Finding aid for the Alexander Liberman miscellaneous papers, 1953-1997

Emmabeth Nanol

Descriptive Summary

Title: Alexander Liberman miscellaneous papers,

Date (inclusive): 1953-1997, undated

Number: 2003.M.30

Creator/Collector: Liberman, Alexander

Physical Description: 35 Linear Feet (35 boxes. Computer media: 2.74 GB [568 files]) and 2 unprocessed Jaz drives

Repository:

The Getty Research Institute

Special Collections

1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100

Los Angeles 90049-1688

reference@getty.edu

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref

(310) 440-7390

Abstract: Alexander Liberman was an artist, photographer, and an influential art director of Vogue magazine from 1943 to 1962, then editorial director of Condé Nast publications until 1994. The collection contains Liberman's drafts, transcripts, mock-ups, sound recordings relating to "Vogue project," The Artist in his Studio and other publications. Also included are nine albums of photographs and clippings from Vogue and various newspaper reviews.

Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy .

Language: Collection material is in English.

Biographical/Historical Note

Alexander Liberman was born in Kiev, Russia (now Ukraine) on September 14, 1912, and was educated in London and Paris before moving to the United States in 1941. Liberman, who is mostly known for his tenure as artistic director at Condé Nast and Vogue for over 50 years, had a multifaceted career as sculptor, painter, photographer, writer and graphic designer.

In the summer of 1948, Liberman embarked on a project to photograph artists in their homes and studios. Many of the photographs were published in Vogue with accompanying text by Liberman. The project culminated in Liberman's book, The Artist in His Studio , first published in 1960. According to the book's forward, Liberman's purpose was "to record and interpret with a camera the personalities and ambiance of some of the leading European painters and sculptors."

Administrative Information

Access

Open for use by qualified researchers except unreformatted audiovisual material and computer files, which are unavailable until reformatted.

Publication Rights

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions .

Preferred Citation

"Alexander Liberman papers, 1953-1997, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2003.M.30.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2003m30

Acquisition

Gift of the Estate of Alexander Liberman. Acquired in 2003.

Processing History

Lora Chin Derrien received the collection and did preliminary processing in 2003. Emmabeth Nanol then reprocessed the collection under Andra Darlington's supervision in 2012.

Digital materials comprising 30 Syquest disks were processed by Laura Schroffel in 2017. Further processing is required on remaining digital content.

Digital material

Selected material has been processed and is available online: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2003m30bd

Related Archival Materials

Alexander Liberman photography archive, 1911-1998, undated (Accession no. 2000.R.19). Connect to finding aid: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2000r19.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection is comprised of handwritten and typewritten drafts, corrected typescripts, layouts and mock-ups for photo-essays in Vogue, The artist in his Studio, and other publications. Also includes correspondence, several audio recordings, computer disks, and other media. Among the most heavily represented artists in the collection are George Braques, Marc Chagall, and Jacques Villon.

Arrangement

Arranged in five series: Series I. Artist essays, 1954-circa 1990, undated; Series II. Vogue project, 1956-1980; Series III. The artist in his studio, 1954-1982, undated; Series IV. Other writings, 1956-1997, undated; Series V. Miscellaneous, 1953-1997, undated

Indexing Terms

Subjects - Names

Braque, Georges

Chagall, Marc

Matisse, Henri

Villon, Jacques, 1875-1963

Picasso, Pablo

Subjects - Topics

Art, Modern -- 20th century

Artists' studios -- France -- Paris

Art, French -- 20th century

Artists -- France -- Paris -- Interviews

Subjects - Titles

The artist in his studio

Genres and Forms of Material

Correspondence

Hard disks

Sound recordings -- 20th century

Video recordings -- 20th century

Drafts (documents)

Audiocassettes

Dummies (printed matter)

Contributors

Liberman, Alexander

Series I. Artist essays, 1954-circa 1990, undated

Physical Description: 22 Linear Feet (23 boxes. Computer media: 1.64 GB [250 files])

