Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Stephen Antonakos dated 1975, May 9.
American sculptor Stephen Antonakos (1926-2013) was a pioneer in the use of neon as an artistic medium from the early 1960s onward. Born in Agios Nikolaos in southern Greece, he immigrated to the US with his family at the age of four and lived in New York City thereafter.
After serving in WWII he established his first studio in the 1950s in New York City's fur district, a fertile neighborhood for the found objects and found materials of his early large Assemblages, Constructions, and "Sewlages" (sewn fabric collages) through that decade, when he worked also as a commercial artist. Seeing the neon signs in these Manhattan streets night after night released his intuition of the medium's untapped flexibility. He called neon "a paradise" he wished to "control" in his own new way, with abstract geometric forms in space.
Concentric neon circles and squares appeared first, notably in the transitional
His 1962-63
Throughout the 1970s, medium-scale two- and three-dimensional variations of his geometric vocabulary were strategically positioned on white walls in formal dialogue with their sites' ceilings, floors, inside corners, and outside corners. Known as the Direct Neons, these works were exhibited extensively in galleries and museums across Europe and the US. As ever, new work was conceived for each venue's particular sites.
A very large group of Project Drawings from the late 1960s through the early 1970s charts Antonakos's thinking through the Direct Neons and on into installations of greater scale, his Walls and Rooms.
First shown in Athens, the Walls investigated both bold and subtle variations of almost "syntactical" relationships between the neon forms "drawn" on the colored surfaces. Two 1973 Rooms allowed simultaneous formal engagement with interior and exterior architectural spaces. In both, making the entire interior a single unit fulfilled Antonakos's hope of including the viewer within the space of the art.
The mid-1970s saw a definitive change in the drawings. They became completely abstract, without reference to anything outside the work itself. Often made in series, they explored complete and incomplete linear forms in relation to the proportions of the sheets.
All through the 1970s Antonakos produced his conceptual Packages. Filled, sealed, and sent to individuals or groups of friends, they were meant either never to be opened, to be opened on a specific date, or to be opened after the death of the artist. There were approximately thirty projects. An important set sent in 1974 and 1975 to Richard Artschwager, Daniel Buren, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Ryman to be filled by them was opened twenty-five years later as the central event during the major exhibition
From the late 1970s, for over thirty years, there was an active practice of Public Works in neon. More than fifty were constructed and installed in indoor and outdoor sites in airports, rail stations, university campuses, banks, and downtown areas in cities across the US, Europe, and Japan. They range from the spare 15' incomplete square on the facade of the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art to the almost 500' treatment of the chimney complex of the Reading Power Plant in Tel Aviv. Antonakos began each project by considering the formal qualities of the site day and night and its use by the public. He considered working for the public a special responsibility.
Moving into the 1980s, Antonakos placed neon forms on painted unstretched canvases and on the faces of large geometric forms on walls and floors. This period also saw the crucial introduction of neon placed behind the edges of wall Panels, so that only the colored glows are seen. These Panels developed into one of his major practices to the end -- their single or segmented geometric surfaces variously monochrome, painterly, or gold or silver-leafed. They have been extensively exhibited in Europe and the US. In 2009 the public-scaled neon Panel
Antonakos started to design his Chapels and Meditation spaces with neon in the late 1980s and continued through the rest of his life. Their roots lie in his lifelong commitment to Greek Orthodoxy and in the evolution of his activation of geometric space. They include his 1993
Through the 1980s and to the end, the drawings on various papers and vellums developed in many directions, some full of white space, some filled to the hilt with intensely colored forms -- sometimes singly and often in series. In the mid-1990s Antonakos began using the multicolored pencil, in dense overall hatchings and later in open spatial "clouds." One drawing of 72 dense square units is like an installation as it plays out rhythmically across the four walls of the gallery. The various ideas of the drawings intersect with those of his collages, reflecting always the active hand. Colored or bare, cut, torn, layered, pleated, or crumpled, they maintain their objecthood within the frame.
All these themes and techniques climaxed in his major Artist's Book,
In 2011, Antonakos took on a climactic project in the ruins of an old oil factory in Elefsina, Greece -- a part of the 40 year history of their Festival of Aeschylus. In thirty-four locations throughout the continuous indoor and outdoor site of 17,000 square meters, he placed spare linear neon forms, accumulations, columns, and Panels, hoping, he said, that the visitors might sense "some of the things that I have found in my life and art." It can be seen in the photographs of Panos Kokkinias and on the artist's website.
