Finding aid to the Rick Herold Photographs and Papers, 1959-2011
Coll2013-025
Jeff Snapp
Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
(c) 2013
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90007
askone@usc.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Title: Rick Herold photographs and papers
creator:
Herold, Rick (Richard)
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2013-025
Physical Description:
4.2 Linear Feet
1 archive carton, 2 clamshell binders, 1 flat archive box
Date (inclusive): 1959-2011
Abstract: Photographs and papers by and about professional artist, author, and teacher Rick Herold. Herold used a variety of media and
techniques including painting, reverse painting on plastic, neon, sculpture, performance art, and tattooing. Many of his works
dealt with the relationship of the erotic and the spiritual.
Acquisition
Donated by Rick Herold on July 9, 2011.
Biographical/Historical note
Richard (Rick) Herold was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1941, served in the Navy, and attended the Acadamie Julian in Paris,
St. John's University in Minnesota, Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
In California, he launched an art magazine while studying architectural arts at Otis and was the official Los Angeles County
portrait painter from 1968-1970. Herold worked as a teacher at Pierce College and Los Angeles Junior Colleges before turning
the Zephyr Theatre into a studio and center for art happenings, theater, and Esalen group events.
A published author of erotica including
The Naked Artist, Rick Herold is best known as a professional artist. His work has been shown at many venues including the Orlando and Molly
Barnes galleries in Los Angeles, the Zara Gallery in San Francisco, and in museum collections in Missouri, Colorado, and Oregon.
Rick Herold used a variety of media and techniques including painting, reverse painting on plastic, neon, sculpture and tattooing.
His artworks commonly dealt with the relationship of the erotic and the spiritual, drawing upon his interests in theology,
fine art, Asian mandalas, and East Indian Tantric tankas. Herold was also interested in tribal and folk art which he incorporated
into his tattoo designs and paintings. His work in tattoo art was documented in
Tattoo, a film collaboration with Michael McCullough.
On his website (http://rickherold.com/, accessed in 2013), Herold discusses notable events in his artistic career, including
a commission by Bob Hope to create
Stations of the Cross in Cleveland, and his thirty-year retrospective exhibition at the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives in 2003.
Scope and Contents
Photographic prints, negatives, 35mm slides, Herold-designed notecards and calendar, an advance copy of
The Naked Artist (a book illustrated and written by Herold), assorted periodicals with Herold interviews, reviews, gallery ephemera, promotional
materials, and papers documenting Rick Herold's history as an artist.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Jeff Snapp, 2013.
Related Materials
Rick Herold artworks catalogued in the ONE art collection
ART2381
Bob Ekert [Enamel on Plexiglas]
ART2198
Unknown (buttocks of nude male hunched over) [Ink on paper]
ART2043
Male Nude [Painting - acrylic on vinyl mounted on canvas]
ART2064
Abstract Fold [Painting - acrylic on plexiglas]
9AR0002
Samson DeBrer [Painting on Plexiglass]
ART2142
John Parker (aka Buddah John) [Painting on Plexiglass box]
Separated Materials note
Posters separated into the ONE poster collection
Molly Barnes Gallery, "In the Garden of Earthly Delights"
Orlando Gallery, "Portrait Paintings Revealing Human Auras & Astral Colors" (signed copy)
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder #, or item name] Rick Herold Photographs and Papers, Coll2013.025, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries,
University of Southern California.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Gay artists
Gay erotic literature
Gay erotic art
Performance art -- United States
Gays -- Exhibitions
Homosexuality and art -- United States -- California
Herold, Rick (Richard)
Rick Herold collection
1959-2011
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in alphabetical order.
Box 1, Folder 1
Art announcements
undated
Box 1, Folder 2
Art announcement cards
undated
Box 1, Folder 4
Art statements by Rick Herold, his resume, and an untitled drawing
1976-2008
Box 1, Folder 5
Articles about Rick Herold
1969-2011
Box 1, Folder 6
Artistic activities (other than painting)
undated
Box 1, Folder 7
Group show announcements
1959-1996
Box 2, Folder 4
Abstract art
undated
Physical Description: [133 35mm slides]
Box 2, Folder 2
Art
undated
Physical Description: [3 contact sheets; 134 negative strips]
Box 3, Folder 1
Art
undated
Physical Description: [189 35mm slides, 2 transparencies]
Box 2, Folder 1
Devine Decadence Party
undated
Physical Description: [12 contact sheet pages; 72 negative strips]
Box 3, Folder 2
Paintings
undated
Physical Description: [129 photographic prints; 10 transparencies]
Box 2, Folder 3
Rick Herold and gardens
undated
Physical Description: [13 photographic prints]
Box 4, Folder 1
Rick Herold with paintings
undated
Physical Description: [14 oversized photographic prints]
Scope and contents
Portraits of Rick Herold that appear in magazine articles as well as a poster for his Molly Barnes exhibition.
Box 4, Folder 2
Steve Katz photographs of Rick Herold and Dale Matlock
1974
Physical Description: [2 oversized photographic prints]
Box 1, Folder 8
Publications
1959-2010
Scope and Contents
Includes an advance copy of Rick Herold's "The Naked Artist" and the Otis Art Institute "Image" volumes 1, 2, and 4.
Box 1, Folder 9
Stationary and calendar
circa 2011