Scope and Content Note

This series encompasses the many stages of Liberman's essays such as handwritten drafts, annotated typescripts, editorial proofs, and mock-ups. Also included are audio recordings and transcriptions on computer disk cartridges of interviews that accompanied his photographs in the Vogue project and, later, The Artist in His Studio.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically with various subjects and cumulative files at the end.

box 1, folder 1

Bazaine, Jean, undated

Bonnard, Pierre, 1956-1960, undated

box 1, folder 2-5

Drafts

box 13*, folder 1

Proofs and oversize

box 1, folder 6

Borès, Francisco, undated

Brancusi, Constantin, 1955-1960

box 1, folder 7

Drafts

box 13*, folder 2

Oversize

Braques, Georges, 1954-1960, undated

Drafts

box 1, folder 8

1954

box 1, folder 9-11

1957

box 2, folder 1-2

1958

box 2, folder 3-4

1960

box 2, folder 5-7

undated

box 13*, folder 3-4

Proofs and oversize

box 17

Mock-ups

Sound recordings

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

box 34, item C9, C11

Wire recordings

Scope and Content Note

2 sound cassettes : analog ; 3 7/8 x 1 15/16 in.

box 29, item CM1-CM5

Calder, Alexander, 1995

Physical Description: 0.4 GB (45 files)

Scope and Content Note

5 computer disk cartridges (SyQuest); 5 1/4 in. CM1-CM5 contain 38 Tagged Image File Format files. Unavailable until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting.

Cézanne, Paul, 1960, undated

box 2, folder 8-9

Drafts

box 13*, folder 5

Oversize

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

Chagall, Marc, 1955-1960, undated

Drafts 1955-1960, undated

box 3, folder 1-3

1955-1960

undated

box 3, folder 4-6

Handwritten

box 4, folder 1-4

Typewritten

Scope and Content Note

Pasted excerpts with notations.

box 14*, folder 1

Proofs and oversize

box 18

Mock-ups

Sound recordings

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

box 34, item C3, C12, C16

Wire recordings

Scope and Content Note

3 sound cassettes : analog ; 3 7/8 x 1 15/16 in.

box 4, folder 5

Dali, Salvador, undated

box 29, item CM6-CM8

De Kooning, Willem, 1996

De Kooning, Willem images (digital version available on-site only)

view online item

Physical Description: 0.2 GB (33 files)

Scope and Content Note

3 computer disc cartridges (SyQuest) ; 5 1/4 in. Cartridges contain 30 tiff image files. Image files were converted to jpeg for access using IrfanView.

Derain, André,

box 4, folder 6

Drafts

box 14*, folder 2

Oversize

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

box 4, folder 7

Dongen, Kees van, undated

box 4, folder 8

Dubuffet, Jean, undated

Duchamp, Marcel, 1960, undated

box 4, folder 9

Drafts

box 34, item C7

Sound recordings

Scope and Content Note

1 sound cassette : analog ; 3 7/8 x 1 15/16 in. Wire recording.

Dunoyer de Segonzac, André, 1960

box 4, folder 10

Drafts

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

Feininger, Lyonel, 1956, undated

box 4, folder 11-13

Drafts

box 14*, folder 3

Proofs and oversize

box 5, folder 1-4

Giacometti, Alberto, 1954-1960, undated

Gromaire, Marcel, 1957-1960

box 5, folder 5

Drafts

box 14*, folder 4

Proof

box 34, item C8

Sound recording

Scope and Content Note

1 sound cassette : analog ; 3 7/8 x 1 15/16 in. Wire recording.

box 30, item CM9-CM11

Johns, Jasper, 1996

Physical Description: 0.2 GB (38 files)

Scope and Content Note

3 computer disk cartridges (SyQuest); 5 1/4 in. CM9-CM11 contain 34 Tagged Image File Format files. Unavailable until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting.

