Access
Publication Rights
Processing History
Preferred Citation
Acquisition
Separated Materials note
Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement
Biographical/ Historical Note
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Edmund Teske papers
Creator:
Herms, George, 1935-
Creator:
Teske, Edmund, 1911-1996
Creator:
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
Creator:
Tafel, Edgar
Creator:
Berman, Wallace, 1926-1976
Creator:
White, Minor
Creator:
Weston, Edward, 1886-1958
Creator:
Alexander, Bob
Creator:
Strand, Paul, 1890-1976
Creator:
Barnsdall, Aline, 1882-1946
Identifier/Call Number: 2005.M.10
Physical Description:
21.6 Linear Feet
(36 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1933-1996
Abstract: The papers document Edmund Teske's life and work as a photographer, poet and teacher. Materials include correspondence informative
of Teske's relationships with his family, colleagues and critics; poetry and writings about photography and philosophy; exhibition
materials; newspaper clippings and journal articles; teaching files; interview recordings and transcripts; and photographic
materials.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
Access
Publication Rights
Processing History
Sheila Prospero initially processed the archive in 2005. Emmabeth Nanol further processed and arranged the archive and wrote
the finding aid in 2009-2010 under the supervision of Andra Darlington.
Preferred Citation
Edmund Teske papers, 1933-1996, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2005.M.10
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2005m10
Acquisition
Acquired in 2005 from Lawrence Bump and Nils Vidstrand.
Separated Materials note
A complete edition of
Semina 5 has been transferred to the library's core collection and can be found in the
library catalog.
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers provide both an overview of, and unique insight into Teske's creative processes, influences and relationships.
In Series I, correspondents include Frank Lloyd Wright, Paul Strand, Edgar Tafel, and Aline Barnsdall. Of particular note
are fourteen letters from Minor White, in which he provides an in-depth assessment of Teske's aesthetic development. Teske's
correspondence also chronicles his interactions with museums and galleries such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the
Art Institute of Chicago, the George Eastman House, and the Witkin Gallery. Series I also includes personal documents, sketches
and ephemera.
Professional files in Series II relate to Teske's exhibitions from 1960 to 1995, his photo-grabs in the 1970s, and his teaching
and speaking engagements from 1960 to 1991. Materials include exhibition ephemera, correspondence, loan agreements, newspaper
clippings, course catalogs, enrollment lists and workshop ephemera.
Series III contains writings by Teske, recordings and transcripts of interviews, and writings and artworks by others. Among
Teske's writings are poetry from 1940 to 1980, a six-volume draft of his autobiography, and essays on photography written
between 1939 and the 1970s. Interviews date primarily to the 1970s and 1980s. Among the published and unpublished writings
and artworks by other artists are materials by Edward Weston, Bob Alexander, mail art from Wallace Berman, and invitations
to George Herms's Tap City Circus events.
Arrangement
Organized in three series: Series I. Correspondence and personal files, 1933-1996, undated; Series II. Professional files,
1958-1996, undated; Series III. Writings, interviews and artworks, 1933-1993, undated.
Biographical/ Historical Note
Edmund Teske was an American photographer, poet and teacher who gained prominence through his work photographing the Taliesin
Fellowship of Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Chicago in 1911, Teske studied art, acting and set design.
A primarily self-taught photographer, he had his first formal photography exhibition at the Blackstone Theatre, Chicago, in
1933. While employed at a commercial photography studio in Chicago, he was exposed to the work of a number of prominent contemporary
photographers and artists, including Edward Weston, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Anton Bruehl, Man Ray, and Georgia
O'Keeffe.
In 1936 Teske visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin workshop in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and was invited to become a member
of the Fellowship. While there, he set up his first photographic studio and was instrumental in chronicling some of Wright's
early buildings. Teske taught briefly at the New Bauhaus School of Design in Chicago, and also worked for a time with Paul
Strand and Leo Hurwitz's anti-fascist company, Frontier Films. During World War II, Teske performed aerial mapping for the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1943 he traveled to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West Studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, once
more photographing the Fellowship.
Teske moved to Los Angeles in 1943, where he initially worked as a still photographer for Paramount Pictures. He became a
close friend and assistant to Aline Barnsdall, for whom Frank Lloyd Wright had completed three structures including Olive
Hill Studio Residence B where Teske lived. In 1949, after Residence B was slated for demolition, Teske moved to Topanga Canyon.
Among his friends and associates were Minor White, Aaron Siskind, George Herms, sculptor Tony Smith and his actress wife Jane
Lawrence, and Richard DeMille, son of movie director Cecil B. DeMille.
In 1958 Teske developed the technique of duotone solarization, a method that reversed highlight and shadow, which became characteristic
of much of his work. Teske's work has been exhibited widely at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York,
the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pasadena Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Ceeje Gallery in Los
Angeles. He taught at the Chouinard Art Institute of Los Angeles (now the California Institute for the Arts) and other institutions.
In the 1970s and 1980s Teske also became known for his "photo-grabs," which were informal auctions of his work in his studio
to friends, associates and former students. Teske died in 1996.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photography, Artistic
Videotapes
Audiocassettes
Sound recordings
Videocassettes
Audiotapes
Motion pictures (visual works)
Teske, Edmund, 1911-1996