By Julie Thomas, October 2002
Please address questions to:
Chicago History Museum, Research Center
1601 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60614-6038
Web-site: http://www.chicagohistory.org/research
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Historical Society, Clark Street at North Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614
______________________________________________________________________________
Main entry: Lerner, Nathan, 1913-1997
Title: Nathan Lerner papers, ca. 1960-1979.
Inclusive dates: ca. 1960-1979.
Size: 8 linear ft. (19 boxes).
Accession#: Gift of Mrs. Nathan Lerner (2000.0194 and 2000.0200).
This descriptive inventory contains:
Historical sketch,
Description of the collection,
Notes,
List of online catalog headings,
Container
list of box and folder names and numbers.
Historical sketch
Born in Chicago to Ukrainian immigrant parents, Nathan Lerner (1913-1997) studied painting at the National Academy of Art and the Art Institute. In 1932 he began photographing in Chicago working class neighborhoods using a street-documentary approach to produce a significant series called "Maxwell Street." The work from this period is comparable to that of photo-artists like Walker Evans or Helen Levitt, but was made without any knowledge of their work, or of that of other documentary photographers like them. In 1937 Lerner entered Chicago’s New Bauhaus (a continuation of the German Bauhaus just closed by the Nazis), where he studied painting, photography and design under Alexander Archipenko, György Kepes and László Moholy-Nagy. Lerner also eagerly absorbed Bauhaus utopian concepts about the role of art and technology in society that these immigrant Europeans brought to the United States.
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By 1941 the New Bauhaus had been renamed the School of Design, and Lerner was appointed head of its photography department. Throughout this time he became increasingly involved in formal experimentation, and particularly in photographic abstraction. Among the first to make abstract "light drawings" and photograms, Lerner was also credited by Moholy-Nagy (in The New Vision 1939), and by Walter Gropius (in the Bauhaus 1919-1928 catalogue for the Modern Museum of New York 1938) with expanding the creative range of the photographic medium, especially through his inventions such as the Lerner Photogram Machine, the Smoke Chamber and the Light-Box. These tools allow photographers to isolate objects from all contexts except controlled light and darkness, and thereby reduce the medium to its purest possible form. Generations of photographers and artists have benefited from Lerner’s innovations. In 1941 Lerner co-authored The Creative Use of Light with György Kepes. His attempts to "let the medium speak for itself" are among the finest examples of the modernist impulse toward quasi-scientific objectivity. As such they can be linked to contemporaneous scientific experiments--most obviously the Cloud Chambers used by early molecular physicists to track ionized atomic particles in space. After serving as a light consultant for the Navy during World War II Lerner returned to Chicago, first to become the dean of the School of Design faculty and chairman of its Product Design Workshop, and then the School’s educational director. During the late 1940s through the 1960s he worked independently as a designer of consumer products with his own firm, demonstrating an astonishing creative range, which included the "Honeybear" honey container, an icon of American marketing. |
From 1966 to 1977, Lerner taught as a distinguished professor of design philosophy at the University of Illinois. While throughout his life he had pursued photography as an art form, during this period he primarily concentrated on creating graphic abstractions and working with color enlargements for the first time, as did many other major photographers such as Ansel Adams, Walker Evans and Harry Callahan, late in their own careers.
For reasons that may be understood after further investigation, Lerner was in his 60s before his photographs began to be exhibited outside his own classrooms, although they had appeared, a few at a time, in seminal books by artist/theoreticians, such as Moholy-Nagy, Kepes, and Gropius. His photographic work has been collected by dozens of important institutions worldwide, but with few exceptions the majority of exhibitions to feature it were confined to smaller venues in Chicago.
Description of the collection:
Correspondence; design drawings for many inventions, patents, and associated photographs; job files; exhibition catalogs; and other Chicago office files of Nathan Lerner relating to his career as a photographer, designer, and teacher and to his personal life. For many years, he was associated with the New Bauhaus (begining in 1937), the School of Design, the Institute of Design, and as a professor at the University of Illinois (1966-1977). Topics include experimental photography; his many inventions and patents; renovations of the Edgewater Beach Hotel (1959-1961); teaching; and the Chicago and the international architectural and industrial design communities.
