INVENTORY OF THE FRANZ ROH PAPERS, 1911-1965
Finding aid created by Carl Wuellner
The Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California 90049-1688
Phone: (310) 440-7390
Fax: (310) 440-7780
Email Requests: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/reference_form.html
URL: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library
©1996
J. Paul Getty Trust.
INVENTORY OF THE FRANZ ROH PAPERS, 1911-1965
Accession no. 850120
Finding aid prepared by Carl Wuellner
Getty Research Institute
Contact Information:
- The Getty Research Institute
- Research Library
- Special Collections and Visual Resources
- 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
- Los Angeles, California 90049-1688
- Phone: (310) 440-7390
- Fax: (310) 440-7780
- Email Requests: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/reference_form.html
- URL: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/
- Processed by:
- Carl Wuellner
- Date Completed:
-
Sep 1996, revised Oct 2005
- Encoded by:
- Philip Curtis
©1999 J. Paul Getty Trust.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Franz Roh papers
Dates: 1911-1965
Collection number: 850120
Creator:
Roh, Franz, 1890-1965
Extent:
3.5 linear feet
(7
boxes)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA
90049-1688
Abstract: German art historian and pioneering critic of the 20th-century avant-garde who took an interest in the study and development
of photography as an art form. Collection consists primarily of letters received from more than 1,000 correspondents, ca.
1911-1965. The correspondence is of a personal, intellectual, and business nature, between Roh and colleagues and fellow students,
critics, editors, gallery owners, and curators throughout Germany, France, and the United States. Letters express thanks and
complaints concerning Roh's criticism, and contain requests for reviews, catalog statements, photographs, introductions, and
articles.
Language: Collection material in German
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Franz Roh papers, 1911-1965, Getty Research
Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 850120.
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 1985.
Biographical/Historical Note
Franz Roh (1890-1965) was a noted art historian, photographer, and
critic of the early twentieth-century avant-garde. He began his career working
for
Cicerone,
Kunstblatt, and other journals publishing on art topics.
In 1925, with the encouragement of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, he published
Nachexpressionismus-Magischer Realismus. Through this he
gained prominence in the artistic circles of the avant-garde, which led to his
co-publication of
Foto-Auge with Jan Tschichold in 1929. The progressivism
of his work led to
Foto-Auge being sequestered and confiscated, and
eventually led Roh to a brief imprisonment when he was forbidden to write by
government censors in 1933. He was, however, awarded a professorship in modern
art at the University of Munich in 1946, a position he held for the remainder
of his life. He continued to promote contemporary art in the years after the
war and became president of AICA (International Association of Art Critics) in
1951. He died in Munich in 1965.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Franz Roh Papers consist of letters, postcard, telegrams and other
pieces of personal and professional correspondence and a small collection of
other writings and manuscripts from the estate of Franz Roh (1890-1965). Roh
was an important critic of the early twentieth-century avant-garde, as well as
an artist and teacher.
Correspondence in the collection was written to and from Roh between
1911 and 1965. Correspondents primarily are artists, art historians, writers,
poets, art dealers and publishing houses. Included within the correspondence
are exhibition opening announcements, prints and other works on paper sent as
gifts or seasonal greeting cards by artist friends, and occasional personal
photographs included with letters. There is a large number of photocopied
letters from Roh to Wilhelm Flitner, dating from 1911-1965.
The archive also holds a collection of manuscript writings by Roh and
others. These include a typed, partial transcript of Roh's diary written while
he was a field soldier during World War I, and a collection of ephemeral items
from Roh's personal papers. There are notable collections of letters and
manuscripts by Raoul Hausmann and J.A. Baader. These include a seventy-four
page typed draft for part of Hausmann's
Hyle, an assortment of essays on art and philosophy and
other personal papers, as well as a collection of letters written by him to Roh
dating from 1946-1965. There are also writings on art by Baader, letters from
him to Roh, and a handwritten, manuscript draft copy of Baader's
Der Stern Erde.
Arrangement
Series I.
Correspondence,
1911-1965
Physical Description:
33 folders
Scope and Content Note
Letters received and sent by Roh, primarily from and to artists, art historians, writers, dealers and publishers. Arranged
in 3 subseries: letters received, letters sent, and unidentified letters and fragments.
Series I.A.
Letters received by Roh,
1911-1965
Physical Description:
28 folders
Scope and Content Note
Correspondents primarily are artists, art historians, writers,
poets, art dealers and publishing houses. Included within the correspondence
are exhibition opening announcements, prints and other works on paper sent as
gifts or seasonal greeting cards by artist friends, and occasional personal
photographs included with letters. Arranged alphabetically.
Box 1, Folder 1
Achalme
through Athenäum Verlag
Scope and Content Note
Includes correspondence from Jean
Arp.
Box 1, Folder 2
Baerwind
through Bertelsmann Verlag
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Herbert von Bayer.
