Finding aid for the Franz Roh papers, 1911-1965
Finding aid prepared by Carl Wuellner.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Franz Roh papers
Date (inclusive): 1911-1965
Number: 850120
Creator/Collector:
Roh, Franz, 1890-1965
Physical Description:
3.5 linear feet
(7 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: German art historian and pioneering critic of the 20th-century avant-garde who took an interest in the study and development
of photography as an art form. Collection consists primarily of letters received from more than 1,000 correspondents, ca.
1911-1965. The correspondence is of a personal, intellectual, and business nature, between Roh and colleagues and fellow students,
critics, editors, gallery owners, and curators throughout Germany, France, and the United States. Letters express thanks and
complaints concerning Roh's criticism, and contain requests for reviews, catalog statements, photographs, introductions, and
articles.
Language: Collection material is in
German
Biographical/Historical Note
Franz Roh (1890-1965) was a noted art historian, photographer, and critic of the early twentieth-century avant-garde. He began
his career working for
Cicerone,
Kunstblatt, and other journals publishing on art topics. In 1925, with the encouragement of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, he published
Nachexpressionismus-Magischer Realismus. Through this he gained prominence in the artistic circles of the avant-garde, which led to his co-publication of
Foto-Auge with Jan Tschichold in 1929. The progressivism of his work led to
Foto-Auge being sequestered and confiscated, and eventually led Roh to a brief imprisonment when he was forbidden to write by government
censors in 1933. He was, however, awarded a professorship in modern art at the University of Munich in 1946, a position he
held for the remainder of his life. He continued to promote contemporary art in the years after the war and became president
of AICA (International Association of Art Critics) in 1951. He died in Munich in 1965.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Franz Roh papers, 1911-1965, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 850120.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa850120
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 1985.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Franz Roh Papers consist of letters, postcard, telegrams and other pieces of personal and professional correspondence
and a small collection of other writings and manuscripts from the estate of Franz Roh (1890-1965). Roh was an important critic
of the early twentieth-century avant-garde, as well as an artist and teacher.
Correspondence in the collection was written to and from Roh between 1911 and 1965. Correspondents primarily are artists,
art historians, writers, poets, art dealers and publishing houses. Included within the correspondence are exhibition opening
announcements, prints and other works on paper sent as gifts or seasonal greeting cards by artist friends, and occasional
personal photographs included with letters. There is a large number of photocopied letters from Roh to Wilhelm Flitner, dating
from 1911-1965.
The archive also holds a collection of manuscript writings by Roh and others. These include a typed, partial transcript of
Roh's diary written while he was a field soldier during World War I, and a collection of ephemeral items from Roh's personal
papers. There are notable collections of letters and manuscripts by Raoul Hausmann and J.A. Baader. These include a seventy-four
page typed draft for part of Hausmann's
Hyle, an assortment of essays on art and philosophy and other personal papers, as well as a collection of letters written by him
to Roh dating from 1946-1965. There are also writings on art by Baader, letters from him to Roh, and a handwritten, manuscript
draft copy of Baader's
Der Stern Erde.
Arrangement note
The archive is organized in the following series and sub-series:
Series I. Correspondence, 1911-1965;
Series II. Raoul Hausmann letters and writings, 1918-1961, undated;
Series III. J.A. Baader letters and writings, 1946;
Series IV. War diary and ephemera, 1915, undated.
Series I.
Correspondence,
1911-1965
Physical Description:
33.0 folder(s)
Scope and Content Note
Letters received and sent by Roh, primarily from and to artists, art historians, writers, dealers and publishers. Arranged
in 3 subseries: letters received, letters sent, and unidentified letters and fragments.
Series I.A.
Letters received by Roh,
1911-1965
Physical Description:
28.0 folder(s)
Scope and Content Note
Correspondents primarily are artists, art historians, writers, poets, art dealers and publishing houses. Included within the
correspondence are exhibition opening announcements, prints and other works on paper sent as gifts or seasonal greeting cards
by artist friends, and occasional personal photographs included with letters. Arranged alphabetically.
Box 1, Folder 1
Achalme through Athenäum Verlag
Scope and Content Note
Includes correspondence from Jean Arp.
Box 1, Folder 2
Baerwind through Bertelsmann Verlag
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Herbert von Bayer.
Box 1, Folder 4
Camaro through Czapski-Holzmann
Scope and Content Note
Includes collection of letters from Heinrich Campendonk.
Box 2, Folder 1
Flora through Fuchs
Scope and Content Note
With letters from Paul Frankl.
