A
**short history of Remy Charlip’s Archive**

**By Seth Eisen**

I’m aware that the process of an artist archiving their work is a life-long process and involves many people and steps along a potentially circuitous and bumpy road. Remy Charlip’s archives were much smaller before he left New York in the late 1980s. They sat in his friend June's house in Manhattan for months while being appraised and eventually sent to San Francisco where he’d moved in his early 60s. By the early 2000’s Remy’s archives more than tripled in size. I first encountered them in the 1990s spread throughout his house. They were in boxes in his garage, banker’s boxes on the floor of his studio and dozens of tall file cabinets and flat file drawers that lined his closets and living room on Precita Avenue. My perspective here only tracks the last 14 years of the process of finding Remy’s work and archives a permanent home. Remy did a considerable amount of work to make this process easier on us by keeping such meticulous notes, files and records. And there were many people over the years who helped Remy track his work, keep it together, visible, published and out in the world. I’m sure they will have their own tales.

I had the great privilege of working with Remy’s archive during two significant periods- the first five years after his stroke in 2005 and the last four years leading up to October 23, 2020 when the last box was packed on a refrigerated art cargo truck and shipped to NYC. In March 2019 when I hosted the curator of the New York Public Library’s Dance Division to see his archive here in California, she was impressed and said that there were few archives she had seen in such good shape. She’d seen many in moldy decrepit spaces with collections and papers in total disarray. This one was well organized and contained such a well-integrated breadth of diverse disciplines and there were very few archives like this one that matched that of the library's namesake, Jerome Robbins. I’m not sure what Remy would have thought of that comparison, but I took it as a good sign.

After Remy’s stroke in 2006 I was hired to pack all of his art and archives in labeled archival boxes. In the process I felt strongly that the archive had to be catalogued in order to be more accessible. My hope was that it would increase its value, be easier to conduct research and would be an added benefit to institutions where items might otherwise sit in storage for many years before it is seen by the public. I was encouraged by the willingness of his executors Jules Beckman and June Ekman— as well as Erika Bradfield (who at the time was caring for Remy’s personal and professional affairs) to agree to allow me to take that project on and begin working with John Held Jr. to catalogue the collection.

Remy’s studio desk on Precita Avenue in SF where he did much of his artwork. Notice the line of watercolors in a rainbow lied up along the wall.

Over a period of about four months I brought around 100 boxes, (4 at a time) over to John Held Jr.’s house in the Richmond district. Besides being an accomplished artist, writer, curator and an expert and collector of Mail/Correspondence Art, John is also a chronicler of art collections with a lot of knowledge about Remy, his peers and his place in history. From the 100 boxes John created a 1000-page finder’s guide that tracks every sheet of paper and object including media, photographs, documentation, books, book contracts, newspaper clippings, writing, journals and original artwork. All together it’s a massive collection and because of how organized and meticulous Remy was, it is all the more detailed and expertly tracks his 60+ year career. Once that project with John was complete and Remy was well situated at Rhoda Goldman Plaza (assisted-care residence), I stepped away from working with the archive for a few years. In 2016 when I returned to the archive to do research for the show I was making about Remy called Rainbow Logic, I learned a lot more about his origin story and his intent to build this archive. After the close of the show it was clear to me that I was in a position to potentially place Remy's archives in safe keeping for future generations to see and experience. I had worked with several other archives in the past, had a background in art history, visual art, theater and dance and felt drawn to help move this project forward. I had no idea where the journey would lead but I committed to see it through. I proposed this idea to the executors Jules and June and they enthusiastically hired me to help make this shared dream a reality. I continued to work professionally as the onsite steward and consultant for the archive. This journey will come to an end at the end of November 2020.

Over the past 4 years I began the long process of writing (actual) letters to museum curators and directors all over the US from The Walker to NY MoMA. With web designer, Allison Wyper, I created a public facing website to feature Remy’s magical world of books, theater and dance. I updated his biography and bibliography and created a separate ARCHIVE area meant to highlight its contents and attract institutions into his marvelously unique vision. I experienced the archive and the studio where it was housed as a magical space and one that was easy to get lost in his prolific and heart-filled outpouring of focus and creativity. There was so much to discover, connections to make and brilliant insights to take in. There were manuscripts and drawings for unpublished books, films, dances and interactive media projects. Every box contained dozens of jewels begging to be discovered. I spent hundreds of hours in there absorbing as much as I could and in the end, I could find just about anything- but there was still so much I’d never seen. Since creating the website we've had a regular stream of inquiries about Remy’s work from authors, researchers, filmmakers, curators, choreographers and teachers. This is confirmation that there is still a lot of interest in his life and work as well as the creative communities he was a part of i.e. Judson, Cunningham Co., Paper Bag Players and Black Mountain College. For example, this year a fairly comprehensive article came out in the Boston Review about Kids and Postmodernism and is worth a read.