Box 1, Folder 4
Camaro
through Czapski-Holzmann
Scope and Content Note
Includes collection of letters from Heinrich
Campendonck.
Box 2, Folder 1
Flora
through Fuchs
Scope and Content Note
With letters from Paul Frankl.
Box 2, Folder 4
Hansen-Löve through Henningsen
Box 3, Folder 1
Henschel
through Imkamp
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Hans Hofmann.
Box 3, Folder 3
Kästner through Klinkhardt & Biermann Verlag
Box 3, Folder 6
Mabermehl
through Meyer-Mengede
Scope and Content Note
With letters from Carlo Mense.
Box 4, Folder 1
Mikl
through le Noci
Scope and Content Note
With correspondence from Laszlo, Lucia and Sibyl Moholy-Nagy,
and Gabriele Munter-Kandinsky.
Box 4, Folder 4
Reich
through Rusche
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Hans Richter.
Box 5, Folder 1
Saar
Verlag through Schirmer
Box 5, Folder 2
Schischkoff through Scholz
Box 5, Folder 3
Schöndube through Schwedeles
Box 5, Folder 5
Tietze
through Vordemberge-Gildewart
Box 5, Folder 6
Voss
through Wessel
Scope and Content Note
With letters from Wilhelm Waetzhold.
Box 6, Folder 1
Westheim
through Zimmerman
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Heinrich
Wölfflin.
Series I.B.
Letters From Roh,
1910-1965,
n.d.
Physical Description:
4 folders
Scope and Content Note
Arranged chronologically, followed by copies of letters to Wilhelm Flitner.
Box 6, Folder 2
Letters from Roh,
1913-1958,
undated
Box 6, Folder 3
Letters from Roh to Wilhelm Flitner (photocopies),
1910-1918
Box 6, Folder 4
Letters from Roh to Wilhelm Flitner (photocopies),
1919-1926
Box 6, Folder 5
Letters from Roh to Wilhelm Flitner (photocopies),
1927-1965,
undated
Series I.C.
Unidentified and incomplete letters to
Roh,
between 1911-1965
Physical Description:
1 folder
Scope and Content Note
Unidentified correspondents, letter fragments, sent to Roh. Includes a few manuscript and ephemera items.
Box 7
Letters, manuscripts and ephemera
Box 7, Folder 1
Letters to Roh from unidentified correspondents and
fragmentary letters
Series II.
Raoul Hausmann letters and
writings,
1918-1961,
undated
Physical Description:
3 folders
Scope and Content Note
Letters and
manuscripts by Raoul Hausmann, including a 74
page typed draft for part of Hausmann's
Hyle, an assortment of essays on art and philosophy and
other personal papers, as well as a collection of letters written by him to Roh
dating from 1946-1965.
Box 7, Folder 2
Letters from Hausmann to Roh,
1921,
1953-1961,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Arranged chronologically. Includes one reply postcard from Roh to Hausmann,
undated. Letters in which Hausmann attempts to re-establish contact with Roh
after a period of twenty years, and recount his whereabouts and activities in
art and writing (especially for
Hyle) during that time.
Box 7, Folder 3
Hausmann writings:
Hyle,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Seventy-four page typescript for parts of
Hyle I and/or
Hyle II.
Box 7, Folder 4
Hausmann writings,
1918,
1921,
1947
Scope and Content Note
Assorted writings and poems by Hausmann, including a
Curriculum Vitae dated 1957; a typescript labeled
Hyle II, dated 1947; an essay titled "Notizheft"
dated 1921, in which he describes the evolution of modern art as being one
toward a "decentralized" form of expression; an essay ("Wir sind nicht die
Photographen") in which he argues that eyesight is not merely "mechanical" in
nature; an essay from 1918 describing the various artistic movements of the
beginning of the century.
Series III.
J. A. Baader letters and
writings,
1946
Physical Description:
8 items
Scope and Content Note
Series contains writings on art by Baader, letters from
him to Roh, and a handwritten, manuscript draft copy of Baader's
Der Stern Erde.
Box 7, Folder 5
Letter to Roh and manuscripts,
1946
Scope and Content Note
Typescript of chapter "Der Geist
als Organisator" from
Der Sterne Erde; six-page handwritten copy of
Der Sterne Erde dated 1946 mailed to Hans Jantzen,
with accompanying letter in which Baader explains the circumstances of his work
during the war; fragment of a note with the heading "Ober-Dadaismus und
Über-Realismus," dated 1946.
Series IV.
War Diary and ephemera,
1915,
undated
Physical Description:
2 folders
Scope and Content Note
Series includes a typed, partial transcript of Roh's diary written while
he was a field soldier during World War I, and a collection of ephemeral items
from Roh's personal papers.
Box 7, Folder 6
Typewritten extract from Roh's World War I diary,
1915
