Conner (Bruce) Photograph Collection, circa 1935-circa 2008

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Summary

Title:
Bruce Conner photograph collection
Dates:
circa 1935-circa 2008
Creators:
Connor, Bruce
Abstract:
Contains portraits, snapshots and professional photographs documenting the life, activities and artwork of Bruce Conner.
Extent:
5 boxes and 9 oversize folders (ca. 925 photographic prints, ca. 100 xerographic prints and 10 slides), 2 boxes (ca. 350 negatives) and 25 negatives ; b&w and color; 48 x 34 cm or smaller. 5 digital objects (5 images)
Language:
Collection materials are in English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Bruce Conner photograph collection, BANC PIC 1997.069, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Background

Scope and content:

Contains portraits, snapshots and professional photographs documenting the life, activities and artwork of Bruce Conner. Portraits depict Conner from childhood through his later years. Also depicted are family members, friends and associates, including his wife Jean, his son Robert, artist Jay DeFeo, poet Michael McClure, actor Dennis Hopper and friend Vivian Kurz. Many of his exhibitions are documented, as are numerous artworks. Also includes many film stills. In addition to photographs, the collection also includes several xerographic reproductions of Conner’s collages, drawings and other works.

Collection includes work by numerous photographers, including Edmund Shea, Larry Keenan, Frank English, Robert A. Haller, Erni Burden and Geoffrey Clements.

Collection does not include original artwork by Bruce Conner.

Biographical / historical:

Sculptor, filmmaker, collagist, painter, draftsman, photographer, conceptual artist.

Born in McPherson, Kansas, in 1933, Bruce Conner spent his childhood and young adulthood in nearby Wichita. Upon graduating from Wichita High School East, Conner went on to study art at Wichita University and University of Nebraska, where he met his wife-to-be, Jean Sandstedt. He continued art studies at the Brooklyn Art School and the University of Colorado. In 1957, at the urging of his childhood friend, the poet Michael McClure, and attracted by stories of a vibrant art and literary scene that included visual artists Jay DeFeo, Joan Brown, and Jess, and poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Whalen, and Philip Lamantia, Conner and his wife, Jean, moved to San Francisco. He subsequently became a key figure in the city's legendary Beat community. After brief sojourns to Mexico City, 1961-1962, where his son, Robert was born, and Brookline, Massachusetts, 1963-1964, Conner resettled in San Francisco where he continued to live and work until his death.

-Biographical note by Dean Smith, Bancroft Library

Acquisition information:

Series 1: transferred from the Bruce Conner correspondence concerning Jay DeFeo's "The Rose" (BANC MSS 98/32 c) with additions from the Auerhahn Press records (BANC MSS 71/85 c) and from the Bruce Conner papers (BANC MSS 2000/50 c).

Series 2-4: transferred from later additions to the Bruce Conner papers received in 2011.

Processing information:

Among 2011 additions, some material may duplicate that of earlier installments of the collection.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by The Bancroft Library staff
Date Prepared:
© 1997
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid generated by GenX; markup validated by The Bancroft Library using CDL validation tools; Date of source: June 2014

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.

RESTRICTED NEGATIVES. Use of negatives only by permission of the appropriate curator. Inquiries regarding these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Bruce Conner photograph collection, BANC PIC 1997.069, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Location of this collection:
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
Contact:
510-642-6481
bancref-library@berkeley.edu
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