Erenberg (Sam) Papers, 1965-2012

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Summary

Title:
Sam Erenberg papers
Dates:
1965-2012
Creators:
Erenberg, Sam
Abstract:
The papers highlight Erenberg's career as a painter, bookmaker, filmmaker, and installation and performance artist. The archive includes correspondence, photographs, and project files documenting Erenberg's exhibition history; relations with artists, curators, and gallerists; and the development of various projects including experimental films, installations, and artists' books.
Extent:
17 Linear Feet (24 boxes, 2 flatfile folders) and computer media (676 GB [109 files])
Language:
Collection material is in English.
Preferred citation:

Sam Erenberg papers, 1965-2012, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2012.M.52.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2012m52

Background

Scope and content:

The Sam Erenberg papers highlight the artist's career as a painter, bookmaker, filmmaker, and installation and performance artist. The collection includes correspondence and project files documenting Erenberg's exhibition history; relations with artists, curators, and gallerists; and the development of several large-scale installation projects. Also featured are films he created between 1967 and 1977, and works of art by other artists.

Series I contains both personal and business correspondence from 1965 to 2010. It includes personal letters from Erenberg's family, as well as letters from artists such as Ciel Bergman and Stephen Westfall, and mail art from James Lee Byars. The majority of the business correspondence relates to applications for fellowships, grants, residency programs, and teaching positions, as well as art submissions and exhibition proposals. Also included are papers documenting gallery consignments, artists' book projects, and other miscellaneous business papers.

The project files in Series II form the bulk of the archive and document Erenberg's artistic career. Included are papers related to various projects such as exhibitions, installations, artists' books, performances, lectures, and fellowships. The papers comprise correspondence, clippings, project notes, drafts, invoices, and ephemera. Some files include photographs and audiovisual material. Additionally, this series contains original works by Erenberg including raw footage of his experimental films between 1967 and 1977. Photographic documentation of artworks and notebooks are filed at the end of the series.

The archive also contains Erenberg's collection of works and ephemera by artists in Series III. Works include prints, drawings, and photographs by artists such as Byars and Karen Atkinson.

Series IV contains miscellaneous or unidentified papers, personal photographs, and audiovisual material. Of particular note is an audio recording of Marcel Duchamp speaking at The Art of Assemblage at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1961.

Biographical / historical:

American artist Sam Erenberg is a painter, bookmaker, filmmaker, and installation and performance artist. Born in 1943, he grew up in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. His interest in art began after being inspired by exhibitions of Salvador Dali and hard-edge painting during the early 1960s. He enrolled in the Chouinard Art Institute (now known as the California Institute of the Arts) to study painting in 1965, and it was there that he met his wife, Elena Mary Siff. In 1969, they moved to the artistic community of Topanga Canyon, where Erenberg socialized with musicians and artists including Wallace Berman and George Herms. Inspired by a creative community, Erenberg worked on several films with local artist friends and reinforced his interest in filmmaking.

Erenberg received his BA in Art from California State University, Northridge in 1974 and an MFA from the University of California Santa Barbara two years later. In Santa Barbara, Erenberg became more involved with performance art and started making artists' books for his first performance piece. After graduate school, Erenberg became part of the exhibition committee for the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum and curated exhibitions for artists such as Chris Burden and Laurie Anderson. Erenberg was actively involved in the art community in Santa Barbara, where he also had several solo and group exhibitions. He continued to live in Santa Barbara with his family until 1993 and moved back to Los Angeles the following year.

Erenberg's films, installations, books, and paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Central America and are included in collections worldwide including the Kunstmuseum Bern (Switzerland), Wexford Arts Centre (Ireland), and the UCLA Armand Hammer Museum. He currently lives and works in Santa Monica.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Sam Erenberg. Acquired in 2012.
Appraisal information:

Leopard test volume backup digital files were not retained in this collection according to the Library's digital preservation and privacy policies.

Processing information:

Processed by Sheila Prospero under the supervision of Kit Messick in July 2014 and from January to June 2015.

One videotape was added to the collection in 2018; audiovisual materials are unavailable until reformatted.

Digital materials were processed by Laura Schroffel in 2017. Files require further processing and can be requested by contacting reference.

Arrangement:

Arranged in four series: Series I. Correspondence, 1965-2010; Series II. Project files, 1967-2009; Series III. Works by other artists, 1977-2012, undated; Series IV. Miscellaneous, 1979-2007, undated.

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.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Sheila Prospero
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-03-19 09:06:52 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers, except audiovisual materials, which are unavailable until reformatted, and materials in Box 24, which are sealed until 2066.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Preferred citation:

Sam Erenberg papers, 1965-2012, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2012.M.52.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2012m52

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