Oral history interview with Esther Robles and Robert Robles
Object Details
- General
- Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 13 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 13 min.
- Interviewee
- Robles, Esther
- Interviewer
- Bowman, Ruth, 1923-
- Interviewee
- Robles, Robert Holtz (1922)
- Names
- Esther-Robles Gallery
- Macdonald-Wright, Stanton, 1890-1973
- Occupation
- Gallery directors -- California -- Los Angeles
- Provenance
- These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
- Interviewee
- Robles, Esther
- Interviewer
- Bowman, Ruth, 1923-
- Interviewee
- Robles, Robert Holtz (1922)
- Sponsor
- Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service. This interview received support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative Pool
- Biographical / Historical
- Ester Waggoner Robles (1907-2001) was a gallery director from Los Angeles, California. Her husband Robert Holtz Robles (b. 1922) was active in running the gallery with Esther.
- Extent
- 250 Pages (Transcript)
- Date
- 1981 August 24-31
- Archival Repository
- Archives of American Art
- Identifier
- AAA.robles81
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Pages
- Sound recordings
- Interviews
- Existence and Location of Copies
- Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
- Genre/Form
- Sound recordings
- Interviews
- Scope and Contents
- An interview of Esther Robles and Robert Robles conducted 1981 August 24-31, by Ruth Bowman, for the Archives of American Art.
- Esther Robles speaks of her family background; early art training; opening her own gallery, the Esther-Robles Gallery (1947-1979); exhibitions at the gallery and artists who exhibited; the art community in Los Angeles and some of the problems in being a dealer there; her dedication to showing a variety of artists; working on the U.S. Treasury Department's Art Advisory Panel; and the closing of her gallery. Also interviewed is Robles' husband, Robert, who assisted in running the gallery. The Robles recall Stanton Macdonald-Wright; Martin Friedman; Elise Cavanna; Lorser Feitelson; Karel Appel; Robert Cremean; Claire Falkenstein; Fletcher Bennett; Morgan Russel; John Battenberg; Jules Engel; Stuart Davis; Will Barnet, among others. They also speak of other arts organizations in Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles County Museum, the Southern California Art Dealers, and the Stendahl Gallery. They recall art movements and styles shown in their gallery, including synchromism, kinetic art, and video art.
- Restrictions
- This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
- Record ID
- ebl-1596304860018-1596304860020-0
- Metadata Usage
- CC0
Oral history interview with Esther Robles, 1981 August 24-31, Digital Sound Recording (Excerpt)
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.