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Archives related to: La Tour, Onya, 1896-1976

titleOnya La Tour papers, 1940-1943.
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionExhibition catalog of La Tour's collection at the Steele Gallery in Bloomington, Indiana, October-November, 1940; handwritten descriptions of each painting in the show; and a photocopy of a review of the show
extent0.4 linear ft.
formatsExhibition Catalogs
accessUnmicrofilmed; use requires an appointment.
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
acquisition informationThe donors, Mr. and Mrs. Dan Mato, were personal friends of La Tour.
updated03/16/2023 10:29:52
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titleOnya La Tour papers, 1928-1969.
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionREELS 802-808: 30 diaries, 1930-1969, some illustrated; files on artists, family members and friends containing correspondence, sketches, biographical information and photographs; correspondence and clippings relating to the Indiana Museum for Modern Art; a scrapbook of sketches by artist friends, mostly by Helen West Heller, photographs, poems and short stories written for her; material relating to the Federal Art Gallery of the WPA, 1936-1937; material relating the the Onya La Tour Gallery, 1938-1939; a proposal for an art gallery in Puerto Rico, and miscellany.
Among the correspondents are Rifka Angel, Maurice Becker, David Burliuk, Stuart Davis, Katherine Dreier, John D. Graham, Helen West Heller, Roy Hirshburg, Joseph Konzal, Larry Lebduska, Guy and Genoi Pettit McCoy, Emanuel Romano; Robert Morris, Ann Goldthwaite and others.

REEL 1817 (fr. 729-732): Two photographs of La Tour, one taken by Roy Hirshburg, ca. 1943, and one taken by H.A. Fleichen, Rolla, Missouri, May 1943. The two photographs were previously microfilmed under Photos of Artists II, and have subsequently been scanned.
extentOnya La Tour papers, 1928-1969.
formatsDiaries Financial Records Photographs Scrapbooks Sketches
accessPatrons must use microfilm copy.
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
acquisition informationMaterial on reels 802-808 lent for microfilming 1973 by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Photographs on reel 1817 possibly donated by La Tour. Reels 802-808: Originals in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.
updated11/12/2014 11:29:50
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titleArtist file: Onya La Tour; miscellaneous uncataloged material.
repositoryThe Museum of Modern Art
descriptionPamphlet file
The folder may include announcements, clippings, press releases, brochures, reviews, invitations, small exhibition catalogs, and other ephemeral material.

Location
MoMA Queens Artist Files

Call Number
LA TOUR, ONYA, collection
extent1 folder
formatsEphemera
accessContact repository for restrictions and policies.
record sourcehttps://library.nyarc.org/permalink/01NYA_INST/ai54l4/alma991010004569707141
updated11/29/2022 15:49:50
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titlePeter Agostini interview, 1968.
repositoryArchives of American Art
descriptionAn interview of Peter Agostini conducted by Colette Roberts for the Archives of American Art at 151 Avenue B, New York, N.Y., in 1968.

Mr. Agostini speaks of his childhood spent living throughout the five boroughs of New York; his interactions with clients of his father's acting employment agency; his early education in Catholic school and the creative freedom allotted by the nuns; his first feelings of isolation as an artist at the age of seven; the development of a sense of communication as the result of the loss of his mother at the age of three and time spent at a school for orphans;

his early realization and vision of artistic destiny; his religious interests which lead to mysticism in his earlier work; his time spent working freely in the DaVinci Studio with Spaventa; the discovery by Hess of his works in Gallerie Grimaud; his attainment of the Longview Grant; his working experience throughout the Depression as part of the WPA casting plaster mannequins while working indirectly with Pollack as well as Marca Relli; his subsequent move to designing department store windows (use of Mondrian-like forms and lines);

his feelings of his position as an observer; the importance of communication through art (communication without words); his rejection of the Abstract Expressionist group and choice of independence; the influence of the sculpture of Kolbe and Bache in the thirties;

Clement Greenberg's distaste for his work; his feelings about the relative failure to sell his work due its unusual edginess and mystery; his role in the introduction of the work of contemporary European artists (Chausserian, Gauthier, Modrian) to the American group; his description of his own work as "traditionless"; his feelings of self-importance as one of the most original sculptors in the art world;

his influence on the younger generation, particularly Marisol; the enslavement to originality that the younger generation faces; his attitudes towards American Art forms and their lack of rebellious spirit; the virtues of the American writers, such as Poe, Whitman, and Melville as American "knapsack" writers; his personal technique which places an emphasis on the "skin" or volume of something; his attempt to create quiet art, or art that merely indicates features;

his frustration with teaching and the problems of regurgitated knowledge; the role of Myer Shapiro in his teaching career at Columbia; the formation of the Club and its similarity to the Cubist's café scene; his opinions on the relationship of sex and sensuality in American art;

his personal struggles, including the loss of his second wife and two of his brothers in addition to the estrangement of his only daughter by his first wife; his feelings on the role of psycho analysis and personal history in a work of art; his present works which feature the "swell."

