June Wayne Papers, 1909-2000
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt5j49r1tf No online items June Wayne papers, 1909-2000 Finding aid prepared by UCLA Library Special Collections staff, Elizabeth Spatz, Lilace Hatayama, Amy Shung-Gee Wong, Jasmine Jones, Mike D'Errico, and Yasmin Dessim; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé. Portions of the processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadia funds. UCLA Library Special Collections Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1575 (310) 825-4988 [email protected] Online finding aid last updated 22 June 2017. June Wayne papers, 1909-2000 562 1 Title: June Wayne papers Collection number: 562 Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections Language of Material: English Physical Description: 114.0 linear feet(228 document boxes, 10 oversize boxes, and 25 boxes of audiovisual materials) Date (inclusive): 1909-2012 Abstract: June Claire Wayne was born on March 7, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, where at the age of 15 she dropped out of high school to pursue her career as an artist. In addition to her work in lithography, which revitalized the art of printmaking in America, Wayne is well-known for her tapestries and visual explorations of optics and scientific themes. The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, ephemera, and photographs related to the creation and exhibition of Wayne's work, including the production of The Dorothy Series lithographs and film about the artist, Matsumi (Mike) Kanemitsu, Four Stones for Kanemitsu. Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information. Conditions Governing Access COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research, with portions of the collection (boxes 49-103) CLOSED to users until 31 December 2015. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through our electronic paging system using the request button located on this page. Conditions Governing Access Property rights to the physical object belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], June Wayne Papers (Collection 562). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA. UCLA Catalog Record ID UCLA Catalog Record ID: 4663119 Provenance/Source of Acquisition Gift of June Wayne, 2000, 2011, 2012. Processing Note Collection was initially processed by Marisol Ramos-Lum and Christine M. Figueroa, 2002. With the additions in 2005, the entire collection was reprocessed by Elizabeth Spatz. This reprocessing of the June Wayne papers was funded by a grant from the Getty Research Institute. A 2011 addition of the collection was processed by Heather Lowe. Another addition was processed in July 2012 by Jasmine Jones and Mike D'Errico in the Center for Primary Research and Training with assistance by Jillian Cuellar. Portions of the processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadia funds. Biography Visual artist June Claire Wayne was born on March 7, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, where she was raised by her divorced mother, Dorothy Alice Kline. At age 15, Wayne dropped out of high school to pursue a career as an artist. She had her first solo exhibition under the name of June Claire in Chicago only two years later, followed in 1936 by a second exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. By 1938 she was already on the WPA Easel Project in Chicago and had achieved prominence among world-famous writers, actors, artists, and scientists in an international milieu in which Wayne is still active. Around 1939, Wayne moved to New York, where she worked as a costume jewelry designer while continuing to paint at night and on weekends. In the 1940s, she began to work under the name of June Claire Wayne. After Pearl Harbor, she moved to Los Angeles and became certified in production illustration, intending to work in the aircraft industry. However, when she was offered a job in radio writing at WGN in Chicago, Wayne seized this opportunity instead, scripting several programs a day and honing a literary talent that would later produce influential essays on art criticism, artists' rights, and feminism. When WWII ended, Wayne left Chicago to settle in Los Angeles, where she became an integral part of the California art scene. Inspired by her training in production illustration, Wayne began to produce seminal works of optical art, including The Tunnel and the Kafka series, in the mid 1940s. She continued to expand her artistic horizons, taking up lithography at June Wayne papers, 1909-2000 562 2 Lynton Kistler's facility in 1947. Ten years later, she began collaborating with master printer Marcel Durassier in Paris. In their groundbreaking work on the John Donne suite, Wayne invented many of lithography's current techniques, vastly expanding the aesthetic potential of the medium. In order to restore the art of lithography in the United States, she founded the Tamarind Lithography Workshop with the support of the Ford Foundation in 1960. Now known as the Tamarind Institute of the University of New Mexico, this organization continues to thrive and help artists become free enterprise workers in the print world. Wayne began designing large-scale tapestries in France in 1970, once again embracing a new mode of artistic expression. In this and many other media, Wayne explored avant-garde connections between science, art, and contemporary issues. Motifs as varied as optics, the genetic code, stellar winds, magnetic fields, tsunamis, and temblors figure in her work as complex metaphors for the human condition. Wayne's art is represented in many museum collections in the USA and abroad, and she has received dozens of awards as well as honorary doctorates in recognition of her innovative and prolific contributions to her artistic fields. Scope and Content The collection consists of June Wayne's personal and professional correspondence and documents pertaining to her career as a painter, lithographer, weaver, writer and political and civil activist. Different aspects of her career are highlighted, e.g. her relationship with the Ford Foundation and the Tamarind Lithography Workshop; the process of working on the Dorothy series and the John Donne's book lithographs; events such as exhibits and trips; the filming of the movie, Four Stones For Kanemitsu, that later resulted in litigation; participation in radio and TV broadcasts, such as You and Modern Art; and her involvement in the feminist art movement, e.g. the creation of the Joan of Art seminar series, as well as politics and art when lobbying for better legislation for artists. Organization and Arrangement The collection is arranged in the following series: 1. Correspondence 2. Court Cases (Restricted) 3. Dorothy’s Possessions 4. Employment Reports 5. Four Stones for Kanemitsu 6. June Wayne's Events 7. Press and Publications 8. Tamarind Lithography Workshop 9. Photographs 10. Audiovisual Materials 11. Slides 12. Artwork Photographs 13. Writings and Public Speaking Arrangement follows original order of collection. Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements COLLECTION CONTAINS DIGITAL MATERIALS: Special equipment or further processing may be required for viewing. To access digital materials you must notify the reference desk in advance of your visit. Items Removed from the Collection Rand McNally Guide to Chicago and Environs (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1924), catalogued and added to general library collection. Related Material June Wayne Oral History Transcript, interviewed by Kathryn Smith, [1976]. Los Angeles : Oral History Program, University of California, Los Angeles, c1982. The Dorothy Series: an Audiovisual Biography. DVD. Subjects and Indexing Terms Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Wayne, June, 1918- --Archives. Wayne, June, 1918- June Wayne papers, 1909-2000 562 3 Audiovisual materials. Lithographers--California--Los Angeles--Archives. Photographs. Women artists--California--Los Angeles--Archives. Series 1: Correspondence. 1942-1997. Scope and Content Note This series includes Wayne's correspondence with friends, family members, politicians, and colleagues in the field of print making. Topics include Wayne's philosophies on artists' rights, women's rights, and Wayne's creative work. This series is organized into thirteen subseries. Subseries 1: Business. 1942-1999. Scope and Content Note This subseries includes Wayne's correspondence regarding various exhibitions of her work in the United States, Australia and Japan, the establishment of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, the "June Wayne" television series broadcast on KCET, and her activities in the Women In Business and Women's Caucus for Art organizations. Also included are documents regarding Wayne's biographical entries in the Who's Who publications, Wayne's Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design, and correspondence regarding Wayne's concerns for the National Endowment for the Arts and artists' rights. Organization and Arrangement After "Shedletsky, Stuart," additional folders have been arranged alphabetically Processing Information Includes materials from the July