Kandinsky, Wassily, 1955-1960, undated

box 5, folder 6-9

Drafts

box 14*, folder 5-6

Proofs and oversize

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

Kupka, František, undated

box 5, folder 10

Drafts

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

box 5, folder 11

Lanskoy, André, undated

box 5, folder 12

Le Corbusier, undated

Léger, Fernand, 1960, undated

box 6, folder 1-4

Drafts

box 16*, folder 1

Oversize

box 19

Mock-ups

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

box 6, folder 5

Manesier, Alfred, undated

box 6, folder 6

Masson, André, undated

Matisse, Henri, 1957-1960, undated

Drafts

box 6, folder 7-8

1957-1960

box 7, folder 1-4

undated

box 14*, folder 7

Oversize

box 20

Mock-ups

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

box 7, folder 5

Miró, Joan, 1960, undated

Monet, Claude, 1955-1960, undated

Drafts 1955-1960, undated

box 7, folder 6-8

Handwritten

box 8, folder 1-3

Typewritten

box 15*, folder 1

Proofs and oversize

box 30-31, item CM12-CM17

Newman, Barnett, 1996

Physical Description: 0.5 GB (73 files)

Scope and Content Note

6 computer disk cartridges (SyQuest); 5 1/4 in. CM12-CM17 contains 62 Tagged Image File Format files and 5 Adobe Photoshop files. CM12-CM14 are contained in Box 30 and CM15-CM17 are contained in box 31. Unavailable until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting.

box 8, folder 4

Pevsner, Antoine, 1960, undated

Picasso, Pablo, 1954-1960, undated

Drafts

box 8, folder 5-8

1954-1960

box 9, folder 1-3

undated

box 16*, folder 2

Proofs and oversize

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

folder 9, folder 4

Poliakoff, Serge, undated

box 9, folder 5

Renoir, Auguste, undated

box 9, folder 6

Richier, Germaine, 1959

Rouault, Georges, 1954-1960, undated

box 9, folder 7-10

Drafts

box 15*, folder 2

Oversize

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

Segonzac, André Dunoyer de

Scope and Content Note

See: Dunoyer de Segonzac, André.

box 31, item CM18-CM22

Smith, David, 1995, 1996

Physical Description: 0.34 GB (61 files)

Scope and Content Note

5 computer disk cartridges (SyQuest); 5 1/4 in. CM18-CM22 contain 56 Tagged Image File Format files. Unavailable until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting.

box 15, folder 4

Steichen, Edward, 1959, undated

box 9, folder 11

Drafts

box 15*, folder 3

Magazine excerpts

Utrillo, Maurice, 1955-1960, undated

box 10, folder 1-2

Drafts

box 16*, folder 3

Proofs and oversize

Van Kees, Dongen

Scope and Content Note

See: Dongen, Kees van.

Villon, Jacques, 1954-1960, undated

box 10, folder 4-8

Drafts

box 16*, folder 4

Oversize

box 21

Mock-ups

Sound recordings

box 33

Dictaphone memobelts

box 34, item C4, C10

Wire recordings

Scope and Content Note

2 sound cassettes : analog ; 3 7/8 x 1 15/16 in.

Vlaminck, Maurice de, 1955-1960, undated

box 11, folder 1-4

Drafts

box 15*, folder 4

Proofs and oversize

box 11, folder 5

Yakovlev, Aleksandr, undated

Compilations, undated

box 11, folder 5

Drafts

box 22

Mock-ups

box 35

Microfilms undated

Scope and Content Note

2 microfilm reels : negative.

Series II. Vogue project clippings, 1956-1980

Physical Description: 3 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Scope and Content Note

Two albums of Vogue clippings of Liberman's photo-essays.

Arrangement

Arranged according to original order, roughly chronological.

box 23

Album 1

box 24

Album 2

Series III. The Artist in His Studio (1960), 1954-1982, undated

Physical Description: 7 Linear Feet (5 boxes)

Scope and Content Note

Contains possible layouts for the book, correspondence, four albums of reviews, an audio reel and papers relating to Liberman's exhibiton from October 29, 1959 to January 10, 1960 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, titled, The Artist in His studio: An Exhibition of Photographs by Alexander Liberman .

