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Russell T. "Butch" Limbach papers

 Collection
Identifier: 1000-392

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a variety of items including scrapbooks, sketchbooks, diaries, correspondence, photographs, realia, annotated printed works, and art prints.

Dates

  • Creation: 1926-1970

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

University records - Copyright held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the creator - In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted

Biographical / Historical

Born in Massillon, Ohio, Russell T. Limbach was a painter and printmaker. He briefly attended the Cleveland School of Art, then left to become an apprentice in the sketch room of a small lithographic plant there, learning and refining his technique under the guidance of four experienced staff artists. He realized the artistic potential of printmaking at a local exhibit where he first saw Whistler etchings. He left for Europe in 1928 and studied for nearly a year under a fourth-generation lithographer in Paris. Returning to Cleveland in the depths of the depression, he traveled to New York City, where he found work as the Art Editor of The New Masses. Limbach subsequently was asked to organize the Graphics Division of the WPA Arts Project in New York. He was the recipient of numerous awards. His works are held in the collections numerous libraries and museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Los Angeles Museum of Art. He died at Sherman, Connecticut. Source: Brier Hill Gallery [Accessed 2021-02-08]

Russell T. Limbach came to Wesleyan in 1941 as an artist-in-residence. At Wesleyan he was universally known as “Butch”. He was charged with injecting hands-on experience into the theoretical study of art. Butch lived in Foss House and that was the setting of Wesleyan’s first art studio, the Art Laboratory. In its earliest years the Art Lab lacked facilities for learning printing, typography, and graphic design but by 1943 Limbach had acquired a printing press and type. In 1952 the Art Lab moved to the Davison Art Center, newly housed in the renovated carriage house of the former stables of Alsop House. In addition to the Russell T. Limbach papers, Wesleyan Special Collections & Archives holds a complete set of the printing projects undertaken by Art Lab students. Source: S. Taraba, Historical Row: Butch Limbach and the Art Laboratory, Wesleyan University Magazine, 2012, Issue 2 [Accessed 2021-02-08]

Extent

8.2 Linear Feet (4 paige boxes, 2 half hollinger boxes, 2 small flat hollinger boxes, and 4' books)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Russell T. Limbach, (1904-1971), was a notable printmaker and graphic artist. He received formal training at the Cleveland School of Art and in Paris, and additional training in jobs as a printmaker. He came to Wesleyan as an Artist-in-Residence in 1941 where he gave students hands-on experience in printing and printmaking and where he developed the Art Laboratory. This collection contains materials in a variety of formats including sketchbooks and scrapbooks and is predominantly from his time at Wesleyan.

Arrangement

These papers are roughly organized by format.

Title
Russell T. "Butch" Limbach papers, 1926-1970
Status
Unprocessed
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the University Archives Repository

Contact:
Olin Library
252 Church Street
Middletown CT 06459 USA
860-685-3864