Archives of American Art Blog

The Warm Fuzzies: An Ode to the Sweater

Print of a Christmas card design, 19--, Gertrude Abercrombie, artist. Gertrude Abercrombie papers, 1880-1986, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Having grown up in the Midwest where cold weather and snow are a given in winter, I’ve always had fondness for “sweater weather.” Being a lover of kitsch and pop culture, I feel a wave of delight whenever I see someone swathed in jingle bells or sporting a woolen menorah (and if it lights up all the better). ‘Tis the season for the ubiquitous sweater, and what better time than now to look to the Archives of American Art’s collections for sweater inspiration!

The Classics

When it comes to holiday sweaters, one cannot find a more classic example than the Fair Isle sweater, worn here by the poet Janet Lewis. When I think about skiing—and by skiing I mean lounging around a fancy ski lodge with a piping hot mug of cocoa—there are always two essentials to my day dream: a Malm fireplace, and a Fair Isle sweater.

Yvor Winter and his wife, ca. 1960, Harry Bowden, photographer. Harry Bowden papers, 1922-1972, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

In this hand colored card, Allen Tupper True offers “Seasons Greetings” and a fine example of how to sport a classic sweater if one actually skis.

Holiday card design of cross-country skiers, between 1930 and 1955, Allen Tupper True, artist. Allen Tupper True and True family papers, 1841-1987, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

The Fanciful

Here muralist Alexandra Darrow takes a classic wool or cashmere crewneck and makes it festive by adding some greenery for her 1957 Christmas card found in the Prentiss Taylor papers. If you want to add some holiday charm and whimsy to your sweater while keeping your look tasteful, you will find no better example than Ms. Darrow.

Alexandra Darrow Christmas card to unidentified recipient, 1957, Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Every year Maryland artist Ed Bisese creates a silk–screened card featuring himself and his family. In this card from 1992, Bisese is floating through space in a fun striped sweater and matching hat. Though it is his wife Liza, pregnant at time with their daughter Isabella, who wears what may the ultimate in Christmas accessories: angel wings and a halo!

Ed Bisese Christmas card to Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., 1992, Ed Bisese, artist, Herbert Waide Hemphill papers, 1776-1998, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Rockwell Kent: Arctic Enthusiast

Artist and explorer Rockwell Kent documented his travels and adventures in cold weather climes such as Newfoundland, Greenland, and Alaska in numerous books, writings and artwork. Pictured here with his wife Francis in traditional Inuit dress, it is easy to admire not only the functionality of this clothing, but how beautifully the varying patterns and textures work together.

Rockwell and Frances Kent in native dress, ca. 1930, unidentified photographer, Rockwell Kent papers, [circa 1840]-1993, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

I remain convinced, however, that Kent is wearing a festive reindeer sweater under his ski suit!

Rockwell Kent playing in the snow with his dog, ca. 1935, unidentified photographer, Rockwell Kent papers, [circa 1840]-1993, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

But That’s Not a Sweater...

For achievement in the sweater sub-category “Festive Flannel,” I nominate artist and Connecticut native Wood Gaylor. Here he shows the kind of classic New England style that is essential to braving the cold winter months in our northernmost states.

Wood Gaylor, ca. 1950, unidentified photographer, Wood and Adelaide Lawson Gaylor papers, 1866- [ca. 1986], Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

That’s Really Not a Sweater!

Perhaps Polish born artist Philip Reisman was able to handle cold weather without a sweater, or maybe he just had a special fondness for ketchup. Either way, I love his cheeky take on the traditional holiday family portrait.

Philip Reisman holiday card, 1956, Philip Reisman, artist, Philip Reisman papers, 1904-1994, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Whether your seasonal sweater style is understated or over the top, the Archives of American Art wishes you a warm and happy holiday season!

Elizabeth Botten works in the Reference Services Department at the Archives of American Art.

The Camera Does Lie

Fact and Fiction in a Famous Photo

Paul Cadmus, Jared French and George Tooker, 1948. ©George Platt Lynes II

On view in the exhibition Lost and Found: The Lesbian and Gay presence in the Archives of American Art is a photograph by George Platt Lynes taken between 1945-48 of the painters George Tooker, Paul Cadmus, and Jared French in a studio in Greenwich Village. In the foreground Cadmus is in the midst of painting What I Believe, an allegorical picture that, like Lynes’s photograph itself, conjures up an ideal artistic community.  (It is currently on view in the exhibition Hide/Seek at the National Portrait Gallery.)  Behind him, in the next room, is Tooker at his easel, and in the far distance is French. 

Lynes’s picture seems to reveal three kindred spirits harmoniously working in harmony.  The only problem with this utopic vision is that, as Tooker wrote me in a letter, the photograph was a fabrication; Tooker never made art in this studio which was shared by Cadmus and French.  And yet knowing the fictive nature of the picture does not so much negate its message of artistic community, as make it more complex.  Any concept of community has to encompass shared aspirations and disappointments, conflicts and compromises, intimacies and betrayals. 

Above all, Tooker’s disavowal of the picture makes us wonder about the precarious position he found himself in that day, consciously posed by Lynes between two older and more experienced artists as if he were a bridge or barrier between them.  In fact, Tooker was Cadmus’s current lover, but Cadmus had been lovers with French and, despite French’s recent marriage to the painter Margaret Hoening, Cadmus and French continued to be intimate (supposedly Cadmus once boasted “I had Jerry in the daytime and George at night.”) Apparently neither Tooker nor French were as enthusiastic about the arrangement as Cadmus later claimed to be.  Tooker remembered that French refused to shake his hand when they met for dinner in public. Yet, as Tooker himself admitted to me, French’s painting was as crucial as Cadmus’s in forging Tooker’s own personal style.

This story about Lynes’s photograph is a perfect example of why archival material such as artist’s letters are so crucial to the history of art.  Without Tooker’s recollection of the circumstance of the taking of the picture we would assume that Lynes’s photograph documented the actual working habits of the three painters.

Artist and art historian, Jonathan Weinberg is guest curator of Lost and Found. He plans to donate his letter from George Tooker to the Archives of American Art.