Stoerchle (Wolfgang) Papers, 1952-2007

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Summary

Title:
Wolfgang Stoerchle papers
Dates:
1952-2007
Creators:
Paik, Nam June, 1932-2006, Wegman, William, Williams, Emmett, Winer, Helene, 1946-, Kaprow, Allan, Lentz, Daniel, 1942-, and Stoerchle, Wolfgang
Abstract:
The archive of conceptual, video, and performance artist Wolfgang Stoerchle documents his brief career through video and sound recordings, correspondence, notes, clippings, and photographic materials.
Extent:
5.17 Linear Feet (12 boxes)
Language:
Description is in English.
Preferred citation:

Wolfgang Stoerchle papers, 1952-2007, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2009.M.16

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2009m16

Background

Scope and content:

The archive contains documentation of work produced by Stoerchle during his short career, as well as a small amount of personal material. A significant component of the archive is a set of half-inch open-reel tapes documenting Stoerchle's experiments with video. In addition to his well-known works, the videos also include documentation of some of Stoerchle's lesser-known works, such as a live performance with Viva, some of his more provocative performances, and a television "dinner" performance produced with Allan Kaprow, Emmett Williams, and Helene Winer. Also included are audiotapes of Stoerchle's sound works and a slide and sound installation. The archive contains a small number of works by other artists, including early video reels by Nam June Paik and William Wegman, and sound works made by Daniel Lentz in honor of Stoerchle.

Also included in the papers is a small selection of photographs of works Stoerchle produced as an undergraduate student at the University of Oklahoma, extensive photographic documentation of sculptures and performances he produced at UCSB, CalArts, and elsewhere in Los Angeles, and images of drawings and sculpture he produced in Santa Fe and Mexico. Stoerchle's childhood is represented by a few family photographs and images of drawings and sculptures he made in his youth.

Among the limited correspondence are letters received by Stoerchle, personal letters between Stoerchle and his wife, Carol Lingham, and letters to Lingham following Stoerchle's death, including some lengthy remembrances by friends. The archive also contains an extensive set of press clippings about Stoerchle during his lifetime. Much of the archive was assembled by Lingham after Stoerchle's death.

Biographical / historical:

Wolfgang Stoerchle was an important figure in the development of performance and video art in Southern California in the 1970s. Born in Germany, Stoerchle emigrated to Toronto, Canada with his family in 1959. In 1962 he and his brother Peter rode horseback through the United States for ten months to Los Angeles, where Stoerchle lived from 1963 to 1964.

After attending the University of Oklahoma from 1964 to 1968, Stoerchle enrolled in the MFA program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. While there he began experimenting with performance and sound art. He performed throughout California with Miles Varner and Daniel Lentz in a group called California Time Machine. In 1970 Allan Kaprow recruited Stoerchle to teach in the Post-Studio Art program at the California Institute of the Arts. Encouraged by Nam June Paik, who was also teaching at CalArts during this time, Stoerchle began experimenting with video. Collectively, his video works show a complete dissection of the medium, isolating nearly every formal property of video and turning it towards often poignant efforts to capture and contain the body.

Stoerchle was included in a number of important exhibitions in the early 1970s, including 24 Young Artists at LACMA in 1971, the Pier 18 exhibition at MoMA, and a two-person exhibition with William Wegman at Sidney Janis gallery. He moved to New York in 1973 and shifted his concentration from the abstract and conceptual work that had garnered so much attention, to blunt depictions of sexuality and nudity. Stoerchle left New York by the middle of 1973.

During the last three years of his life Stoerchle moved back and forth between Mexico City, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Santa Fe, where he lived with his second wife, Carol Lingham, whom he married in 1974. Stoerchle continued producing art during this time, primarily fiery abstract pencil drawings and ephemeral sculptures resembling rudimentary shrines and mounds. In the fall of 1975, he presented his final performance in John Baldessari's studio. On March 14, 1976, Stoerchle died following injuries suffered in a car accident.

Acquisition information:
The archive was acquired from Carol Lingham in 2009.
Processing information:

Vladimira Stefura processed and created a box list of the archive in June 2009. Later in 2009 and 2010 Emmabeth Nanol further processed the archive, devised the arrangement, and expanded the box list into a preliminary finding aid under the supervision of Andra Darlington.

Arrangement:

Organized in four series: Series I. Personal files, 1952-2007; Series II. Documentation of artworks, 1968-1975, undated; Series III. Materials about Stoerchle, 1965-2006, undated; Series IV. Audiovisual materials, 1970-2006, undated.

Physical location:
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Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Emmabeth Nanol
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-07-28 09:21:45 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Preferred citation:

Wolfgang Stoerchle papers, 1952-2007, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2009.M.16

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2009m16

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
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