For the majority of the second half of the interview Ms. Roberts asks Mr. Agostini to express his opinions on the work of: Kline; DeKooning; Duchamp; Oldenberg; La Tour; DeChirico; Maillol: Pompon; Rothko; Chardin; Cezanne; Giacometti; Reinhardt; Chryssa; Tony Smith; Segal; Lachaise; Zorach; Manship; Flannagan; Kelly; Lassaw;

David Smith; Hare; Lipton: Ferber; Lippold; Roszak; Nakian; Noguchi; Hague; Kohn: di Suvero; Chamberlain; Kaprow; Sugarman; Stankiewicz; Bontecou; Scarpitta; Cornell; Keinholz; Rivera; judd; Robert Morris; O'Keefe; Samaras; Mark Tobey; Marin; Pollock; Hartley; Dove; MacDonald-Wright; Demuth; Sheeler: Hopper; Mirot; Matisse; DuBuffet.

Bio / His Notes:
Sculptor; New York, N.Y. Born 1913. Died 1993.
extentTranscript: 99 p.
formatsInterview Transcript
accessContact repository for restrictions and policies.
record sourcehttp://www.siris.si.edu/
acquisition informationThis interview is 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 administrators. Location of Original: Location of original tapes unknown.
updated11/12/2014 11:29:57
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titleOnya La Tour Papers, 1925-1978
repositoryIndianapolis Museum of Art Archives
descriptionThe Papers of Onya La Tour document the personal and professional life and associations of the art collector, dealer, and museum founder from Brown County, Indiana. The archival collection came to the Indianapolis Museum of Art when her personal collection of art was transferred to the museum. The collection has been divided into six series which are described below.

Series I: Diaries and Address Books, 1924-1972, n.d. includes Onya la Tour's personal diaries covering the years 1924 through 1972. Most of the diaries contain newspaper clippings, photographs, memorabilia, and ephemera inserted near the appropriate date pages. There is one folder of loose diary pages (1934-1937). The series also includes three address books (1936-1937, ca. 1970, and n.d.) with contact information for personal and professional acquaintances. The series is made up of 37 bound volumes and four archival folders, arranged primarily by date.

Series II: Correspondence, 1933-1976, n.d. contains letters sent to and from Onya La Tour. Many of the individuals that Onya corresponded with were artists or had connections to the art community. Letters are both typed and handwritten, and many include drawings or have accompanying photographs and/or newspaper clippings. This series is arranged alphabetically by last name of the correspondent, and chronologically by date within each folder. Loose photographs have been separated from the manuscript material and stored in a Photo Box.
Correspondents include Rifka Angel, Maurice Becker, David Burliuk, Stuart Davis, Katherine Dreier, John D. Graham, Helen West Heller, Roy Hirshburg, Joseph Konzal, Larry Lebduska, Guy and Genoi Pettit McCoy, Emanuel Romano; Robert Morris, Ann Goldthwaite and other artists.

Series III: Photographs, 1925-1970, n.d. includes black & white and color print photographs in a variety of sizes. The series contains many photos of Onya La Tour alone and with artists, friends, and family. There are also portraits of other individuals, primarily artists. Color and black & photographs of artwork are also included in this series. Folder 32 contains photographs of unidentified individuals. This series is arranged alphabeticall by the subject.

Series IV: Memorabilia, 1917-1976, n.d. contains memorabilia that Onya La Tour collected throughout her life. The series has been separated into two subseries: General and Publications.

Subseries a: General includes a binder of creative writing written by multiple individuals, two small booklets with illustrations by A. Franz Brasz, scrapbooks and gallery guestbooks, biographical information on various artists, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and organization membership booklets.

This subseries also include an ink drawing by J. Crespo and a print by "Dirk," and is arranged chronologically by date. Subseries b: Publications contains a selections of art journals, magazines, and books arranged chronologically by publication date.

Series V: Exhibition and Gallery Ephemera, 1913-1978, n.d. includes ephemeral material created for galleries and specific exhibitions of art. The majority of the catalogs and brochures represent galleries and exhibitions in New York City, but there are also some from Indiana and outside of the United States. Onya's handwritten notes are in the margins of multiple catalogs and brochures. This series is arranged chronologically by date.

Series VI: Onya La Tour Collection Historical Files, 1971-1978, n.d. contains material related to the Onya La Tour Collection of art donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1972. Correspondence, receipts, inventories, reference material and research notes document the works of art that were gifted to the IMA and the artists of the collection artwork.

The series also contained two cassette tapes of oral interviews with Onya La Tour, which were collected by the IMA in the process of transferring her collection. These tapes have been transfered onto physical compact discs and digital audio files for preservation. This series is arranged chronologically by date.

Biographical Note
Onya La Tour was born Ona Tarr on April 7, 1896 in Washington, Indiana (daughter of Simon and Elva Hardin Tarr). It is unclear when she adopted the name Onya La Tour.

