http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8xs62g6 No online items Finding aid for the Eric Orr documentary photographs and papers, 1959-2012, undated Sarah Mackenzie Wade Finding aid for the Eric Orr 2017.M.13 1 documentary photographs and papers, 1959-2012, undated Descriptive Summary Title: Eric Orr documentary photographs and papers Date (inclusive): 1959-2012, undated Number: 2017.M.13 Creator/Collector: Orr, Eric, 1939-1998 Physical Description: 24.06 Linear Feet(37 boxes, 2 boxed-rolls, 19 flatfile folders. Computer media: 10.90 GB [195 files]) Repository: The Getty Research Institute Special Collections 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100 Los Angeles 90049-1688 [email protected] URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref (310) 440-7390 Abstract: The Eric Orr papers consist primarily of photographic prints, slides, transparencies, and negatives that document the Light and Space movement artist's paintings, sculptures, and public fountains. Also present are schematic drawings and plans for Orr's public works and ephemera, clippings, and administrative files that detail Orr's life and practice. Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy . Language: Collection material is in English Biographical / Historical Eric Orr was a key figure in the Light and Space movement in Southern California. Born in 1939 in Covington, Kentucky, Orr graduated from the Kentucky Military Institute in 1958 and spent his early years traveling across the United States and Cuba. He briefly attended the University of Cincinnati in the early 1960s, where he produced his first sculpture, Colt .45, a work later known as Saturday Night Special. The work featured a mounted pistol facing a chair; viewers could sit and control the pistol via a foot pedal. Orr participated in civil rights protests in Mississippi in 1964 before relocating to Los Angeles in 1965, where he began to produce performances, sound art, and perceptual installations, using the elemental qualities of silence, sound, darkness, and light as material. Among these works was Zero Mass (1972-1973), an immersive 38-foot-long installation made of paper, where up to five people could enter a dark oval chamber and, after 10 to 12 minutes, experience altered vision from the lack of spatial perception. Developing alongside both Southern California conceptual art and the perceptual-based installations commonly associated with Light and Space art, Orr's work spanned a variety of artistic practices that challenged the definition of artmaking while also incorporating a broad range of cultural references, including space icons found in ancient religions and cultures, Egyptian symbolism, and Buddhist spiritualism. From the 1970s onward, Orr created a diverse body of atmospheric monochrome paintings using airbrushing and oil paint, wall-mounted sculptures, and public artworks which incorporated a variety of elements including fire, water, gold, volcanic ash, meteorite dust, and his own blood. Orr participated in a number of international exhibitions during his life, including documenta VII (1982), the Sydney Biennale (1986), and the Venice Biennale (1986). His work can be found in many public and private collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Orr died in Venice, California, in 1998. Sources consulted: Eric Orr (1939-1998): A Survey of Works. Santa Monica, CA: Robert Berman Gallery, [2007]. Eric Orr: Time's Shadow. New York, NY: Scott Hanson Gallery, 1987. Eric Orr: A Twenty Year Survey. San Diego, CA: University Art Gallery, San Diego State University, 1984. Phillips, Glenn. Acquisition Approval Form for "Eric Orr (American, 1939-1998), archive, c. 1959-1998, accession no. 2017.M.13," September 10, 2019. Access Finding aid for the Eric Orr 2017.M.13 2 documentary photographs and papers, 1959-2012, undated Open for use by qualified researchers, with the exception of box 13, folder 11, which is unavailable pending conservation treatment. Born digital content will be made available on-site only, through the digital preservation repository. Born digital content and audiovisual materials unavailable until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting. Publication Rights Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions . Preferred Citation Eric Orr papers and documentary photographs, 1959-2012, undated, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2017.M.13. http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2017m13 Immediate Source of Acquisition Gift of The Estate of Eric Orr. Acquired in 2017. Processing Information Sarah Mackenzie Wade processed the collection and wrote the finding aid in 2019. Digital materials were processed by Laura Schroffel in 2019. Files require further processing before access copies can be made available. Related Materials Elizabeth Orr Crazy Wisdom documentary on Eric Orr, 2011, Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2015.M.26. Giuseppe Panza papers, 1956-1990, Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 