Notes:
Related collections at the Chicago Historical Society include Nathan Lerner collection of visual materials (2000.0200), Nathan Lerner Maxwell Street photograph collection (2000.0194.2-38), and a single exhibition photograph of the Maxwell Street area (1992.0248). There also is a published version of the Maxwell Street photographs.
Forms part of the Institute of Design collection at the Chicago History Museum.
The Institute of Design began in Chicago in 1937 as the New Bauhaus; closed in 1938; reopened in 1939 as the Chicago School of Design; changed name in 1944 to the Institute of Design; became part of the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1949.
Provenance statement:
Gift of Mrs. Nathan Lerner (2000.0194 and 2000.0200).
List of online catalog headings:
The following headings were placed in the online catalog of the Chicago Historical Society:
Subjects:
Lerner, Nathan 1913-
Lerner, Nathan 1913-1997--Family
Institute of Design (Chicago, Ill.)
University of Illinois at Chicago Circle
Chicago School of Design
New Bauhaus (Chicago, Ill.)
Edgewater Beach Hotel (Chicago, Ill.)
Illinois Institute of Technology. Institute of Design
Patents--Illinois--Chicago.
Designers--Illinois--Chicago.
Photographers--Illinois--Chicago.
Design, Industrial--United States--20th century.
Chicago (Ill.)--Intellectual life--20th century.
Japan--Description and travel
Exhibition catalogs. gmgpc.
Design drawings. gmgpc.
Photoprints.
Patents. aat
Added entries:
Illinois Institute of Technology. Institute of Design
Chicago Historical Society. Institute of Design Collection.
United States--Illinois--Cook County--Chicago.
Container list:
