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Victor Arnautoff, 1920-2017

 Series
Identifier: Series 1

Content Description

Materials gathered by Cherny in the course of researching and writing Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art (2017), a biography of the Russian-American painter Victor Arnautoff (1896-1979). Included are an English-translation of Arnautoff’s 1965 Russian-language autobiography and transcriptions of interviews with family and acquaintances. Reproductions of correspondence, newspaper clippings, and government records document Arnautoff’s years in China and Mexico, his time as a student at the California School of Fine Arts and his relationship with Diego Rivera, and his work as a teacher at Stanford University and the California Labor School. Arnautoff’s artistic activities, including murals in Coit Tower, the George Washington High School, and Post Offices around the San Francisco Bay Area, are documented by clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, and digital photographs from the National Archives and Records Administration. Controversies surrounding Arnautoff’s artworks, particularly the Dix McSmear lithograph and subsequent HUAC appearance, are documented by reproductions of newspaper clippings and correspondence. The series also includes WWII-era correspondence between Michael Arnautoff, Victor Arnautoff's son, and Lydia Arnautoff, Victor Arnautoff's wife and Michael's mother.

Dates

  • 1920-2017

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Extent

1.29 Cubic Feet (Box 50, folders 17-22; box 51; box 52, folders 1-5)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Arrangement

Arranged according to Cherny's inventory in Box 50, Folder 17.

Creator

Repository Details

Part of the Labor Archives and Research Center Repository

Contact:
San Francisco State University
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco 94132-1722 USA
(415) 405-5571