http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c84173tr No online items Guide to the James Leong Papers M2387 Anna M. Levia Department of Special Collections and University Archives May 2019 Green Library 557 Escondido Mall Stanford 94305-6064 [email protected] URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc Guide to the James Leong Papers M2387 1 M2387 Language of Material: English Contributing Institution: Department of Special Collections and University Archives Title: James Leong papers Identifier/Call Number: M2387 Physical Description: 17 Linear Feet(1 Map folder, 18 flat boxes, 1 half box, and 23 manuscript boxes) Date (inclusive): circa 1950s-1990s Abstract: The papers of abstract expressionist painter James Leong include correspondence, photographs, artwork, and other doucmentation of a working artist. Conditions Governing Access Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy. Immediate Source of Acquisition Gift of Dean Leong, 2018. Accession MSS 2018-344. Biographical / Historical Born in 1929, James Leong was an American painter. After spending his childhood and early life in San Francisco's Chinatown he had a subsequent career as an artist in Norway, Rome and Seattle. He died in 2009. Preferred Citation [identification of item], James Leong papers (M2387). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California. Scope and Contents This collection includes manuscript material pertaining to the life and career of American born painter James Leong, including material relating to his childhood and early life in San Francisco's Chinatown (including rich material relating to Chinese-American life and culture); material (correspondence and personal writing) relating to a subsequent career as an artist in Norway, Rome and Seattle. Material includes: diaries, printed materials (publications and sales lists of Leong's art), a guestbook for Leong's home in Rome; slides and photos and drafts of an unpublished memoir by Leong. Also includes related material by Eugene Berman, artist and stage designer and longtime friend of Leong. The collection also includes approximately eighty works of art by James Leong, mostly works on paper (lithograph, aquatint, silkscreen, and woodblock prints, mixed media, pastel or pencil drawings, posters), collographs on Masonite, and sketchbooks. Works date from the 1950s through the early 1990s. Conditions Governing Use While Special Collections is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish. Subjects and Indexing Terms Art, Modern -- United States. Asian American art -- 20th century. Chinese American artists Series 1: Artwork: Original objects created by James Leong flat-box 1, Leong exhibit poster, 1976 Folder 1 flat-box 1, Artwork created by Leong for John Huston film “Freud” Folder 2-3 flat-box 2, Two sketchbooks, circa 1960s Folder 1-2 flat-box 2, John Eaton, “Three arias from Heracles” Folder 3 flat-box 3, Cerberus, process for litho Folder 1-4 Guide to the James Leong Papers M2387 2 M2387 Series 1: Artwork: Original objects created by James Leong flat-box 3, “5 negatives” Folder 5 flat-box 4, “Confucius” Folder 1-3 flat-box 4, “Green Sun” Folder 4 flat-box 4, “The Dream” Folder 5 flat-box 4, “The Girl” Folder 6-8 flat-box 4, “The Boy and the Bird” Folder 9 flat-box 5, “Eget Trykk,” Norway, progression of work Folder 1-2 flat-box 6, Ten collographs, 1966 Folder 1-10 flat-box 7, “Maria og Barn,” progression of work Folder 1-11 flat-box 7, 8 small original paintings, gouache (?) on cardstock, circa 1950s Folder 12 flat-box 8, Last Emperor portfolio Folder 1-11 flat-box 9, “A Memory,” Norway Folder 1-3 flat-box 9, Unidentified work Folder 4 flat-box 9, “Progression of work,” Norway Folder 5 flat-box 9, “The Bird,” Norway Folder 6 flat-box 9, “Portrait of a young woman,” pastel on paper, Norway Folder 7 flat-box 9, “Nude man,” Norway Folder 8 map-folder 10 “Nude man;” Cerberus posters flat-box 5, "The Girls," 19 x 30" work on paper Folder 3 flat-box 41-42 "Yin and Yang," two 8 x 10" paintings on masonite flat-box 43, "Blue Composition," progression of work. Seven lithographs. Folder 1-2 Series 2: Correspondence Box 11, Folder 1 Correspondence re Army breakdown and discharge, 1953 Box 11, Folder 2 To Sister Helen Leong, Sept. 1953 Box 11, Folder 3 Fulbright grant, 1957 Box 11, Folder 4 John Hay Whitney Foundation, 1958 Box 11, Folder 5 Howard Chandler, publisher, 1950s Box 11, Folder 6 USIS, 1957-1962 Box 11, Folder 7 Cy Twombly, Palazzo Pio lease agreement, 1961; telegram from Leong, 1964 “DESPERATELY NEED RENT JIM” Box 11, Folder 8-9 John Eaton, 