Antonakos had over 100 solo exhibitions and over 250 group shows. His work has been the subject of numerous books and catalogues including the key 1999 monograph
Since 1963 his studio has been located in Soho.
The papers of American sculptor Stephen Antonakos measure 24.2 linear feet and 1.73 GB and date from 1932-2014, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960-2014. The collection documents Antonakos's pioneering work in neon, through biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, project files, exhibition files, printed and digital material, and photographs.
Biographical material comprises biographical statements and resumes, transcripts of 5 interviews, copies of obituaries, and other records relating to Antonakos's memorial service in 2013.
Correspondence is primarily professional, with scattered personal correspondence, and provides suppemental documentation of all aspects of the artist's career, including gifts, sales, loans, and consignments to galleries and museums such as Fischbach Gallery; John Weber Gallery; Lori Bookstein Fine Art; Galleria Bonomo, Bari; Art Front Gallery, Tokyo; Galerie Bonnier, Stockholm; Galerie Bernier, Athens; Kalfayan Gallery, Athens; Galerie Citronne, Poros; Konrad Fischer Gallery, Berlin; Daniel Marzona Gallery, Berlin; The American Academy of Arts and Letters; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art; the Onassis Cultural Center; the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University; the Smith College Museum of Art; the Dallas Museum of Art; the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens; the State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki; and the Benaki Museum, Piraeus.
Writings and notes provide artist statements on all aspects of Antonakos's work, as well as teaching notes from the 1960s.
Project files are a rich source of information on Antonakos's work in neon, particularly for the large-scale permanent Public Works including Hampshire College, Amherst; the Tacoma Dome; Pershing Square, Los Angeles; the Atlanta Hartsfied Airport; the 59th Street Transfer Station, New York City; Faret Tachikawa, Japan; the Stadtsparkasse, Cologne; the Reading Power Plant, Tel Aviv; the San Antonio Public Library; the University of Dijon; the Attiko Metro, Athens; the Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee; and the Airport of Puglia, Bari. All aspects of the artist's work, from conception on paper through execution and reception by the public, are documented here in correspondence, artist statements and proposals, contracts, insurance records, original drawings, plans and blueprints, printed and digital material, and photographs. Ideas and proposals for projects not executed are also documented in this series, and comprise the same types of material.
Antonakos's conceptual Packages are documented in lists, letters of transmittal, and photographs. The series also holds the contents of a Package given to the Archives of American Art in 1975 and opened, as requested, after his death: a 35mm microfilm of a sketchbook kept by Antonakos from 1974-1975, with sketches and notes about his neon projects.
Antonakos's artistic development can be traced chronologically in the exhibition files from some of his earliest work with neon in combination with found objects, to the use of neon alone. Exhibition files document the artist's progression from placing neon on a base or wall and at the corners and ceilings of rooms, to placing tubes at the edges of panels in order to generate a colored glow around them; furthermore, they document the evolution from his early boxes, contained spaces, and indoor and outdoor rooms, to his meditation spaces and chapels. Also in evidence in this series is the artist's prolific output of drawings, which were shown in numerous exhibitions. Exhibition files include documentation from circa 100 solo shows and from his over 250 group shows, at venues including Allentown Art Museum, the Benaki Museum, The Drawing Room, Galleriaforma, Genoa, Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center, Athens, John Weber Gallery, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, Lori Bookstein Fine Art, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Rose Art Museum, and the Savannah College of Art and Design. Many of the files include Antonakos's original drawings and plans.
Printed material comprises announcements and catalogs for Antonakos's solo and group exhibitions, posters of the same, press and publicity clippings, and 10 publications about or including Antonakos and his work.
There are 7 photographs of Antonakos, including portraits by George Kokkinos and photos with others including Sebastian Adler, the artist's daughter Evangelina Mary Spector Antonakos, Naomi Spector Antonakos, Ronald Bladen, and Richard Koshalek. Also found are photos of artwork by category, and digital photographs of sample images.
The collection includes 1 reel of microfilm (35mm).
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Stephanie Ashley in 2016. Born-digital materials were processed by Kirsi Ritosalmi-Kisner in 2019 with funding provided by Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
The collection was donated in 1975 and 1981 by Stephen Antonakos, and in 2014 by Naomi Spector Antonakos.
