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JAMES E. B. BRESLIN RESEARCH ARCHIVE ON MARK ROTHKO, 1900-1994 (bulk 1940-1990)
2003.M.23
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Title: James E. B. Breslin research archive on Mark Rothko
Dates: 1900-1994
Dates: 1940-1990
Collection number: 2003.M.23
Creator:
Breslin, James E. B., 1935-1996
Extent:
18.7 linear ft.
(32 boxes, 1 flat file folder)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90040-1688
Abstract: Archive assembled by James Breslin, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, as he researched and wrote Mark Rothko:
a biography. The Russian-born American painter's life and work are the central subjects of the collection, situated in broad
historical and artistic contexts with particular emphasis on Abstract Expressionism and the New York art world from the 1920s
through the 1960s. Materials include interview recordings and transcripts, correspondence, financial and legal documents,
photographs, clippings, assorted printed materials, and extensive notes.
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Language: Collection material in English
Open for use by qualified researchers, with the exception of
unreformatted audiotapes and the Theodoros Stamos file, Box 32, which will
remain sealed until 2076.
Contact
Library Rights and Reproductions
James E. B. Breslin Research Archive on Mark Rothko, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 2003.M.23
Acquired from Ramsay Bell Breslin, James Breslin's widow, in 2003.
Ramsay Bell Breslin numbered the folders and wrote an extensive
inventory in preparation for the Getty Research Institute's acquisition
of the collection. James Breslin's original order was maintained in the
alphabetical arrangement of files on individuals and institutions, and
in the topical arrangement of other files; new topics were assigned and
documents interfiled as necessary. Original file folders were
retained only if Breslin had written notes on them. Laurel McPhee began
processing and arranging the collection and writing the finding aid in
November-December 2003 and Andra Darlington completed the work in
December 2005-April 2006.
James E. B. Breslin was born December 12, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York.
He received a B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1957 and an M.A. in English
from the University of North Carolina in 1959. In 1964 Breslin earned his
Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, and in the same year joined the
English faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.
Breslin’s scholarly interests lay in avant-garde American poetry and art
of the twentieth century, particularly in relation to Modernism. In 1970
he published his first book,
William Carlos Williams: an
American artist
, followed in 1984 by his study of post-World War
II poetry entitled
From modern to contemporary. His third
major book,
Mark Rothko: a biography, published in 1993 after nearly
eight years of research, was praised by Hilton Kramer in the
New
York times book review
as "a biographical classic" and "the best
life of an American painter that has yet been written," December 26,
1993.
Following the publication of his Rothko biography, Breslin was
appointed chair of the Art Practice Department at UC Berkeley. He was
completing an introduction to a catalog of Squeak Carnwath paintings with
his second wife, Ramsay Bell Breslin, and researching a biography of jazz
great John Coltrane when he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1996.
Scope and Content of Collection
Assembled by James Breslin as he researched and wrote
Mark Rothko: a
biography
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), the collection
addresses the same subjects as the book, but in greater depth and
detail. With files relating to Rothko’s early childhood in Dvinsk, Russia,
his family’s emigration to Portland, Oregon, his education, his troubled
personal life, the development of his career, his artistic process, and
his suicide, the collection comprises a rich compilation of materials on
the life and work of a key figure in twentieth-century painting. Like
Breslin's book, the collection situates Rothko and his work within broad
historical and artistic contexts, emphasizing abstract expressionism and
the New York art world from the 1920s through the 1960s. Among the
individuals featured prominently in the collection are artists Robert
Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Adolph Gottlieb, Milton Avery,
and Max Weber, and critics Dore Ashton and Katharine Kuh.
Included in the collection are audio recordings and many transcripts of
Breslin’s interviews with approximately 100 of Rothko's surviving family,
friends, fellow artists, collectors, dealers, curators, and critics,
including ten audiotapes of interviews with Motherwell. Much of the
collection was photocopied from the personal papers of Rothko’s friends,
family and associates, and archives at museums, galleries and historical
societies. Photocopied materials include
correspondence with Mark Rothko, pages from his notebooks, vital, legal,
financial, and medical records, documents regarding the commission,
exhibition, and sale of artwork, and assorted documents related to
the lawsuit brought by his daughter against Marlborough Galleries and the
executors of Rothko’s estate following his death. Photographic materials
include slides, prints, negatives, and transparencies, predominantly
reproductions of Rothko’s paintings, but also personal photographs
reproduced from other collections, photographs of the landscapes and
landmarks of Rothko’s childhood, and exterior views of his studios in
New York City. Also included are critical and art historical articles
and theses, Breslin’s original correspondence and extensive handwritten
notes documenting his research process, and materials related to the
publication of his book. The dates provided for photocopied materials and
other reproductions correspond to the original documents. Undated
items produced by Breslin, including his notes, are dated within the
years of his research, circa 1983 to 1992.
Arrangement
The archive is arranged in six series:
Series I. Research files on individuals, 1913-1994;
Series II. Research files on institutions and organizations, 1922-1992;
Series III. Topical research files, 1903-1991;
Series IV. Photographs and reproductions, 1900-1994;
Series V. Book publication files, 1989-1993;
Series VI. Audio recordings of interviews, 1985-1990.
Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970
Motherwell, Robert
Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970
Still, Clyfford, 1904-
Gottlieb, Adolph, 1903-1974
Weber, Max, 1881-1961
Avery, Milton, 1885-1965
Ashton, Dore
Kuh, Katharine
Abstract expressionism—United States
Art, Modern—20th century
Artists—Interviews
New York School of art
New York (N.Y.)—Intellectual life—20th century
Daugavpils (Latvia)—History—20th century
Portland (Or.)—History—20th century
Audiocassettes
Color transparencies
Correspondence
Interviews
Photographic prints
Photographs, Original
Slides (photographs)
Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970
Motherwell, Robert