940004. Hal Glicksman papers, 1927-2010, Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2009.M.5. Several publications have been transferred to the Getty Research Library's general collections. Scope and Content of Collection The archive consists primarily of photographic prints, slides, transparencies, and negatives that document the artist's paintings, sculptures, and public fountains from the 1970s to the 1990s. Also present are schematic drawings for Orr's public works projects and their sites. To a lesser extent, the archive includes papers that detail Orr's practice, with notes that relate to installation plans and project proposals, ephemera that pertains to exhibitions of Orr's work, typescript accounts of Orr's friendship with artist James Lee Byars, and transcripts of interviews conducted by the artist's daughter Elizabeth for her documentary, Crazy Wisdom: The Life and Work of Eric Orr. Arrangement Arranged in three series: and Series I. Documentary photographs, 1964-2001, undated; Series II. Schematic drawings, 1987-2001, undated;Series III. Papers, 1959-2012, undated. Subjects - Names Orr, Eric, 1939-1998 Orr, Elizabeth, 1984- Subjects - Topics Art, American -- California -- 20th century Artists -- Archives Light and space (Art movement) Light art -- California, Southern Space (Art) Genres and Forms of Material Black-and-white photographs -- 20th century Blueprints (reprographic copies) -- 20th century Born digital Color photographs -- 20th century Color transparencies -- 20th century Compact discs -- 20th century Diffusion transfer prints -- 20th century Negatives (Photographs) -- 20th century Photographs, Original. Finding aid for the Eric Orr 2017.M.13 3 documentary photographs and papers, 1959-2012, undated Printed ephemera -- 20th century Slides (photographs) -- 20th century Contributors Orr, Eric, 1939-1998 Orr, Elizabeth, 1984- Series I. Documentary photographs, 1964-2001, undated Physical Description: 6.19 Linear Feet(27 boxes) Scope and Content Note Series I. constitutes the bulk of the collection, with photographic materials that document the range of Orr's practice. The artist's paintings, sculptures, and installations are primarily represented by color slides, prints, and negatives, but the series also includes black-and-white prints, negatives, and contact sheets. Images in Series I.A. and Series I.B. predominantly feature individual works; images in Series I.C. consist of exhibition installation shots that include multiple works. Also present are photographs of Orr working and candid images of Orr with assorted people, found in Series I.D. Arrangement Arranged in five topical subseries (Series I.A. Paintings; Series I.B. Sculpture and installations; Series I.C. Exhibitions and sites; Series I.D. People; Series I.E. Miscellaneous) and chronologically thereunder, with undated works at the end of each subseries. Unidentified works are arranged alongside identified works, according to date. Series I.A. Paintings, 1974-2001, undated Physical Description: 1.72 Linear Feet(9 boxes) Box 1, Folder 1 Unidentified, 1974 Scope and Content Note Six color slides. Box 1, Folder 1 Unidentified, 1979 Scope and Content Note Ten color slides. Box 1, Folder 2 Green Atmosphere, 1980 Scope and Content Note Four color slides. Box 1, Folder 2 Zaire, 1980 Scope and Content Note Two color slides. Box 1, Folder 2 Alice series, 1981 Scope and Content Note Seven color slides. Box 1, Folder 2 Archaeology of Painting, 1981 Scope and Content Note Three color slides. Finding aid for the Eric Orr 2017.M.13 4 documentary photographs and papers, 1959-2012, undated Series I.Documentary photographs, 1964-2001, undated Series I.A.Paintings, 1974-2001, undated Box 1, Folder 3 Ba-Ka, 1981 Scope and Content Note One color slide. Box 1, Folder 3 Blood Shadow, 1981 Scope and Content Note Seven color slides. Identified as Blood Meteorite on some slide mounts. Box 1, folder 4 Radio, 1981 Scope and Content Note Three color slides and two color transparencies. Box 1, Folder 5 Silence and the Gold Sky, 1981 Scope and Content Note One color slide. Box 1, Folder 5 Time Shadow, 1981 Scope and Content Note One color slide. Box 1, Folder 5 Zaire, 1981 Scope and Content Note One color slide. Box 1, Folder 5 #9, 1982 Scope and Content Note One color slide. Box 1, Folder 6 Crazy Wisdom, 1982 Scope and Content Note Six color slides. Box 1, Folder 6 Crazy Wisdom II, 1982 Scope and Content Note One color slide. Box 1, Folder 7 Extasis, 1982 Scope and Content Note One color transparency. Box 1, Folder 7 Mu-2, 1982 Scope and Content Note One color slide. Box 1, Folder 7 Mu #3, 1982 Scope and Content Note Two color slides. Box 1, Folder 7 R-2 (revised), 1982 Scope and Content Note One color slide. Finding aid for the Eric Orr 2017.M.13 5 documentary photographs and papers, 1959-2012, undated Series I.Documentary photographs, 1964-2001, undated Series I.A.Paintings, 1974-2001, undated Box 1, Folder 8 Coincidence, 1983 Scope and Content Note Fourteen color slides.