Once I got a sense of the field and landed a few excellent possibilities for a permanent home, we worked closely with his publishing agent Jackie Ko at Wylie Agency in New York to broker the deal and take on all the legalities. There are so many things to consider in caring for an archive- from room temperature and appraisals to intellectual property, book contracts, taxes etc. etc. The goal was to follow Remy’s wish to keep the archives undivided and in one institution. Remy saw all of his work as interrelated from children’s picture books, to theater to, dance and healing. He said it over and over in his writing and to us, "Theater into Books/ Books Into Theater” and his page to stage brilliance of the Air Mail Dances are a testament to his actualized holistic philosophy of art and life.

But the more we sought to uphold his intention to keep the collection together, a singular placement of the archive became less and less of a possibility. The Getty Research Institute (GRI) in LA was our first real experience of serious interest. In 2017 I hosted the curator of GRI who spent two days in the collection and things were looking positive. At GRI his papers would have been in an esteemed collection with several of his well-established peers. And although it was an exciting prospect, the Getty only wanted his papers and didn’t have the facilities to house his artwork. Still, we persisted. Most institutions we encountered who had interest in Remy and the resources to acquire and keep his collection permanently were divided by discipline. I found that if they acquired the artwork, they didn’t necessarily want the papers or dance materials. As absurd as it seemed, it made sense. What would a fine art institution want with children’s picture books if there was no platform to show that work? Unfortunately, the deal fell through with GRI when the curator got a new job at another institution and they were unable to make the deal happen without him. This was the first big disappointment that brought huge insight about the choice to divide the work or not. The Walker was next prospect with one of the few interdisciplinary collections where I found some potential interest. They tend to collect artists with whom they’ve worked in the past. And despite having some of Remy’s costumes in their holdings (from Cunningham days), they hadn’t commissioned him to do work for the Walker and therefore couldn’t take his collection on. We were running out of options.

Fortunately, after many more letters sent and follow up phone calls, in 2018 two real offers came in. The first one was from The Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts (also where Remy’s friend Miguel Frasconi’s dad, the artist Antonio Frasconi’s work is housed). There was a unique synergy there and a deep appreciation of Remy’s huge contribution as an author and artist in the world of children’s literature. The Carle presented a unique opportunity to be seen as part of the canon of some of the most important artists in that field.

The second offer was from the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center (The Jerome Robbin’s Dance Division). It is the largest and most comprehensive archive in the world devoted to the documentation of dance. It has archival materials of many of Remy’s peers and names like Graham, Ailey, Duncan, Denishawn, Cunningham, Baryshnikov, Summers, Hawkins, Halprin, Limon and so many others. Knowing that Remy had already had an exhibition there many years ago, it seemed as if he had vetted the collection and it was a perfect fit. So, after much discussion and heartache we decided to go the route of splitting the collection in half to maximize its accessibility to the public. We accepted both offers.

All of Remy’s children’s picture book artwork and related materials were placed at The Eric Carle Museum and shipped there at the end of 2019. They are still processing the work and hope to have an exhibition celebrating the acquisition in the next few years. All of Remy’s personal papers, artwork and dance/theater related materials are now going to be housed and available for research, study and exhibition at The New York Public Library. They are en route and set to arrive in the next couple of days. My hope is that in the future there will be books and films about Remy, his life, work, ideas and wisdom. I hope that his work and the archive now on this huge world stage will continue to touch many more people than they had in his lifetime and that his books will continue to be published around the world in perpetuity. I write this in celebration of Remy’s new home and the potential for it to help heal and transform the hearts and minds of the people of our planet, now and into the future.

I want to thank Remy’s executors, June and Jules who were very supportive of my work over the years and it was their perseverance, love and unwavering devotion to Remy that assured his archive achieved its destiny to find a permanent and visible home. June has been a relentless and uncompromising supporter of all things Remy for over 50 years. Jules was an especially crucial advocate of this complex puzzle. He eased and clarified all communications between the many parties involved for years on end. For me it has been a wildly magical, educational, and sometimes grueling process but so worth every moment of effort. I have personally learned so much about Remy, about archives and the business of placing an artist's archive in safe hands. It has been a tremendous gift and an honor to work on this project to steward and preserve the legacy of my friend and mentor. I want to especially thank Remy’s friend- curator, Julie Lazar who was extremely generous with her time and expertise in this process giving me lots of love, encouragement and real-time support on the many complex aspects of this project. I also want to thank the author Brian Selznick who also showed up at some key moments to offer advice and support. And so many others who stepped in to encourage and support the process along the way.

Thank you for your interest in this 20th century genius. Our lives were all changed for the better by knowing him.

If you want any more info about the archive process or have ideas who may need help archiving their work please reach out.

Seth Eisen

October 2020

The final moving truck leaving for New York City

A short history of Remy Charlip’s Archive