Alexander Liberman photography archive, 1911-1998

View only results with digital items
Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Creators:
Liberman, Alexander, 1912-1999
Abstract:
The archive contains photographs by Alexander Liberman, Russian-born photographer, art director of Vogue magazine, and editorial director of Condé Nast publications. Included in the collection are approximately 8,000 photographic prints, 50,000 transparencies, 90,000 negatives, 38 books of contact prints, and prints mounted for exhibition. The predominant subjects are artists and other cultural figures, and European historical sites. Also included are personal photographs of family and friends.
Extent:
337 Linear Feet (405 boxes, 4 flat file folders, 19 framed items)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Alexander Liberman photography archive, 1911-1998, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2000.R.19.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2000r19

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains photographs by Alexander Liberman taken between 1925 and 1998, including approximately 8,000 photographic prints, 50,000 transparencies, 90,000 negatives, 38 books of contact sheets, and loose prints mounted on foam core. The subjects of the photographs fall primarily into two groups: contemporary artists and cultural figures, and European historical sites. The collection documents over 242 major European and American artists, such as Georges Braque, Cézanne, Salvador Dali, Willem de Kooning, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse, Barnett Newman, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, and Mark Rothko. Among the images are portraits of the artists at work or in their studios, photographs of their work in progress, and documentation of finished artworks. A smaller group of photographs documenting historical and architectural sites focuses on Greece, France, Italy, and Spain are also included and intermixed alphabetically among the artists files. Some photographs depict Liberman's family and friends. Production materials for some of his photographic books are included, as are images for Barbara Rose's book Alexander Liberman (1981). Also present are photographs by other photographers such as Irving Penn, some dating as early as 1911.

Biographical / historical:

Russian-born artist Alexander Liberman was the influential art director of Vogue magazine from 1943 to 1962, then editorial director of Condé Nast publications until 1994. As an artist, Liberman worked in paint, large-scale sculpture, and photography. He photographed contemporary artists and other cultural figures, friends, family, and historical sites from about 1925 until 1998. He published several books of his photographs, including The Artist in His Studio (1960, 1988), Campodiglio: Michelangelo's Roman Capitol (1994), and Then: Photographs 1925-1995 (1995).

Acquisition information:
Gift of the Alexander Liberman estate, 2000.
Processing information:

Preliminary processing by Alan Tomlinson under the supervision of Jocelyn Gibbs. Two boxes of photographic material were received in 2003 and 2004. In 2010 Emmabeth Nanol researched the dates for images in Series II.A and Series VI.A and added them to the finding aid, along with the number of unique images in each folder. In 2012, Emmabeth Nanol rearranged the finding aid under the supervision of Andra Darlington. Box 47A is sealed for conservation purposes.

Arrangement:

Arranged in six series:

Series I. Artists and personalities, 1911-1995, undated;

Series II. Publications, circa 1925-1998; Series III. Prints in edition for exhibition, circa 1994-1996;

Series IV. Benrubi returns, circa 1940-1995;

Series V. Places, 1960-1972, undated;

Series VI. Negatives, contact prints and scrapbooks, 1936-1972, 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

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Preferred citation:

Alexander Liberman photography archive, 1911-1998, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2000.R.19.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2000r19

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