Initiated in 1988, this project focused on the involvement of the New York School in higher education, most notably at Hunter College in New York.

Supported by grants from the Research Foundation of the City University of New York, a number of interested participants researched and interviewed former faculty members as well as others peripherally associated with the Art Department at Hunter, and/or intimately involved in the New York art world of the 1940s-1960s, and beyond.

The Art Department at Hunter College had distinguished itself by becoming directly involved with artists shortly after WWII. Edna Wells Luetz, chair of the Department during this period hired Robert Motherwell to teach, and subsequently, William S. Rubin and others recommended by Motherwell. In so doing she brought into the academy figures then in the forefront of modern art.

William Baziotes, one of the early figures in this history remarked that “he who teaches, learns twice.” Much of the foundation of contemporary art as we know it was formed during this period, and many of those so closely associated with its developments were actively teaching. This part of the history of modern art is really little known.

Participants in these researches over the years have included Tracy Adler, Elizabeth K. Allen, Caroline Ash, Belinda Blum, Umberto Calabro, Paul Corio, Margaret Fiore, Jill Gannon, Matthew Garrison, Lauren Gohara, Fred Gross, George Hofmann, Tracy Myers, John Parker, Searfino Patti, Shirley Ricci, Meagan Shein, Elizabeth Simonson, Allyson Spellacy, Anya Steger, Michael Steger, and Rachel Urkowitz.

It is our hope that this site will be useful to researchers and others interested in the history of modern art, and that it will be added to in the course of time.

Interviews

Alice Aycock  interviewed by  Rachel Urkowitz,  1999-04-24 

John Baldessari interviewed by  Matthew Garrison,   2001-06-00      Transcript

Ethel Baziotes interviewed by George Hofmann, 1998-11-01  (Notes on a conversation)

Norman Bluhm interviewed by George Hofmann,   1997-07-21     Transcript

Jeanne Bultman interviewed by Elizabeth Simonson & Jensene Payne,  1997-12-12     Transcript

Andre Emmerich interviewed by George Hofmann,  2001-05-09     Transcript

Sheila Faerber & Eileen Vogel interviewed by  Shirley Ricci,  1996-11-23   Transcript

Mark Feldstein interviewed by George Hofmann,  1998-01-22   Transcript

Emil Friedman interviewed by George Hofmann,  2003-10-07     Transcript

Michael Goldberg interviewed by Serafino Patti, 1997-04-18 Transcript

Piri Halasz interviewed by George Hofmann,  1998-11-15  

Robert Huot interviewed by Elizabeth Simonson,  1998-11-05  

Warren Paul Jennerjahn  interviewed by  George Hofmann,   2002-07-10     Transcript

Carol Kinne  interviewed by George Hofmann, 2001-11-08  

Rosalind Krauss  interviewed by  Tracy Adler & Fredrick Gross,  1997-10-16     Transcript

Richard Lippold  interviewed by George Hofmann,  1998-03-06     Transcript

Stephen Long  interviewed by  George Hofmann,  2001-11-06   Transcript

Herb Perr interviewed by George Hofmann,  1998-08-04  

Susan Peterson  interviewed by  George Hofmann & Patricia Kerr Ross,  1997-05-27     Transcript

Susan Peterson    interviewed by  George Hofmann & Caroline Ash,  1997-06-18  

William S. Rubin   interviewed by  Frederick Gross & George Hofmann,  1999-01-27     Transcript

Jane Smith  interviewed by  Matthew Garrison,    1998-03-10     Transcript

Leo Steinberg  interviewed by  Kathy Kienholz,   1995-06-14     Transcript

George Sugarman  interviewed by  Stephen Davis,   1997-09-27  

George Sugarman  interviewed by  Stephen Davis,   1997-06-21  

Robert Swain   interviewed by  George Hofmann,  1998-11-24  

Esteban Vicente interviewed by  George Hofmann, 1999-02-24  

Harriet Vicente interviewed by George Hofmann, 1999-03-03  

Nari Ward interviewed by Matthew Garrison, 1998-01-27