Collection Guide
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Kepes (György) papers
M1796
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: György Kepes papers
Creator:
Kepes, Gyorgy
Identifier/Call Number: M1796
Identifier/Call Number: 11643
Physical Description:
115 Linear Feet
(192 boxes, 2 oversize folders, 1 tube)
Date (inclusive): 1918-2010
Date (bulk): 1960-1990
Abstract: Collection contains the personal papers of artist, designer, and visual theorist György Kepes.
Physical Location: Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged 36 hours in advance.
Language of Material: While most of the collection is in English, there is also a significant amount of Hungarian text, as well as printed material
in German, Italian, Japanese, and other languages.
The materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted
to a digital use copy. Selected video has been transferred and is available digitally.
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was purchased by Stanford University, Special Collections 2010-2012, accessions 2010-186, 2011-058, and 2012-063.
Artist, designer, and visual theorist György Kepes was born in 1906 in Selyp, Hungary. Originally associated with Germany's
Bauhaus as a colleague of László Moholy-Nagy, he emigrated to the United States in 1937 to teach Light and Color at Moholy's
New Bauhaus (soon to be called the Institute of Design) in Chicago. In 1944, he produced
Language of Vision, a landmark book about design theory, followed by the publication of six Kepes-edited anthologies in a series called
Vision + Value as well as several other books. In addition to being a prolific painter and photographer, Kepes relentlessly explored the
various crossed paths between art and the sciences. In 1956,
The New Landscape in Art and Science, an exhibition (and later book) focused on these interests, gathering scientific imagery including x-ray, infra-red, microscope
and telescope photographs. Several original panels from this exhibition are present in the collection. Kepes began teaching
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1947, first as an associate professor of visual design and becoming a full
professor in 1949. As the first artist-in-residence, he encouraged collaboration between artists, designers, architects, and
engineers by organizing seminars, workshops and exhibitions. In 1967 Kepes founded MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies
(CAVS) and was its director until 1972, retiring two years later. Kepes died in 2001 at the age of 95.
The Gyorgy Kepes collection contains manuscripts, typescripts, notes, research files, correspondence, photographs, slides
& exhibition panels, artwork, catalogues, publications, media, and other material.
[identification of item], Gyorgy Kepes papers (M1796). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
The Archives of American Art holds the Gyorgy Kepes papers, 1825-1989:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/gyorgy-kepes-papers-725.
The Art Institute of Chicago holds the papers of Kepes' publisher Paul Theobold: Theobald, Paul, and Company Records, 1935-1988.
http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm/ref/collection/findingaids/id/14478
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Art, Modern -- 20th century.
Design.
Hungarian-Americans
Photography.