Arrangement

Arranged in two groupings: publication and exhibition.

Publication, 1957-1982, undated

box 11, folder 6

Book layout, 1957, undated

box 11, folder 7

Letters to Neil Jacobs about gift books, 1982

box 25-27

Reviews, 1960-1971

box 35, item R1

Tape 2. Book and the Artist: Alexander Liberman and Burton Cumming, undated

Scope and Content Note

1 sound tape reel : analog, 7 1/2 ips ; 7 in., 1/2 in. tape.

Exhibition, 1959-1963

box 11, folder 8

Checklist and exhibit scripts, 1960

box 28

Reviews, 1959-1963

Series IV. Other writings, 1956-1997, undated

Physical Description: 2 Linear Feet (3 boxes. Computer media: 1.1 GB [318 files]) and 1 unprocessed Jaz drive

Scope and Content Note

The series contains annotated drafts and typescripts, original title lists and layouts, and computer disk cartridges relating to several of Liberman's other writing projects.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically with unidentified at the end.

box 11, folder 9

"Beauty of our Time" in Vogue, circa 1961

box 11, folder 10-11

Introduction for Irving Penn's Moments Preserved: Eight Essays In Photographs and Words (1960) 1960, undated

box 32, item CM23-CM28, CM30-CM31

Prayers in Stone (1997), 1994-1997

Physical Description: 0.4 GB (311 files)

Scope and Content Note

7 computer disk cartridges ; 5 1/4 in. SyQuest (CM23-CM28). CM26 is empty. CM23-CM25 and CM27-CM28, CM30 contain 18 Tagged Image File Format files; 5 Adobe Illustrator (.eps) files; 7 Quark Xpress Data Files and many other font and subsidiary files. 1 computer disk ; 3 1/2 in. Jaz (CM31) has not been processed. Unavailable until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting.

School of Paris/Imprints of Paris, 1956-1960, undated

box 12, folder 1-2

Original titles list and layouts, 1958-1960, undated

box 12, folder 3-4

Drafts, 1956-1960, undated

box 15*, folder 7

Oversize, 1957

box 12, folder 5-6

Untitled, undated

box 32, item CM29

"9 American Artists", 1994-1996

Physical Description: 0.07 GB (7 files)

Scope and Content Note

1 computer disk cartridge (SyQuest); 5 1/4 in. CM29 contains 6 Quark Xpress Data Files. Unavailable until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting.

Series V. Miscellaneous, 1953-1997, undated

Physical Description: 1 Linear Feet (2 boxes) and 1 unprocessed Jaz drive

Scope and Content Note

Mostly untitled and undated sound recordings and computer disk cartridges.

Arrangement

Arranged by media.

box 32, item CM32

Digital files, circa 1990-1997

Scope and Content Note

1 computer disk (Jaz); 3 1/2 in. Label is blank. Unavailable until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting.

Sound recordings, 1953-1960, undated

Dictaphone memobelts, 1953

box 12, folder 7

Papers from dictaphone memobelts

box 33

Belts 1-6

box 33

Miss Pohl Vogue

box 33

Empty belts

box 34, item C1-C2, C5-C6, C13-C15

Wire recordings and slide, 1957-1960, undated

Scope and Content Note

7 sound cassettes : analog ; 3 7/8 x 1 15/16 in. Recordings are numbered sequentially from 1 to 18 with cassettes 12 and 17 missing. Some recordings labeled with artists names are listed in Series I, although all wire recordings are physically stored in the same box in their original order.

box 34, item C17

Greece, undated

Scope and Content Note

1 sound cassette : analog.

box 34, item C18

Untitled, undated

Scope and Content Note

1 sound cassette : analog.

box 35, item R2

Tape 3. Untitled, undated

Scope and Content Note

1 sound tape reel : analog, 3 3/4 ips. ; 7 in., 1/2 in. tape.