Onya attended Graceland College in Lamona, Iowa. While there, she met Scotch violinist Albro Kellock, and the two were married on December 3, 1920 in Jeffersonville, Indiana. In 1921 they applied to the U.S. government for a 160-acre homestead located 40 miles north of Spokane, Washington. While living on the homestead, Onya’s daughter Manya was born.

After five years on the land, a forest fire swept the area and destroyed the home. In the wake of the fire, Onya and Albro moved to Seattle, Washington. It was while living in Seattle that Onya began to collect modern art, with the purchase of two pieces by Kenneth Calahan. At this time she also became acquainted with many artists in the Northwest and her home became a meeting place for “architects, writers, musicians and revolutionaries in all the arts” (Indianapolis Sunday Star, March 3, 1940).

Onya began traveling extensively in the 1930s, including a trip to Europe in 1934 during which Manya was brought to a boarding school in Paris. Onya’s home base at this time had moved to California, where she developed a close relationship with artist A. Franz Brasz. The two shared a studio in the Beechwood area of Hollywood.

In 1935 Onya moved to Puerto Rico with Antonio Colorado, where she became the director of an art gallery there. While in Puerto Rico, Onya continued her correspondence with many artists, including Brasz, John Graham, Gerard Hordyck, Helen West Heller, Philip Sawyer, and Max Raphael. After deciding not to marry Colorado in 1935, Onya moved to New York City where she worked for the Federal Art Gallery (part of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project) and on other WPA projects intermittently until 1939.

While in New York, Onya La Tour became acquainted with many artists, art dealers, and gallery owners. She was heavily influenced by the Société Anonyme and became good friends with its president, Katherine Dreier. Onya began a romantic relationship with Maurice Jungbeck, and the two moved into a studio on Riverside Drive together on their anniversary in October 1936.

Her personal collection of artwork expanded significantly at this time, and her diaries and daybooks document many purchases and gifts of artwork, which she often acquired directly from the artists. Onya also sat as a model for a variety of artists while she lived in New York. She continued to sit for portraits created in a variety of media for over a decade.

On October 22, 1937, Onya opened the Onya La Tour Gallery at 596 Riverside Drive in New York City with an exhibition of artwork from her personal collection. The gallery featured multiple exhibits from 1937 through 1939. As a result of occasional disputes with Jungbeck, Onya began to spend some time in Indianapolis in 1938 and 1939.

On July 5, 1939 Onya received the news that WPA employees (including those working on the Federal Art Project) had their hours cut. On August 10, she received a dismissal slip from the WPA. Without this income Onya was forced to apply for government assistance and to pursue other opportunities for continuing her career. While visiting Indiana in August 1939, she made an offer to purchase a 118-acre farmstead in Brown County. The Onya La Tour Gallery in New York was closed that spring.

By the time she moved to the Brown County farm in March 1940, Onya’s intentions to open the Indiana Museum for Modern Art were widely known. The museum featured pieces from Onya’s personal collection of over 500 modern artworks representing over 100 artists.

Soon after her move to Indiana, Onya constructed her home which she called “Spellbound House” (sometimes referred to as “Blue Cloud”). In 1961 there was a fire at Spellbound House which destroyed a number of priceless artworks and some of Onya’s personal possessions. While her home base remained in Indiana from 1940 to the end of her life, Onya spent time working for and with Katherine Dreier in New York on occasion in the 1940s, and she regularly traveled in and outside of the United States.

Later in her life, Onya married Carl McCann, a Hoosier patron of the arts. The two designed their dream home and construction was completed in 1968. Death dissolved their marriage. In 1972, Onya La Tour gifted what remained of her personal art collection to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. On June 2, 1976 Onya la Tour died after a long illness. She willed some of her money to Brown County to build a community center for the arts and social activities.

Sources
Material in the collection.

“Indiana soon will have museum for modern art in Brown County” from Indianapolis Sunday Star, March 3, 1940. Box 5, Folder 7, Papers of Onya La Tour, Indianapolis Museum of Art Archives.

“Onya laTour – R.I.P.” from The Brown County Democrat, June 3, 1976, pages 1-2. Box 10, Folder 7, Papers of Onya La Tour, Indianapolis Museum of Art Archives.

Preferred Citation: [Item title], [date], [Container information], Onya La Tour Papers (M005), IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN.


extent13.8 linear feet
formatsCorrespondence Diaries Photographs Ephemera Printed Materials
accessCollection is open for research. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder. Please contact the Archivist at the Indianapolis Museum of Art Archives for more information.
record linkhttp://www.imamuseum.org/sites/default/files/attachments/archives-M005.pdf
record sourcehttp://www.imamuseum.org/sites/default/files/attachments/archives-M005.pdf
finding aidAvailable both on the Indianapolis Museum of Art's web site as well as in the repository.
acquisition informationGift (with art collection of Onya La Tour)
updated11/12/2014 11:30:18
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