Finding aid for the Kirk Varnedoe papers, 1890-2006 (bulk 1970-2003) 2008.M.60
Annette Leddy
Special Collections
2012
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Kirk Varnedoe papers
Creator:
Elsen, Albert E., 1927-1995
Creator:
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
Creator:
Johns, Jasper, 1930-
Creator:
Varnedoe, Kirk, 1946-2003
Identifier/Call Number: 2008.M.60
Physical Description:
61.08 Linear Feet
(138 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1890-2006 (bulk 1970-2003)
Date (bulk): 1970-2003
Abstract: Papers of critic and curator Kirk Varnedoe include student papers and lecture notes, research files for exhibitions and publications,
typescripts and audio tapes of lectures, and a small amount of material related to his position at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York.
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
Arrangement
Arranged in eight series: Series I. Professional correspondence, 1969-2003; Series II. Personal, 1970-2003, undated; Series
III. Education, 1964-1972, undated; Series IV. Teaching, 1972-1985, undated; Series V. Lectures, 1972-2005; Series VI. Research
and Writing, 1890-2006, undated; Series VII. Museum of Modern Art files, 1948-2004, undated; Series VIII. Printed matter,
1971-2006, undated.
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers. Box 119 contains confidential correspondence and is restricted until 2082. Audio visual
material restricted until reformatting is complete.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Kirk Varnedoe papers consist primarily of research files related to Varnedoe's publications, exhibitions, and lectures.
Study photographs abound in these files, particularly of Auguste Rodin's drawings, but all Varnedoe's major interests are
well represented, including Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns. Under some research topics are filed exhibition checklists,
installation photographs, and bibliographies. Education and teaching files, containing syllabi, lecture notes, and papers,
reveal a coherent intellectual path from Varnedoe's undergraduate days through the Mellon lectures given the year before his
untimely death. There is scant personal material, mainly consisting of correspondence during his extended periods in France,
and photographs of these travels. Apart from the exhibition material in the research files, Varnedoe's tenure at the Museum
of Modern Art in New York is reflected in a discrete amount of miscellaneous material, such as meeting minutes, calendars,
and memoranda. There are also audio recordings of Varnedoe's Slade and Mellon lectures.
Processing History
Initial rehousing of the collection was performed by Vladimira Stefura. Jan Bender processed the greater part of the collection.
Annette Leddy did a small part of the processing and cataloged and described the collection.
Preferred Citation
Kirk Varnedoe Papers, 1890-2006 (bulk, 1970-2003), The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2008.M.60.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2008m60
Acquisition Information
Gift of Elyn Zimmerman.
Publication Rights
Biographical/Historical Note
Kirk Varnedoe was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1946 to a wealthy and distinguished Southern family. He attended Williams College,
where he began studying studio art, but soon switched to art history under the influence of Professor Lane Faison. He also
played college football and, after graduating, returned to coach the football team and teach art history for a year. He then
earned a Ph.D. at Stanford under Rodin scholar Albert Elsen, with whom he collaborated on an exhibition and catalog about
the profusion of drawings falsely attributed to Rodin. From 1974 to 1988 he taught first at Columbia University and then at
the Institute of Fine Arts, while also curating exhibitions on Scandinavian painting, Gustave Caillebotte, turn-of-the century
Vienna, and primitivism in Modern Art. From 1988 to 2002 he was the curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern
Art, New York. His exhibitions there, beginning with
High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture, and ending with a major retrospective on Jackson Pollock, attempted to acquaint the museum-going public with art historical
narratives that artists and academics had long accepted. These efforts, together with Varnedoe's Artist Choice series, which
engaged contemporary artists to organize exhibitions of work from the permanent collection, helped move the museum into a
less canonical and more dynamic presentation of modern art.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Art, Modern -- 19th century
Art, Modern -- 20th century
Art exhibitions -- 20th century
Rodin, Auguste, 1840-1917
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956
Professional correspondence, Series I.
1969-2003
Physical Description:
1.25 Linear Feet
(3 boxes)
Scope and Contents
Letters regarding the authentication of Rodin drawings, exhibition planning, and book publication.
Arrangement
Arranged in chronological order by year.
box 1
1969-1972
Scope and Contents
Including letters from the National Gallery regarding Varnedoe's Rodin exhibition, from Praeger, Inc. regarding the Rodin
book, and various letters regarding authentication of Rodin works.
box 2
1973-2003
Scope and Contents
Including letters from artists Duane Hansen and Cy Twombly, and regarding the exhibition
Primitivism and Modern Art, and regarding various speaking engagements.
Personal items, Series II.
1967-2003, undated
Physical Description:
1.04 Linear Feet
(3 boxes)
Scope and Contents
Letters from friends and colleagues, memorabilia, and photographs, mainly of travels.
