Gabo Archives: Cataloguing and Disseminating Naum Gabo's Archives
 Naum Gabo in his studio in CarbisBay, Cornwall c.1945 (TGA 9313) © Nina Williams |
When Naum Gabo left Russia in 1922, he did not know that he would never return. Like many of his contemporaries, circumstances forced him to move from his new home in Berlin to Paris, London and Cornwall, before finally settling in the United States. Nonetheless, he accumulated, and carried with him, an extraordinarily complete body of archive material, encompassing drawings, sketches, models, photographs, correspondence, diaries and writings from the First World War onwards. |
Supported by The Getty Foundation, Tate will catalogue more than sixty boxes of material held in the Tate Archive. Russian texts will be translated into English or summarised. Tate Online will host a new microsite devoted to the archive, including key images from Gabo’s archives held at Tate, Berlin and Yale, and a learning resource developed by Tate Modern Learning.
As well as providing greater insight into the artist’s life and work, Gabo’s archive raises questions about the role an archive plays in maintaining identity in uncertain circumstances. To mark the completion of the project and the beginning of academic exploitation of the archive, Tate will host a one-day conference on the theme of emigré artists and their archives, with particular though not exclusive reference to Gabo, in November 2009.
Project team:
Adrian Glew, Tate Archivist (project leader); Andrea Zierer, Gabo Project Archive Cataloguer, Tate Archive; contributions from Lyndsey Bracken, freelance Conservator, Madeleine Keep and Eleanor Clayton, Tate Britain Learning, Susan Sheddan, Tate Modern Learning, John Stack and James Davis, Tate Media.
Start date: October 2007
End date: December 2009
Supported by The Getty Foundation.
Updated August 2009
