Letters from 1971 - 1990

 Dan Flavin, 1979

Llyn Foulkes, 1975

Llyn Foulkes (69), letter to Darthea Speyer, ca. 1975

Howard Finster, 1981 

“I am excited to be coming to Washington where these great men once had our future responsibility upon them I feel so unworthy to live in a world of luxery and these great men paved our way”
— Howard Finster (65), letter to Barbara Shissler, 1981 [below]
“Within two weeks, I should know much more about the possible property purchase. If all goes reasonably well, the non-museum (I’m uncomfortable with the standard sense of a museum.), should be ready in a few years.”
— Dan Flavin (page 67), letter to Ellen H. Johnson, January 22, 1979 [below]

1830-1869          1870-1900          1901-1960          1961-1970          1971-1990


All images are from Pen to Paper: Artists' Handwritten Letters from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art by Mary Savig, published by Princeton Architectural Press (2016). Courtesy of, and copyrighted by, the Archives of American Art.