Box 2, Folder 4
Hansen-Löve through Henningsen
Box 3, Folder 1
Henschel through Imkamp
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Hans Hofmann.
Box 3, Folder 3
Kästner through Klinkhardt & Biermann Verlag
Box 3, Folder 6
Mabermehl through Meyer-Mengede
Scope and Content Note
With letters from Carlo Mense.
Box 4, Folder 1
Mikl through le Noci
Scope and Content Note
With correspondence from Laszlo, Lucia and Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, and Gabriele Munter-Kandinsky.
Box 4, Folder 4
Reich through Rusche
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Hans Richter.
Box 5, Folder 1
Saar Verlag through Schirmer
Box 5, Folder 2
Schischkoff through Scholz
Box 5, Folder 3
Schöndube through Schwedeles
Box 5, Folder 5
Tietze through Vordemberge-Gildewart
Box 5, Folder 6
Voss through Wessel
Scope and Content Note
With letters from Wilhelm Waetzhold.
Box 6, Folder 1
Westheim through Zimmerman
Scope and Content Note
Includes letters from Heinrich Wölfflin.
Series I.B.
Letters From Roh,
1910-1965, n.d.
Physical Description:
4.0 folder(s)
Scope and Content Note
Arranged chronologically, followed by copies of letters to Wilhelm Flitner.
Box 6, Folder 2
Letters from Roh,
1913-1958, undated
Box 6, Folder 3
Letters from Roh to Wilhelm Flitner (photocopies),
1910-1918
Box 6, Folder 4
Letters from Roh to Wilhelm Flitner (photocopies),
1919-1926
Box 6, Folder 5
Letters from Roh to Wilhelm Flitner (photocopies),
1927-1965, undated
Series I.C.
Unidentified and incomplete letters to Roh,
between 1911-1965
Physical Description:
1.0 folder(s)
Scope and Content Note
Unidentified correspondents, letter fragments, sent to Roh. Includes a few manuscript and ephemera items.
Box 7
Letters, manuscripts and ephemera
Box 7, Folder 1
Letters to Roh from unidentified correspondents and fragmentary letters
Series II.
Raoul Hausmann letters and writings,
1918-1961, undated
Physical Description:
3.0 folder(s)
Scope and Content Note
Letters and manuscripts by Raoul Hausmann, including a 74 page typed draft for part of Hausmann's
Hyle, an assortment of essays on art and philosophy and other personal papers, as well as a collection of letters written by him
to Roh dating from 1946-1965.
Box 7, Folder 2
Letters from Hausmann to Roh,
1921, 1953-1961, undated
Scope and Content Note
Arranged chronologically. Includes one reply postcard from Roh to Hausmann, undated. Letters in which Hausmann attempts to
re-establish contact with Roh after a period of twenty years, and recount his whereabouts and activities in art and writing
(especially for
Hyle) during that time.
Box 7, Folder 3
Hausmann writings:
Hyle,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Seventy-four page typescript for parts of
Hyle I and/or
Hyle II.
Box 7, Folder 4
Hausmann writings,
1918, 1921, 1947
Scope and Content Note
Assorted writings and poems by Hausmann, including a Curriculum Vitae dated 1957; a typescript labeled
Hyle II, dated 1947; an essay titled "Notizheft" dated 1921, in which he describes the evolution of modern art as being one toward
a "decentralized" form of expression; an essay ("Wir sind nicht die Photographen") in which he argues that eyesight is not
merely "mechanical" in nature; an essay from 1918 describing the various artistic movements of the beginning of the century.
Series III.
J. A. Baader letters and writings,
1946
Physical Description:
8.0 items
Scope and Content Note
Series contains writings on art by Baader, letters from him to Roh, and a handwritten, manuscript draft copy of Baader's
Der Stern Erde.
Box 7, Folder 5
Letter to Roh and manuscripts,
1946
Scope and Content Note
Typescript of chapter "Der Geist als Organisator" from
Der Sterne Erde; six-page handwritten copy of
Der Sterne Erde dated 1946 mailed to Hans Jantzen, with accompanying letter in which Baader explains the circumstances of his work during
the war; fragment of a note with the heading "Ober-Dadaismus und Über-Realismus," dated 1946.
Series IV.
War Diary and ephemera,
1915, undated
Physical Description:
2.0 folder(s)
Scope and Content Note
Series includes a typed, partial transcript of Roh's diary written while he was a field soldier during World War I, and a
collection of ephemeral items from Roh's personal papers.
Box 7, Folder 6
Typewritten extract from Roh's World War I diary,
1915