Research Guides and Bibliographies: Blondell Cummings: Notable GRI Collections

This research guide was created in 2021 by Annalise Welte and Simone Fujita and is managed by Getty Library Staff.

Editor: Alex Jones

Author: Kristin Juarez

Curriculum Modules: Payton Phillips Quintanilla

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Notable GRI Collections

Blondell Cummings’ work and life connects to other holdings in the GRI collections, including The Kitchen, High Performance, Yvonne Rainer, and Long Beach Museum of Art archives. Many performances by Blondell Cummings can be found in the Kitchen Archive. Documentation includes video recordings, correspondence, and performance programs. Her appearance in Yvonne Rainer’s film Kristina Talking Pictures (1976) can be found in Rainer’s archives, and her collaboration with filmmaker and video artist Shirley Clarke can be found in the Long Beach Museum of Art. A key interview with Cummings can be found in High Performance. These archives reflect a significant group of Research Institute collections documenting contemporary video, dance, and performance from the 1970s and 80s. Her work introduces a focus on African American artists making works across these media during this time period, and reflects understudied collaborations and points of connection across the archives. The GRI’s archival holdings also support postwar performance and multidisciplinary histories more broadly.

The Kitchen videos and records
The collection covers The Kitchen’s activities from its founding in 1971 through the end of 1999. Consisting of over 6,000 videotapes and audiotapes, archival materials, and 200 posters, this archive documents experimental art produced in New York City in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. The majority of the collection is composed of artist files, photographic, video, and audio documentation of exhibitions, performances and events that took place at The Kitchen, including major works by Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Mike Kelley, and David Tudor.
High performance magazine records
During its quarterly run from 1978-1997, High performance magazine documented the progressive art world. Founded as a magazine covering performance art, the publication gradually shifted editorial focus first to include all new and experimental art, and then to activism and community-based art.
Long Beach Museum of Art Video Archive
The Long Beach Museum of Art (LBMA) was among the first to focus on video as an artistic medium, spurring similar efforts throughout the United States. Beginning in 1974 the museum began collecting and exhibiting video art, later also actively encouraging the development of video art by co-producing projects and offering editing facilities to artists in its Video Annex. The museum's innovative approaches to the display of video art included several experiments with broadcast and cable television. Through this long-standing commitment, LBMA developed one of the most significant video collections in the country. The museum acquired the video archive of the Los Angeles Woman's Building after it closed in 1991.
Yvonne Rainer papers
Choreographer, dancer, filmmaker and writer, Yvonne Rainer is celebrated as a pioneer of postmodern dance. Her often experimental and challenging work has been widely influential throughout her long career.
Simone Forti papers and audiovisual materials
Choreographer, dancer, artist and writer Simone Forti is widely celebrated as a pioneering figure in the history of experimental dance and art of the 1960s, especially for her work in improvisation, minimalist forms, and engagement with current events. Forti was a founder of the Judson Dance Theater, and during the early 1960s she performed and presented her own work alongside and often in collaboration with peers who were producing "Happenings," including Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Whitman. Forti continued her involvement with interdisciplinary art projects, including dance, performance art, and visual works, across six decades; as of 2019 she is based in Los Angeles where she continues to write and produce new work.