Box 1
Folder
1 Agreements- Contractors 1954-1971
2 International Design Conference in Aspen 1951-1967
3 American Louvre Company, End Carps 1972
4 Aubry Lauterstein, DDS, air turbine unit 1959-1960
5 Bottle Design to be Developed 1965-1972
6 Bowling Timer 1933-1956
7-8 W. Braun Co. Projects 1964-1972
9 Brown Wood Products, High Jump 1959-1960
10 Child Saver Kit 1960-1963
11 Crest Specialties 1960
12 Cigarette Holder 1961
13 Child Trainer Cup 1965
14 Oral History Project, George Eastman House 1976-1978
15 Golf Magnet 1960-1961
16 Gun Conversion to Pellets, #405 1961
17 Goldberg Association 1961
18 Hartz 1961
19 Hartz, Scetches, Mountain Cat Feeder, n.d.
20 Helene Curtis Dispenser 1963-1971
21 International Magnet 1960
Box 2
Folder
1 Leaf Extruder 1961
2 Leaf Gum 1958-1959
3 Leaf- Wonder Egg Dispenser 1966
4 Magnetic Belt Buckle 1960
5 Marble 1959
6 Marks, Dazor Lamp 1960
7 Menken 1960
8 Metering Bottle 1961
9 Olson Woodturning, n.d.
10 Perfex Plastics 1956-1960
11 Pliable Magnets 1960-1964
12 Power Plunger 1961
13 Max Reese Company, plastic snap box 1957
14 Round Tube, n.d.
15 Safety Belt 1961
16 Superior Toy Company, Bank 1961-1962
17 Superior Plastics 1959
18 Sweet Afton, n.d.
19 Tarrson- Carousel 1959
20 Tarrson, Bittle Toy 1961
21 Tarrson, Air Gun 1959
22 Tarrson, Cigarette Bank 1964
23 Tarrson, Bear Bank 1959
24 Tarrson, Lamb 1961
25 Tarrson, Pop Gun 1959
26 Tarrson, Wall Mobile, circa 1959
27 Intermediate United States Gypsum 1969
28 United States Gypsum 1969
29 United States Gypsum- Sketches, n.d.
30-31 United States Gypsum 1964-1969
Box 3
Folder
1 United States Gypsum Company, circa 1969
2 United States Gypsum- Plaster Bo Rev. 1965
3 United States Gypsum- Thermolux 1964-1966
4 Wide Mouth Saki 1972
5 X-Mas Ornaments 1958
6 Traveling Show 1982-1984
7 Text book of Confucius writings by Hsi Chu (with Japanese annotations)
8 Japanese classnotes, n.d.
9 Photographs
10 Photographs
11 Photographs
12 Photo Data 1974
13 "Indian Picnic" Reproduction
14 Aperture 1988
15 Asani Camera Magazine, June 1975
16 ASAI, n.d.
17 Camera, Inventory, n.d
Box 4
Folder
1 Hotel Corporation of America 1961
2 Photo databases 1991
3 Blank Letterhead, n.d.
4 Fine Arts Risk Management Insurance Policy 1992
5 849 Webster, circa 1988
6 Invoices 1992
7-10 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Construction Reports, (1 of 4) 1961
11 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Sound System 1959-1961
12 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Acoustical 1961
Box 5
Folder
1 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Ballroom Est. 1960
2 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Memos 1961
3 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Banquet Hall Edition, circa 1960’s
4 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Notes 1960
5 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Drawings 1960
6 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Various material samples, n.d.
7 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Contractors and Bid Requests 1960-1961
8 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Convention Hall 1961
9 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Theater 1961
10 Edgewater Beach Hotel- West Lounge, circa 1960
11 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Construction estimates, West Lounge 1961
12 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Architectural 1961
13 Edgewater Beach Hotel- New Banquet Hall and Lounge 1961
14 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Barlow, West Lounge 1961
15 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Construction Phase 1961
16 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Papers 1961
17 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Payouts 1961
18 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Operating Costs 1961
19 Edgewater Beach Hotel- Legal forms 1961
20 Electric-Morric 1960-1961
21 Coath and Goss 1961
Box 6
Folder
1 United States Patent Office, (1 of 2) 1930-1963
2 United States Patent Office, (2 of 2) 1963-1965
3 Patents 1927-1964
4 Patents 1927-1968
5 Patents 1929-1968
6 Patents 1936-1972
7 Patents 1939-1985
Box 7
Folder
1 Patents 1959-1975
2 Patents 1961-1973
3 Patent, Anti-Spilling Device for Drinking Containers 1965-1971
4 S.C. Johnson Company 1963-1971
5 Ideas, Sketches 1957-1977
6 Ideas to Develop 1970
7 Miscellaneous Drawings 1962-1972
8 Miscellaneous Drawings, n.d.
9 Inventions 1947-1948
10 Hot lather dispenser 1963-1969
11 Simoniz Company 1963-1964
12 Bright Idea, sketches 1964-1972
13 Compact 1967
14 2 x 3 Compact 1967-1971
15 Bauhaus, General 1931-1976
16 Bauhaus, Faculty Papers 1938-1948
17 Bauhaus, Material 1946-1980
18 Bauhaus, Letters 1947-1992
19 Bauhaus, Student List 1977-1992
20 Bauhaus 1992-1992
21 How to Make a Photogram Exhibit 1995
22-23 Bauhaus, Student Work 1940-1971
Box 8
Folder
1-2 Bauhaus, Student Work 1971
2 Berlin Show 1985-1986
4 Cliofilm 1985
5 Leonardo Journal Mailings 1977
6-8 University of Illinois, Chicago Circle 1967-1974
9 Columbia Show 1985
10 Columbia College 1982-1987
11 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona State University 1989-1990
