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Carl Chiarenza collection

 Collection
Identifier: AG 87

Scope and Contents

The material in this collection has been divided into two separate series: Chiarenza's writings on Aaron Siskind, and the records of Contemporary Photographer magazine.

Series 1, Writings about Aaron Siskind, relates to Carl Chiarenza's writings. It includes published and unpublished manuscripts, taped interviews and transcriptions, research files, bibliography and exhibition lists (compiled in conjunction with Stuart Alexander), correspondence, Chiarenza's copy negatives of Siskind's prints, and chapter drafts for both his Ph.D. dissertation, Terrors and Pleasures: The Life and Work of Aaron Siskind (January 1973), and his book, Aaron Siskind: Pleasures and Terrors (1982). Also included are illustrations and some galleys for the book. No book dummies or final corrected proofs are contained within the collection.

Due to the complicated nature of the manuscript materials, most of which are undated, more research is needed to completely process the collection and arrange the manuscripts chronologically.

Series 2, Contemporary Photographer records, includes magazine copy, business correspondence, letters from contributors and readers, advertising and promotion files, and miscellaneous other materials related to the publication. No layouts or galleys are included in the collection. The Center for Creative Photography has a complete set of Contemporary Photographer in its library archives (TR1 C67).

Appendix A, Index to publications, is a list of the Contemporary Photographer publication information.

Dates

  • 1957-1982

Creator

Language of Materials

Material in English

Conditions Governing Access

To access materials from this collection, please contact CCP-RefDesk@email.arizona.edu

Before coming to the Center for Creative Photography the material in this collection went to the Archives of American Art where it was copied onto microfilm and is currently available for research.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission from the copyright owner (which could be the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates or literary executors) prior to any copyright-protected uses of the collection.

The user agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents, the University of Arizona, Center of Creative Photography, including its officers, employees, and agents, from and against all claims made relating to copyright or other intellectual property infringement

Biographical Note

Photographer, writer, editor and educator Carl Chiarenza was born in Rochester, New York on September 5, 1935. Chiarenza resides in Rochester, serving as Artist-in-Residence and Fanny Knapp Allen Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University of Rochester. He earned both an Associate in Applied Science degree in 1955 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1957 from Rochester Institute of Technology, as well as a Master of Science in 1959 and a Master of Art in 1964 from Boston University; he also received a PhD from Harvard University in 1973.

Chiarenza has worked extensively at a vast number of institutions throughout the United States. He worked as a chairman, Director of Graduate Studies, and professor of art history at Boston University from 1963 to 1986, as well as taught at Smith College and Cornell University, among others. From 1986 to 1998, Chiarenza was Fanny Knapp Allen Professor at University of Rochester. His other career endeavors include working as the associate editor and editor of the magazine Contemporary Photography from 1963 to 1969, as a trustee of the Visual Studies Workshop, the director of the Photographic Resource Center, and an officer at the Society for Photographic Education. Chiarenza has served as a member of various committees at the George Eastman House, as a member of the International Advisory Council at the International Center of Photography, and as a chairman for the Photographics Collection of the Harvard University Art Museums Committee on Collections. He was also a cofounder of the Society of Heliographers from 1962 to 1964, and a cofounder of Imageworks from 1971 to 1973.

Carl Chiarenza has published many essays and monographs. Some of his notable publications include Landscapes of the Mind (David R Godine, Boston, 1988), Evocations (Nazraeli Press, Tucson, 2002), Solitudes (Lodima Press, Revere, PA, 2005), and the critical biography Aaron Siskind: Pleasures and Terrors (Little, Brown, Boston, 1982) which won Chiarenza a Photographic Historical Society merit award.

Chiarenza is best known for his contemporary photography which often features abstract objects focusing on light, form, and color. His work has been in over 80 solo exhibitions and 250 group exhibitions since 1957, at institutions including the International Center of Photography, George Eastman House, Museum of Modern Art and National Museum of American Art. Permanent installations of Chiarenza’s work live at the Rochester Institute of Technology and University of Rochester, amid others.

