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PRELIMINARY INVENTORY OF THE JASIA REICHARDT CORRESPONDENCE, 1956-1987
890143
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Title: Jasia Reichardt correspondence
Date (inclusive): 1956-1987
Number: 890143
Creator/Collector:
Reichardt, Jasia
Physical Description:
12.0 linear feet
(17 boxes, 1 flatfile folder)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Jasia Reichardt correspondence, 1956-1987, consists mainly of correspondence between artists, writers, and Reichardt from
1965 to 1975 when she was Assistant Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, and Director of the Whitechapel
Gallery.
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Language: Collection material is in English, Polish, and French.
Polish-born Jasia Reichardt has lived most of her life in England, where in the 1950s she was associated with the Gaberbocchus
Common Room, a meeting place for artists and scientists. She has worked as an art writer, curator, and author of interdisciplinary
studies about the relationship between literature and art or science and art. She was Assistant Director of the Institute
of Contemporary Arts, London, from 1963 to 1971, where she curated two exhibitions of lasting impact:
Between Poetry and Painting (1965) and
Cybernetic Serendipity (1968). In 1971 and 1972, she worked for The Toymakers Co-operative soliciting artists to create original toys, a project
funded by an American entrepreneur seeking new, more ingenious products. From 1974 to 1976 she was Director of the Whitechapel
Gallery, after which she taught at various colleges, wrote for international art magazines, and independently curated exhibitions
generally on the relationship between cybernetics and art. She has authored and edited several books, including
Robots: Fact, Fiction and Prediction (1978), worked on a project about the visualization of mathematics, and curated the exhibition
Electronically Yours (1998) for the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Jasia Reichardt correspondence, 1956-1987, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 890143.
In 2009 with grant funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), Laura Schroffel processed the collection
and made an inventory under the supervision of Ann Harrison, while Annette Leddy helped devise the arrangement and wrote the
descriptive notes. Documentation for the acquisition of the archive included a detailed item-level inventory. Andra Darlington
scanned the inventory and linked it to this finding aid at the beginning of each series.
See also Jasia Reichardt archive of concrete and sound poetry, 1958-1975, accession no. 890143B.
Scope and Content of Collection
Series I, the major portion of the archive, consists of general correspondence with artists and writers from the 1960s and
1970s, when Reichardt was first Assistant Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, and then Director of the
Whitechapel Gallery. Many of the letters concern exhibitions she organized, including discussion with artists as to selection
of work and their post-opening responses. Other letters comprise requests for submissions to the
ICA Bulletin or for appearances on panels, as well as publication proposals. Among the most substantial files are those from artist/poets
who participated in Reichardt's exhibition
Between Poetry and Painting (1965), such as Henri Chopin, John Furnival, Ian Hamilton Finlay, and Dom Pierre Sylvester Houedard, though her broad circle
of friends and colleagues extends to Max Bill, Jean-Jacques Lebel, and anthropologist Desmond Morris. Many of these files
include drawings, photographs, or poems. There is also extensive correspondence between Reichardt's husband Tony and the artist
R.B. Kitaj.
Files relating to the Toymakers Co-operative, an enterprise for which Reichardt solicited artists to create original toys,
comprise Series II. The original proposal from Reichardt, the artist's response, and a printed profile of the final product
and its creator are included in most files. Many of the same artists as in Series I, such as Luis F. Benedit and Eugenio Carmi,
participated in this project.
Series III, Artist's thoughts on the seventies, concerns a project Reichardt worked on as guest editor of
Studio International in 1981, asking artists to present their thoughts on the 1970s in written or visual form. Included here are their responses,
as well as occasional photographs of their work.
Arranged in three series: Series I. General correspondence, 1956-1987; Series II. The Toymakers Co-operative, 1971-1972; Series
III. Artists' thoughts on the seventies, 1970-1981.
Art and Technology
Art exhibitions--20th century
Concrete poetry
Nineteen seventies
Toys
Visual poetry
Drawings (visual works)--20th century
Photographic prints--20th century
Photographs, Original
Benedit, Luis, 1937-
Bill, Max, 1908-1994
Carmi, Eugenio, 1920-
Chopin, Henri
D S H, (Dom Sylvester Houédard), 1924-
Finlay, Ian Hamilton
Furnival, John, 1933-
Kitaj, R. B.
Lebel, Jean Jacques
Morris, Desmond
Reichardt, Tony
Studio International
Toymakers Co-operative