità intellectual circle by photographer Margarethe Fellerer; Szeemann's
slide library, including slideshows compiled for lectures; collections of photographs reflecting Szeemann's interdisciplinary
subject interests with a focus on cultural sites and geographic locations; portraits and snapshots of Szeemann and his family.
The project files in Series I are currently being processed and will be open for use in July 2013. This series documents Szeemann's
curatorial process from conception to installation, including his detailed notes, installation sketches, correspondence, building
plans, exhibition announcements and checklists, and documents related to the production of didactic material, framing, and
shipping.
Series II is currently unprocessed. This series will be available for use in July 2014. The artist files in series II include
extensive correspondence with hundreds of artists, unique drawings, rare posters, and other limited-edition items. Files are
not limited to visual artists, but also include poets, playwrights and other culteral figures. Szeemann accrued particularly
extensive files on Joseph Beuys, Marcel Duchamp, Antonin Artaud, and Hugo Ball, among others.
Series III and Series V-IX are unprocessed. They will be opened for research when processing is complete. Series III contains
Szeemann's files on other curators and art world figures. Series V contains hundreds of video recordings and some audio recordings,
including video art, taped interviews and other documentation. In Series VI are Szeemann's research files on topics as disparate
as dance and pataphysics. Series VII contains the museum and gallery ephemera Szeemann acquired from hundreds of institutions
around the world. His personal files in Series VIII include correspondence with family and a small number of his school projects.
Among Szeemann's business files in Series IX are many years' worth of bank statements and other financial records.
The collection is arranged in nine series:
Series I. Project files;
Series II. Artist files;
Series III. Curator files;
Series IV. Photographs;
Series V. Videos;
Series VI. Topical files;
Series VII. Ephemera;
Series VIII. Personal papers;
Series IX. Business files.
Beuys, Joseph
Boltanski, Christian, 1944-
Byars, James Lee
Christo, 1935-
De Maria, Walter, 1935-
Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968
Heizer, Michael, 1944-
Jarry, Alfred, 1873-1907
Kienholz, Edward, 1927-1994
Kowalski, Piotr, 1927-2004
Laib, Wolfgang, 1950-
Merz, Mario
Nauman, Bruce, 1941-
Nitsch, Hermann, 1938-
Oldenburg, Claes, 1929-
Polke, Sigmar
Rabinowitch, Royden, 1943-
Rätz, Markus
Schulthess, Armand, 1900-1972
Serra, Richard, 1939-
Sonnier, Keith, 1941-
Soto, Jesús Rafael, 1923-2005
Szeemann, Harald
Tinguely, Jean, 1925-1991
Toroni, Niele, 1937-
Twombly, Cy, 1928-2011
Vautier, Ben, 1935-
Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987
Art museum curators
Art, Modern--20th century
Artists--Correspondence
Conceptual Art
Earthworks (Art)
Fluxus (Group of artists)
Happening (Art)
Installations (Art)
Monte Verità (Artists' colony)
Museum curators--Correspondence
Performance art
Black-and-white negatives
CD-Rs
Color negatives
Color photographs
Color slides--20th century
Color transparencies
Ephemera--20th century
Gelatin silver prints--20th century
Postcards
Beeren, Wim
Bezzola, Leonardo
Boersma, Pieter
Burkhard, Balthasar
Drayer, Walter
Eggmann, Verena
Fellerer, Margarethe, 1886-1961
Gaechter & Clausen
Hellgroth, Brigitte
Merola, Andrea
Sattmann, Didi, 1951-
Shunk, Harry
Wehrmann, Erhard, 1930-2004