Arrangement
Arranged in rough chronological order within the two media categories of correspondence and photography.
box 3
Correspondence,
1970-2003, undated
Scope and Contents
Including letters from friends and colleagues congratulating Varnedoe on appointments, expressing gratitude for his support,
and offering sympathy for his final struggle with illness.
box 4, box 120
Photographs, slides, and miscellaneous,
1967-2001, and undated
Scope and Contents
Including primarily photographs of travels in Europe, with some related memorabilia.
Education, Series III.
1964-1972, undated
Physical Description:
3.75 Linear Feet
(9 boxes)
Arrangement
Materials from Williams College and Stanford University are grouped separately and arranged in rough chronological order by
year.
Scope and Contents
A comprehensive record of Varnadoe's undergraduate and graduate studies, with term papers, lecture notes, transcripts, and
assorted materials.
box 5, box 6, box 7
Williams College,
1964-1968
Scope and Contents
Including term papers, lecture notes, address books, an art review from student newspaper, and transcripts. Also present are
Varnadoe's curricula for a semester of post-graduate teaching at Williams (1968) and a narrative resume describing his choices
and decisions during this stage of his life.
box 7, box 8, box 9, box 10, box 11, box 12, box 13
Stanford University,
1968-1972
Scope and Contents
Including Varnedoe's notes from his classes with Dr. Albert Elsen and others, photocopied pages from art historical textbooks,
a heavily annotated copy of an issue of
Stanford Today about Van Gogh, and a complete set of term papers from his graduate career. Also present are documents about Varnedoe's involvement
in campus anti-war protests and art-related activism.
Teaching, Series IV.
1972-1985, undated
Physical Description:
2.92 Linear Feet
(7 boxes)
Arrangement
Materials are grouped by institution in the sequence in which Varnedoe taught in them.
Scope and Contents
Lecture notes, syllabi, bibliographies, slides, and photocopied related readings.
box 14, box 133
Stanford University,
1972-1974
box 15, box 16
Columbia University,
1974-1979
box 17
New York University,
1980-1985
box 18
Las Meninas symposium, New York University,
1984
Lectures, Series V.
1972-2005
Physical Description:
7.7 Linear Feet
(16 boxes)
Arrangement
Arranged in chronological order by year.
Scope and Contents
Research notes, drafts, study photographs, and in some cases, audio recordings and floppy disc records of the lectures.
box 20
1972-1989
Scope and Contents
On topics such as Caillebotte, Rodin, photography, and primitivism in Modern Art.
box 21
1990-1992
Scope and Contents
On such topics as Pollock, Munch, collecting, and including the commencement address Varnedoe gave at Stanford.
Slade lectures: the Poverty of Postmodernism,
1992-1993
box 25
1993-1994
Scope and Contents
On topics such as Pollock and Twombly, and including Varnedoe's commencement speech at Williams College.
box 26, box 120
1994-1997
Scope and Contents
On such topics as Twombly and Jasper Johns, and including Varnedoe's eulogy for Leo Castelli. Including views of Varnedoe
in the act of lecturing.
box 27
1998-2000
Scope and Contents
On such topics as Lichtenstein, Pollock, David Smith, and Marcia Tucker
box 28
2001
Scope and Contents
On topics such as Roulin and Van Gogh, and for George Segal's memorial.
box 29
2002
Scope and Contents
On topics such as Matisse/Picasso, Van Gogh/Gauguin, and Rembrandt.
Mellon lectures: Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art Since Pollock,
2003-2005
box 30, box 31, box 32, box 33, box 34
Research and Writings, Series VI.
1890-2006, undated
Physical Description:
34.59 Linear Feet
(86 boxes)
Arrangement
Arranged in three subseries.
Scope and Contents
Files on the artists or topics Varnedoe wrote on or curated exhibitions about, with ample visual material, historical scholarship
in the form of photocopied articles and books, and often including correspondence with artists or the sponsoring institutions,
and occasionally also exhibition installation photographs and checklists.
Artists, Series VI.A.
1890-2006, undated
Physical Description:
28 Linear Feet
(67 boxes)
Arrangement
Arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of the artist.
Scope and Contents
Files contain notes, readings, drafts of essays, study photographs and slides, with occasional audiotaped interviews of living
artists.
box 34A, box 35, box 36, box 37, box 38, box 39, box 40, box 41, box 42, box 121
Gustave Caillebotte,
1972-2001
box 43, box 44, box 45, box 46, box 47, box 48, box 49
Jasper Johns,
circa 1960-1996
box 50, box 51
Matisse/Picasso,
1959-2003
box 52, box 53, box 54, box 55, box 56, box 57, box 58
Jackson Pollock,
1926-2006
box 59, box 60, box 61, box 62, box 63, box 64, box 65, box 66, box 68, box 67, box 69, box 70, box 71, box 72, box 73, box 74, box 75, box 76, box 77, box 78, box 79, box 80, box 81, box 82, box 122, box 123, box 124, box 125, box 133
Auguste Rodin,
1892-2003
Scope and Contents
Including numerous authentication files, and research dating from Varnedoe's Stanford years through the 1990s when he wrote
A Fine Regard.
box 83, box 84, box 85, box 86, box 133
Scandinavian artists,
circa 1950- circa 1988
Scope and Contents
Research on various artists for Varnedoe's
Northern Lights exhibition in 1982, and book published in 1988.