In 1987 Carl Chiarenza gifted the Center of Creative Photography his archival collection which includes papers, 1960-1982, containing published and unpublished manuscripts, correspondence between Chiarenza and Aaron Siskind, taped interviews with Siskind, his friends, colleagues, students and other photographers and artists who knew him, background materials, a bibliography and exhibition list (compiled in conjunction with Stuart Alexander), and Chiarenza`s copy negatives of Siskind photographs -- materials generated by Chiarenza's extensive writing on Aaron Siskind, (circa 1970 - 1982). The bulk of the collection consists of Chiarenza's work on his Ph.D. dissertation, Terrors and Pleasures: The Life and Work of Aaron Siskind, (Harvard University, January 1973), and his book, Aaron Siskind: Pleasures and Terrors, (New York Graphic Society, 1982). Before coming to the Center for Creative Photography, the material in this collection was housed at the Archives of American Art where it was copied onto microfilm and is currently available for research.

For a complete chronology of Carl Chiarenza, consult Chiarenza: Landscapes of the Mind, (New York Graphic Society 1988).

Extent

12.75 Linear Feet

Metadata Rights Declarations

  • License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Creative Commons license.

Abstract

Papers, 1957-1982, of Carl Chiarenza (1935- ), photographer, writer, editor and educator. Includes published and unpublished manuscripts, correspondence between Chiarenza and Aaron Siskind, taped interviews with Siskind, his friends, colleagues, students and other photographers and artists who knew him, background materials, a bibliography and exhibition list (compiled in conjunction with Stuart Alexander), and Chiarenza`s copy negatives of Siskind photographs -- materials generated by Chiarenza's extensive writing on Aaron Siskind, (circa 1970 - 1982). The bulk of the collection consists of Chiarenza's work on his Ph.D. dissertation, Terrors and Pleasures: The Life and Work of Aaron Siskind, (Harvard University, January 1973), and his book, Aaron Siskind: Pleasures and Terrors, (New York Graphic Society, 1982). This collection also includes the records of Contemporary Photographer magazine, (1960-1970), which Chiarenza edited from 1966 to 1968.

Arrangement

The Collection is arranged into the following series:

Series 1: Writings about Aaron Siskind, n.d., 1957-1982, 16 boxes

  1. Subseries 1: Writings by Carl Chiarenza, n.d., circa 1970-1977, 1 box
  2. Subseries 2: Writings by and about Aaron Siskind, expenses, research proposals, n.d., 1957-1979, 1 box
  3. Subseries 3: Research materials and manuscripts, n.d., 1968-1980, 1 box
  4. Subseries 4: Audiovisual material, n.d., 1957-1981, 1 box
  5. Subseries 5: Research notes, n.d., 2 boxes
  6. Subseries 6: Chronological index of Siskind photographs, n.d., 1 box
  7. Subseries 7: Copy negatives, n.d., 1 box
  8. Subseries 8: Research notes and chapter drafts, n.d., circa 1970s, 3 boxes
  9. Subseries 9: Bibliography and exhibition lists, n.d., 1 box
  10. Subseries 10: Oversize materials, n.d., 1 box
  11. Subseries 11: Terrors and Pleasures: The Life and Work of Aaron Siskind manuscripts, n.d., 1973, 2 boxes
  12. Subseries 12: Correspondence and miscellaneous, n.d., 1960-1982, 1 box
  1. Series 2: Contemporary Photographer records, n.d., 1961-1970, 2 boxes
  2. Appendix A: Index to publications

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was a gift from Carl Chiarenza in 1987.

Processing Information

The collection was processed in June and July 1988 by Mary Anne Redding. The finding aid was updated by Caroline Ross in 2018 and again by Tai Huesgen in 2019 and 2020.

Title
Carl Chiarenza collection 1957-1982
Author
Finding aid created by CCP Archives Staff
Date
© 2020
Description rules
Finding Aid Based On Dacs (Describing Archives: A Content Standard)
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid encoded in English

Repository Details

Part of the Center for Creative Photography Archives Repository

Contact:
1030 N. Olive RD
Tucson Arizona 85721 United States