Jacob Grossberg Sketchbook Collection
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of 12 sketchbooks containing Grossberg’s preparatory drawings for several realized and unrealized sculptures. The sketchbooks also include figure drawings and other illustrations as well as the artist’s reflections on the art world, the creative process and working as an art educator in a college setting. The second series contains photographs of sculptures conceptualized in the sketchbooks, reviews of exhibitions, and other ephemera. This series also includes a proposal for a Master of Fine Arts program at Bard which Grossberg helped draft as well as other ephemera related to Bard’s Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts such as admissions brochures, exhibition programs and photographs.
Dates
- Creation: 1978 - 1990
Creator
- Grossberg, Jacob (1932-2014) (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The materials in this collection are open for research. To access the collection please submit a list of desired materials by completing our Special Collections Request Form or contact the College Archivist. Please allow one business day for us to prepare your items. Materials can be viewed in the Archives & Special Collections Reading Room in Stevenson Library, Room 305. Please contact the College Archivist for further details.
Conditions Governing Use
Collection use is subject to all copyright laws. Permission to publish materials must be obtained in advance from the Bard College Archives & Special Collections staff.
Biographical / Historical
Jacob “Jake” Grossberg (1932-2014) received his B.A. and M.F.A. from Brooklyn College and earned an M.A. from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. Grossberg came to Bard as an assistant professor of sculpture in 1969. He was granted tenure in 1972 and remained a vital part of the art department until he retired in 1996. He, with others, designed Bard’s Master of Fine Arts program, and became director of the program in 1981. In addition to his work as a professor, he participated in numerous shows, including group shows at the Max Hutchinson Gallery, the Riverside Museum, and the Sculpture Now Gallery, and solo shows at the Neo Persona and Aegis Galleries.
Extent
4 Boxes
12 Volumes : sketchbooks
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Jacob Grossberg Sketchbook Collection comprises twelve sketchbooks containing artist-educator Jacob “Jake” Grossberg’s (1932-2014) preparatory drawings for sculptures and diaristic reflections on life as an artist, art education and the art world. Several completed sculptures, planned in the sketchbooks, are documented in eleven accompanying folders of photographs, slides and ephemera. A faculty member teaching sculpture at Bard College from 1969 until 1996, Grossberg also contributed to the development of the College’s Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts (i.e. Bard MFA) and was its first director, serving from 1981-1983.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into two series according to format. Series I (sketchbooks) has been arranged in chronological order using dates inferred from their contents. Series II (papers) has been arranged according to subject. Photographs and ephemera have been collated to correspond with their respective sketchbooks. Papers related to the Bard MFA program have been given their own folders and organized by format.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Grossberg’s wife, Diane Sisson Williams (Class of 1966), in 2018.
Subject
- Bard MFA (Program) (Organization)
- Title
- Guide to the Jacob Grossberg Sketchbook Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Debra Klein in 2020, revised and migrated to ArchiveSpace by Michael Orsini in 2026
- Date
- 2020, Revised 2026
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Bard College Archives & Special Collections Repository
Bard College Archives & Special Collections
1 Library Road
Annandale-on-Hudson NY 12504 United States
845.758.7148
archives@bard.edu