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Finding Aid for the Albert Boime papers, 1963-2007
1834
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Title: Albert Boime papers
Date (inclusive): 1963-2007
Collection number: 1834
Creator:
Boime, Albert
Extent:
149 boxes (73 linear ft.)
3 oversize boxes.
Abstract: The collection contains drafts, correspondence, notes, course materials, and research aids pertaining to the academic career
of art historian and professor Albert Boime. Materials in the collection span Boime's graduate studies and lengthy career,
including seminal research on Vincent Van Gogh, Impressionism and the French Commune, and a 6-volume History of Modern Art
written from a social history perspective. Though best known for his work on 18th and 19th century European art, Boime's papers
cover a broad range of traditional and avant-garde Art History topics approached from a social history theoretical framework.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Some materials in French, German, and Italian.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Myra Boime, 2007.
Processed by Kimberly Williams in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Megan Fraser,
2011.
The processing of this collection was generously supported by
Arcadia
funds.
[Identification of item], Albert Boime papers (Collection Number 1834). Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
Albert Boime was born in St. Louis, Missouri on March 17, 1933 to Max and Dorothy Boime, both eastern European Jewish immigrants.
In 1955 Boime joined the U.S. Army, serving in Germany before his discharge in 1958. Upon returning to the states Boime began
his studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and received his B.A. in 1961. He went on to receive both his M.A.
(1963) and Doctorate (1968) from Columbia University. Through his brother Jerome (1934-1977), Boime met teacher and social
activist Myra Block, and they married in 1964.
He began his career as an instructor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1967 and became an associate professor
in 1969. He was appointed professor of art at the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1971. Boime chaired the art
department at Binghamton from 1972-74 and was recruited by the University of California, Los Angeles in 1978. He served as
a professor of art history there for three decades. Al Boime died in 2008.
As a social art historian Boime was concerned with overlooked artists and ventured outside traditional research methods to
evaluate an artist's work. He approached artworks as social documents, not simply artistic expressions, and demonstrated how
artists are influenced by the historical events of their lifetime. Though Boime is best known for his studies of 19th-century
European art, his work touched on many genres including popular imagery in Europe and America and emblematic national monuments.
In the course of his career Boime authored nearly 20 books and over 100 articles. He also received various awards including
two Guggenheim fellowships (1974, 1984), a Rome Fellowship (1979), and the A. Kingsley Porter Prize for his Art Bulletin article
"The Second Republic's Contest for the Figure of the Republic" (1971). In 2006 a symposium on the social history of art was
convened at UCLA in his honor.
Quoting from the preface of his book "The Birth of Abstract Romanticism," Boime described his art historical intent:
By examining the political forces that motivated the art makers and finders, and revealing the hidden mainsprings in visual production, I truly believed that I was contributing to the emancipation of thought, at least in one small corner of the minds of my students and readers. Thus art history became my raison d'ètre, a vehicle for enhancing the lives of my fellow citizens, while at the same time bringing about a nano-change toward social justice in society.
Sources: Dictionary of Art Historians,
albertboime.com
The collection consists of notes, correspondence, drafts, and annotated photocopies relating to Boime's academic career. This
includes documentation corresponding to universities and Art History departments where he was employed, syllabi and outlines
for courses and seminars, notes associated with research, conference materials, drafts of publications, and correspondence.
The bulk of the collection consists of materials collected as part of Boime's research activities. Research topics span a
wide range, although the bulk of material relates to Thomas Couture, imagery and symbolism of U.S. monuments and icons, artists
and movements associated with his Social History of Modern Art series, social issues, academies and academic painting, the
Macchiaioli, and comics and cartoons. Boime often revisited research topics after initially encountering the subject matter,
so his files may include materials from different decades on the same research topic.
The collection is organized into six series, by subject and type of material.
- Series 1, Career. Materials relating to Boime's career as a professor of modern art history. The series is arranged by subject into six subseries, which are ordered chronologically.
- Series 2, Course Materials. Materials compiled by Boime during his extensive teaching career, mostly related to his UCLA modern art survey course (Art History 54: Introduction to Modern Art). The series also includes teaching materials for special seminars and upper division and graduate modern art courses. The series is arranged by course.
- Series 3, Research Materials. Materials relating to Boime's research interests during his 45-year career as an art historian. The majority of research topics listed in this series correspond to publications, articles, books, and lectures produced by Boime. This series is arranged by subject into 52 subseries, which are ordered by volume of material.
- Series 4, Conferences and Lectures. Materials in this series were gathered by Boime through his participation in a variety of conferences, symposia, and lecture series. This series also contains drafts of lectures given by Boime. Materials are arranged alphabetically by file title.
- Series 5, Publication Drafts. Includes drafts of articles, books, and other types of publications prepared by Boime. Materials are filed alphabetically by topic with general and untitled drafts at the end of the series.
- Series 6, Correspondence. This series includes correspondence between Boime and colleagues, museums, students, publishers, and personal contacts from his graduate studies until his death. The series is divided into three subseries based on the type of correspondence.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Boime, Albert --Archives.
Art historians --United States --Archival resources.