12 Illinois Academy of Fine Arts 1992
13-15 Illinois Institute of Technology 1974-1988
Box 9
Folder
1 School and Art Institute of Chicago 1976-1984
2 Teacher Catalogs 1978-1980
3-5 Teaching File, (1 of 3) 1943-1985
6-7 Teaching Papers 1947-1989
8 University of Illinois Teaching 1984-1985
9 University of Iowa 1993-1994
10 Writings, n.d.
Box 10
Folder
1 D&W. n.d.
2 Galleries 1973-1995
3 Notes on Galleries 1978
4 Gallery Papers 1979-1993
5 Bergen Museum of Art and Science 1988
6 Archives of American Art, Ann Kendall 1985
7 Carol Show 1991
8 Amon Carter Museum 1994
9 Boston Show 1979
10 Museum of Contemporary Art 1993-1994
11 Cultural Center Exhibit 1984-1987
12 Allan Frumkin Gallery 1976-1981
13 Robert Freidus Gallery 1980
14 The Friends of Photography 1978-1980
15-6 Getty Museum 1990-1995
17 Katherine Kull Gallery 1941
18 Phyllis Kind Gallery 1979-1986
19 Guggenheim Foundation 1977-1993
20 Kyoto Museum 1987
21 Robert Koch Gallery 1992-193
22-3 Henry Holmes Smith Collaboration 1946-1947
24 Edwyn Houk Gallery 1982-1988
25 Illinois State Museum 1975-1990
26 Illinois Art Council
27 Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art 1992-1993
28 Milwaukee Art Museum 1995
29 Pacific Press Service, n.d.
Box 11
Folder
1 Gordon Barlow Design 1989-1990
2 Stuart Baum 1992-1994
3 Roger Brown 1982
4 Art Brut 1994
5 Bill Canastra, n.d.
6 Patty Carol 1991
7 Alex Castro 1991
8 Lucien Clerque 1994
9 Alan Cohen 1992
10 Henry Cohen 1972
11 Steven Cohen 1992
12 Ed Colker 1974-1975
13 Charles Edward Copper 1992
14 Craig 1980
15 Henry Darger 1977-1996
16 Sam Farber 1986-1988
17-18 Lloyd Englebrect 1973-1974
19-20 Lou Gilbert and "Gigi" 1976-1980
21 Jeff Gilbert 1975
22 Fred Hagstrom, n.d.
23 Hatula, Moholy-Nagy 1994
24 Connie Heaton Goddard 1988
25 Oscar Hector, Biology Information 1965
26 H.H. Smith,1946-1987
Box 12
Folder
1 Lotti Jacobi 1979
2 Elmer Johnson 1974-1978
3 James McKeown 1961
4-6 Gyory Kepes 1942-1981
7 Rodger Kingston 1976-1987
8-9 Bob Kirkland 1951-1987
10 R. Kirshenbaum, ("Bob K.") 1977-1993
11 Katherine Kuh 1987
12 Moholy [Nagy] 1946-1985
13 Senior Thesis. Living Music: The Creative Process as Self-Discovery by Thomas Heidkamp
Box 13
Folder
1 Art Sinsabaugh 1978-1983
2-3 John Walley 1973-1976
4 Konrad Waehsmann 1972
5 Hans Wingler 1972-1995
6 Japan Papers 1964
7 Japan Maps 1983-1984
8 Paris 1970-1977
9 Paris Trip 1993
10 New York Trip 1962-1971
11 Catalogs 1965-1976
12 Catalogs 1977-1978
Box 14
Folder
1 Catalogs 1978-1981
2 Catalogs 1981-1988
3 Catalogs 1992
4 Catalogs, n.d.
5-8 Postcards 1970-1998
9 Plywood Systems 1958-1960
10 Curtain Catalogs 1959
Box 15
Folder
1 Personal Papers 1954-1991
2 Personal Papers 1964-1980
3 Personal Papers 1973-1981
4 Personal Papers 1951-1985
5 Personal Papers 1979-1981
6 Personal Papers 1962-1990
7 Personal Papers 1977-1991
8 Personal Papers 1972-1991
9 Personal Papers, A 1987-1993
10 Personal Papers, B 1984-1993
11 Personal Papers, C 1989-1993
12 Personal Papers, D 1976-1991
13 Personal Papers, E 1982-1993
14 Personal Papers, P, n.d.
Box 16
Folder
1 Personal Papers, A,1978-1995
2 Personal Papers, B,1978-1993
3 Personal Papers, C 1990-1992
4 Personal Papers, D 1962-1990
5 Personal Papers 1940-1990
6 Answer- NY 1979-1980
7 Letters to Answer 1969-1987
8 Letters to Answer 1993-1994
9 Letters 1976-1987
10 Letters about Slides 1974-1975
11 Important Letters 1946-1985
12 Important Papers and Letters 1947-1970
Box 17
Folder
1 Letters 1984-1992
2 Correspondence 1970-1991
3 Miscellaneous Correspondence 1978-1995
4 Notes and Letters, (1 of 3) 1976-1980
5 Notes and Letters, (2 of 3) 1966-1986
6 Notes and Letters, (3 of 3) 1977-1993
7 Letters 1948-1991
8 Lerner's Apartment, n.d.
9-11 Miscellaneous Publications 1951-1959
12 Newspaper Clippings 1969-1988
Box 18
Folder
1-2 Articles about N. Lerner 1979-1983
Sketchbooks, n.d.
7 South Side Community Art Center Summary 1993