Oral Histories
Interview of Henry T. Hopkins
UCLA professor of art. Director of the UCLA Wight Art Gallery and the Hammer Museum.
- Subtitle:
- A Life in Art
- Series:
- Interviews not in a series, part one
- Topic:
- UCLA and University of California HistoryUCLA Museum StaffArtUCLA Faculty
- Biographical Note:
- UCLA professor of art. Director of the UCLA Wight Art Gallery and the Hammer Museum.
- Interviewee:
- Hopkins, Henry T.
- Persons Present:
- Hopkins and Ratner.
- Place Conducted:
- Hopkins's office at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California.
- Supporting Documents:
- Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
- Interviewer Background and Preparation:
- The interview was conducted by Joanne L. Ratner, UCLA Oral History Program; B.A., American studies/art history, Scripps College; M.A., art history/museum studies, University of Southern California.Ratner prepared for the interview by Ratner reviewing a variety of materials relating to Hopkins's career, such as personal correspondence, exhibition schedules, acquisition records, newspaper and magazine articles and reviews, exhibition catalogs, brochures and legal documents. In addition, she consulted an interview completed earlier with Hopkins by the Archives of American Art and interviews conducted by the UCLA Oral History Program for its Los Angeles Art Community: Group Portrait series. Documents which may have led to a fuller understanding of Hopkins's experiences at various institutions, such as board minutes from the Fort Worth Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, as well as some pertaining to UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, were unavailable.
- Processing of Interview:
- Vimala Jayanti, editor, edited the interview. She checked the verbatim transcript of the interview against the original tape recordings, edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and spelling, and verified proper names. Words and phrases inserted by the editor have been bracketed.Hopkins reviewed the transcript. He verified proper names and made minor corrections and additions.Kristian London, editor, prepared the table of contents and biographical summary. Joanne Ratner and Derek De Nardo, editorial assistant, assembled the interview history. Gail Ostergren, editorial assistant, compiled the index.
- Length:
- 20 hrs.
- Language:
- English
- Copyright:
- Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
- Abstract:
- TAPE NUMBER: XIII, Side Two (September 5, 1995)Changes in the Los Angeles art world between the sixties and the nineties--Settling on a neighborhood in which to live--Frederick R. and Marcia S. Weisman--Hopkins works for the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation for five years--Begins lecturing at UCLA--Accepts position as chair of UCLA Department of Art--UCLA enters negotiations to assume the operation of the Armand Hammer Museum--Fears about litigation involving the Hammer estate--The decision to sell Hammer's Leonardo da Vinci codex to cover litigation expenses--The codex sells for $30 million.