Skip to main content Skip to main navigation

Ed Leffingwell Jack Smith Curatorial Files

Call Number

MSS.380

Dates

1962-2010, inclusive
; 1993-1998, bulk

Creator

Leffingwell, Edward G.

Extent

5 Linear Feet in 2 Record Cartons, 1 Media Box, 7 Oversize Folders

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

The Edward Leffingwell Jack Smith Curatorial Files include correspondence, manuscripts, clippings and audio recordings associated with Leffingwell's organization of the exhibition "Jack Smith: Flaming Creature" at P.S. 1 (New York) and associated printed matter, including material created by Jack Smith.

Biographical Note

Edward G. Leffingwell (1941-2015) was an art critic and curator. He received his master's degree in art history from the University of Cincinnati, with a focus on 19th-Century American portraiture, and then moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote for the Los Angeles Free Press and collaborated with the Abstract Expressionist sculptor John Chamberlain. In the 1980s he was the Director of Programming at New York's Institute for Art and Urban Resources (now MoMA P.S. 1) and then the Director of Visual Art for the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, before serving as Los Angeles's corresponding editor for Art in America.

Shortly after leaving the Cultural Affairs Department, Leffingwell began research on the experimental filmmaker and performance artist Jack Smith (1931-1989), for what would eventually become Smith's first career retrospective. "Jack Smith: Flaming Creature" opened at P.S. 1 in October 1997 and ran until March 1998, prompting a feature in Artforum and favorable mention elsewhere. Reviewing the exhibition for The New York Times, Holland Cotter wrote that it was "not only an exhaustive archival tour of Smith's career but also a model monographic approach to an artist much of whose primary work was in the ephemeral medium of performance." In conjunction with the exhibition, Leffingwell oversaw an experimental biography that also served as an exhibition guide, Flaming Creature: Jack Smith, His Amazing Life and Times (from Serpent's Tail Books) and edited a collection of Smith's writings, Wait for Me at the Bottom of the Pool, (from Serpent's Tail's New York-based imprint, High Risk).

Following the Jack Smith exhibition, Leffingwell went to Sao Paolo to cover the emerging art scene for Art in America, and remained the magazine's corresponding editor from Brazil until 2012. Over the course of his career, Leffingwell wrote fourteen books and exhibition guides, as well as dozens of articles about 19th and 20th-Century art, with a strong focus on conceptual works.

Sources:
Venant, Elizabeth. "New Muni Director a Man With a Mission." Los Angeles Times, December 8, 1988.
Muchnic, Suzanne. "Shake-Up at Municipal Art Gallery." Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1992.
Cotter, Holland. "P.S. 1 Review/Art; All Over the Lot (The Back Lot, Too)." The New York Times, October 31, 1997.
Flaming Creature: Jack Smith, His Amazing Life and Times. editor Edward Leffingwell. London: Serpent's Tail Books, 1997.
Smith, Jack. Wait for Me at the Bottom of the Pool. editor Edward Leffingwell. New York: High Risk, 1997.
Art in America (1995-2012)

Arrangement

The Edward Leffingwell Jack Smith Curatorial Files are arranged in Leffingwell's original order, retaining his folder titles and series separations (though in some instances, additional information has been added parenthetically). The files are grouped into two series of manuscript material and a series of audio media that features subseries, as well as an oversize series with two subseries reflecting the original manuscript series separations. Due to the broad date ranges contained within each folder, the first two series have been organized alphabetically, whereas the audio recordings are organized chronologically (where possible).

Series I: Jack Smith Material
Series II: Leffingwell's Writing and Correspondence
Series III: Sound recordings
Subseries A: Jack Smith
Subseries B: Leffingwell Interviews
Subseries C: Miscellaneous
Oversize Series:
Series I: Jack Smith Material
Series II: Leffingwell's Writing and Correspondence

Scope and Contents

The Edward Leffingwell Jack Smith Curatorial Files contain research material acquired by Edward Leffingwell as he organized the exhibition "Jack Smith: Flaming Creature" for New York's P.S. 1 Museum and his own record of the exhibition's development and execution. It includes correspondence, notebooks, printed material, newspaper clippings, audio recordings, posters, flyers and other ephemera. The bulk of collection was created or assembled while Leffingwell was actively planning the exhibition (1993 to 1997), and most of the documents that were produced in the 1960s and 1970s exists here as photocopies – many of which feature Leffingwell's annotations.

SERIES DESCRIPTION

Series I: Jack Smith Research

Series I contains correspondence between Jack Smith and his contemporaries as well as follow-up from Leffingwell, notebooks and scripts written by Smith, flyers and posters advertising Smith performances and screenings, interviews with Smith from periodicals or transcribed by Leffingwell, articles about Smith written by critics, journalists and fellow artists, and some contextual information, including Smith's censorship and accusations of obscenity.

Series II: Leffingwell's Correspondence and Writing

Series II contains material related to Leffingwell's organization of "Jack Smith: Flaming Creature," including an annotated bibliography, a checklist of the archival material assembled for the exhibition, Leffingwell's correspondence with other artists and critics, drafts of material Leffingwell wrote for the exhibition and its associated publications, and newspaper clippings of the show's reviews, as well as some material relating to subsequent Smith exhibitions.

Series III: Audio

Series III contains audio material recorded onto cassette tapes, including archival material of Smith's rehearsals, performances, and interviews as well as interviews conducted by Leffingwell. The third subseries contains a variety of material, including additional Smith recordings, stock audio and recordings of radio advertisements, albums of commercially distributed music, and a recording of a Jack Smith memorial.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); Ed Leffingwell Jack Smith Curatorial Files; MSS 380; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.

Provenance

The collection was donated to NYU's Fales Library & Special Collections by Ed Leffingwell in 2013, and transferred directly from Leffingwell's apartment to the Library.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Access copies for some materials are available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Please contact fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.

Related Materials at Fales Library and Special Collections

(Edward Leffingwell & Jack Smith)

The Serpent's Tail/High Risk Archives
The Stefan Brecht Papers

(Edward Leffingwell)

The Exit Art Archive

(Jack Smith)

The Sylvère Lotringer Papers and Semiotext(e) Archive
The John Vaccaro and the Play-House of the Ridiculous Papers
The Ira Silverberg Papers
"Not Only This, But New Language Beckons Us" Exhibition Archive

Collection processed by

David Hobbs

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 17:13:45 -0400.
Language: Description written in English

Repository

Fales Library and Special Collections
Fales Library and Special Collections
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012