Cy Twombly,
1920-2000, undated
Cy Twombly (digital version available on-site only): 1920-2000
box 88, box 89, box 90, box 121, box 133
Drafts, readings, photographs
box 135, folder C1-C11
Audio tapes
Scope and Contents
C1: Lecture 1 of 3 from MOMA's Cy Twombly exhibit. October 4, 1994. Speakers are Richard Serra, Francesco Clemente, and Brice
Marden.
C5: Lecture 3 of 3 from MOMA, titled "The Latin Class," October 25, 1994. Rosalind Krauss is the lecturer.
C8: Lecture 2 of 3 lectures from MOMA, titled "Rethinking Cy Twombly," October 11, 1994. Kirk Varnedoe is the lecturer.
C11: Kirk Varnedoe lectures on Cy Twombly at the National Gallery on May 17, 2001.
C2-C4 are duplicates of C1. C6, C7, and C10 are duplicates of C5. C9 is a duplicate of C8.
box 91, box 92, box 93
Vincent Van Gogh,
circa 1890-2003
Topics, Series VI.B.
1911-2002, undated
Physical Description:
2.5 Linear Feet
(7 boxes)
Arrangement
Arranged in alphabetical order by topic.
Scope and Contents
A selection of topics Varnedoe pursued during his lifetime.
box 97
High and Low,
1962-1992
Scope and Contents
Including reviews of the landmark show and numerous installation shots.
box 98, box 99, box 126, box 127
Ruins,
1968-2001
Scope and Contents
Box 99 contains eleven notebooks with Varnedoe's reflections on ruins and other themes, mainly from his 1977 research trip.
Assorted, Series VI.C.
1944-2003, undated
Physical Description:
4.09 Linear Feet
(12 boxes)
Scope and Contents
Including articles about critical theory, clippings of general interest, and research possibly related to other curatorial
and writing interests. Includes card catalog of Varnedoe's upstate New York library and audio visual material relating to
topics other than the artists listed in subseries VI.A.
Arrangement
Arranged in chronological order by year.
box 101, box 102, box 103, box 104, box 105, box 106
Articles by others,
1944-2003
box 128, box 129, box 130, box 131, box 132, box 133
Slides,
undated
Scope and Contents
Including views of monuments in Europe and commercially available slides of the work of various artists.
box 134, folder F1-F4
Films,
undated
Scope and Contents
Including four reels, 3 unidentified, 1 about the artist Krogh.
box 137, folder C32-C33
Audiotapes,
circa 1995
Scope and Contents
Including a Varnedoe interview with Jeff Koons.
box 138, folder D1-D19
Digital media,
circa 1980 - circa 2003
Scope and Contents
Media generally pertains to lectures and includes one recording of the card catalog of Varnadoe's library. 14 computer discs
(floppy disk) : 3 1/2 in. 3 computer disc (floppy disk) : 5 1/4 in. 2 computer disc : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Museum of Modern Art files, Series VII.
1948-2004, undated
Physical Description:
1.25 Linear Feet
(3 boxes)
Scope and Contents
Including minutes of meetings, reports about art institutions other than MOMA, memoranda, and assorted correspondence.
Arrangement
Arranged in rough chronological order by year.
box 107
Papers by museum world colleagues and Varnedoe about Museum collecting and management,
1948-2004
Scope and Contents
Including interview with Adam Gopnik, and plans for museum expansion.
box 108
MOMA catalogs and calendars, memos, minutes of meetings regarding MOMA expansion and the Painting and Sculpture committee
box 109
MOMA Cycle III meeting notes
Printed matter, Series VIII.
1971-2006, undated
Physical Description:
8.58 Linear Feet
(9 boxes)
Arrangement
Materials are grouped by type.
Scope and Contents
Including a fairly complete clipping file and mainstream serial collection on Varnedoe, documenting his career, with seemingly
random selections of art ephemera.
box 110
Articles about Varnedoe,
1976-2001
box 111, box 112, box 113, box 114
Proofs of
Pictures of Nothing,
2006
Scope and Contents
Including correspondence with Varnedoe's widow.
box 115
Postcards of art,
undated
box 116
Announcements and brochures,
1972-1999, undated
box 118
Miscellaneous,
1977-1991, undated