1964, correspondence and ephemera re visit to Palazzo Pio Box 11, Jerome Eisenberg (Royal Athena Gallery, NY), 1960s Folder 10-11 Box 11, Folder 12 Paul Cummings, 1990s Box 11, Folder 13 Walter and Emily Mead, 1980s-90s Box 11, Folder 14 Russell Leong (brother), 1990s Box 11, Newsletters to family and friends, 1980s and 90s; Misc. Folder 15-17 Guide to the James Leong Papers M2387 3 M2387 Series 2: Correspondence Box 12, Folder 1 Dean Yee Leong, 1977-78 Box 12, Folder 2-6 Dean Yee/James Leong, 1973-78 Box 12, Stanley Marcus/James Leong, 1960s-80s Folder 7-10 Box 12, Folder 11 Condolence letters to Dean Yee Leong, 2011 Series 3: Leong, James: photographs of the artist; personal documents; public projects and protests; publications illustrated by the artist and unpublished writing Box 13, Folder 1-8 Photographs of the artist, circa 1930s-1990s Box 13, Folder 9 Marriage of Dean Yee and James Leong Box 13, Misc. personal documents Folder 10-11 Box 14, Folder 1-3 San Francisco and El Cerrito murals, 1951-52: newspaper photoengraving on metal; two small original mural panel paintings on card stock; essay by Leong on the mural controversy Box 14, Folder 4-7 Documentation of United States Information Service (USIS) exhibition in Turkey, 1975-76 Box 14, Folder 8-9 “Computer geometric,” 1971 as evidence for action against Swatch claiming the company copied his work for one of their watch designs Box 14, Folder 10 % for Art “Art vs. Racism” design proposal, 1991 Box 14, Folder 11 Exhibit binder: “Xi Hua Yuan: A Chinese garden for Seattle,” 1995 Box 14, Folder 12 ObaChine Restaurant protest, Seattle, 1998-99 Box 14, Folder 13 Organization of Chinese Americans, Seattle, dragon boat t-shirt design controversy 1999 Box 14, Chinese Historical Society of America mural, San Francisco, 2001 Folder 14-15 Box 14, Folder 16 Exhibit photos: “Leading the Way: Visionary Asian American Artists of the Older Generation,” Seattle, 2001 Box 15 Exhibition catalogs of others; publications illustrated by Leong; four comb-bound versions of Leong’s autobiographical novel, Cicatrix and other tricks; typescript of Heracles: An opera in three acts, by Michael Fried and John Eaton Box 20 “Bits of Fantasy,” illustrated, self-published poetry, 1954; early work 1950-54 Box 27, Folder 1-2 Art school materials on paint, color, design etc.; 3 sketchbooks, circa 1958 Series 4: Promotional materials: artist binders; clippings; exhibition catalogs; short films Box 16, Folder 1-4 Artist information binders (slides; vitae; clippings, etc.) circa 1990s Box 16, Folder 5-6 Printed Leong exhibit pamphlets Box 16, Folder 7-8 CVs and biographical writing half-box 17 3 VHS tapes: two copies of “An American artist in Rome: Interview with James Leong”; and “James Leong Mural Restoration;” clippings Box 18 Exhibition catalogs and promotional materials, 1955-1960s Box 19 Exhibition catalogs and promotional materials, 1970s-1990s Series 5: Work records and documentation Box 21 Card catalog of works, 1960s-1990 Box 22 Work diaries, 1965-1990 half-box 23 “Master lists” of work, 1960s-1980 Box 24, Folder 1-2 Works, 1954-1957 [binder] Box 24, Folder 2-3 Price lists; sales receipts and painting records, Rome Box 24, Folder 4-5 Price & sales records with related gallery correspondence, 1955-61 [binder] Box 24, Folder 6-7 Price & sales records, 1959-63 [binder] Box 25, Folder 1-7 Galleria dell’Ariete, sales records and related correspondence, 1960s; Sales records & price lists, 1957-62 [binder]; spiral bound negatives and contact sheets, circa 1960s Box 26, Folder 1 Slides and photos, Oslo, 1958 Box 26, Folder 2-4 Mounted black & white photos, 1958-59 Box 26, Folder 5 Photos of work, circa 1960s Guide to the James Leong Papers M2387 4 M2387 Series 5: Work records and documentation Box 26, Folder 6 Contact sheets and negatives Box 26, 4x5” slides: 1970; Neireid; “Homage a Strawinsky, 1971; photocopies of paintings, Folder 7-13 ca. 1990s Box 27, Folder 3-4 Mounted slides, 1962-66; Mounted slides, 1967-68 Box 27, Folder 5 Black & white photos of work commissioned for John Huston’s “Freud,” circa 1961 Box 27, Folder 6 “Proofs and positives of Barone Cat.,” circa 1960s Box 28, Folder 1-5 Slides, 1970s-90s Box 28, Folder 6 Swatch slides; China trip 1994 Box 28, Folder 7-8 Slides and negatives, including “Ripple Tank” Box 28, Slides, “Anatomy of Landscape, 1962” [images made 1995]; misc. Folder 9-10 Box 29, 4x5” slides, 1960s Folder 1-12 Box 30, Folder 1-2 Slides, 1964-70 Box 30, Folder 3 Slidex paintings, 1967-85 Box 30, Folder 4 “SFSU copy slides (Irene Poon Andersen,” 1997; “Clear file: Campo, Pioneer Sq.