Stephen Antonakos papers, 1932-2014, bulk 1960-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Use of archival born-digital records with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Found here are a copy of Antonakos's New York City Department of Cultural Affairs artist-in-residence certificate (1987), a National Academy certificate (2005), biographical statements and resumes, documentation relating to Antonakos family property in Palavina, Greece, the program for a memorial event following the artist's death, and obituaries and condolence letters. Also found are the transcripts of 5 interviews with Antonakos, including one conducted by the Achives of American Art (1975), and paper copies of email messages with answers to interview questions.
Correspondence was originally arranged chronologically and grouped with project and exhibition files from the same year(s). It was re-arranged alphabetically in order to enhance access to the material.
Correspondence is primarily professional and is with art galleries, museums, professional organizations, cultural and educational institutions, fabricators, publishers, and private and corporate clients and municipal agencies for whom Antonakos proposed or executed commissions. Also found is scattered correspondence with friends and colleagues including artists Daniel Buren and Jim Melchert, architect Brent Saville, and filmmaker Darrell Forney. Later correspondence is primarily in the form of printouts of email messages.
Correspondence with individuals and art galleries in the United States and abroad relates to consignments, sales, loans, and exhibitions of Antonakos's work. Correspondents include Marilene Bonomo of Galleria Bonomo, Bari, The Drawing Room in East Hampton, Fischbach Gallery, Kalfayan Galleries, Konrad Fischer Gallery, Florica Kyriakopoulos, consultant Connie Lembark, art collector Egidio Marzona, curator and art editor Christos M. Joachimides, Jean-Tristan Mottier who sold small edition prints for Antonakos, and Jan Runnqvist of Galerie Bonnier, Stockholm. Also documented is Antonakos's relationships with major museums in which his artwork is represented, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, the Stedelijk Museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art,
Some of the logistical and technical aspects of the execution of Antonakos's sculpture are documented in correspondence with Nikos Trifillis of Neon Tryk, engineer Panos I. Zouganelis, marble fabricators Smili Marble Art, United States construction company, Spectrum Signs, and others.
Several visiting artist teaching positions held by Antonakos are documented here in correspondence with the Atlanta College of Art, Bennington College, Brooklyn Museum, Fresno State College, Smith College, and the University of Delaware. Correspondence concerning the International Symposium on Contemporary Art and Public Space in Athens, the Sculpture in the City Conference at the European Cultural Centre of Delphi, and other events, documents Antonakos's presentations at various conferences.
Correspondence also relates to Antonakos's involvement in professional organizations including his election to and gifts to the National Academy of Design, and his receipt of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Academy and the Greek American Foundation in 2011.
Correspondence with publishers documents the publication of several books and catalogs about Antonakos, including Irving Sandler's
The bulk of the correspondence relating to projects and exhibitions can be found in Series 4 and Series 5.
Includes Antonakos's conference presentation "Day into Night, Night into Day"
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 1
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 1
Includes drawings for jewelry designs
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 1
Series consists primarily of artist statements on all aspects of his career, supplemented by Antonakos's notes, biographical notes and statements, text from exhibition catalogs, and copies of email correspondence. Also found is a folder of notes used by Antonakos for teaching assignments in the 1960s.
Project files span the course of Antonakos's career from 1965 on, documenting private commissions and small scale neons from the 1960s, to large-scale permanent installations including over 50 Public Works for airports, metro stations, federal buildings, museums, theaters, arenas, hotels, and shopping centers in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Project files include extensive documentation of Antonakos's creative process which began on paper and was then translated into specifications for industrial fabricators. Many of Antonakos's original drawings with subsequent plans and blueprints, as well as instructions to fabricators, can be found here. Additionally, project files typically contain artist statements, correspondence, proposals, contracts, insurance records, printed material comprising press about his projects, digital photographs and video, and scattered photographs of Antonakos and/or his artwork.
Antonakos's Packages are also documented here. Records include the contents of a Package mailed to the Archives of American Art in 1975, detailed lists and other data for individual projects, and sample images of Packages.
A list, with images, of all of Antonakos's Public Works, distinguishing between permanent commissions and temporary large public works, can be found in Series 7: Photographs.
Series includes 1 microflm reel (35mm).
Series is arranged as 3 subseries.
Series is arranged chronologically by the year of project completion wherever possible.
Series documents projects fully executed by the artist, as opposed to proposed projects which were not completed (see Series 4.2.) and are a rich source of information on Antonakos's artistic development, ideas,and creative process.
Oversized material housed in OV 25
Oversized material housed in OV 25
Oversized material housed in OV 25
Oversized material housed in OV 26
Oversized material housed in OV 25
Oversized material housed in OV 25
Oversized material housed in OV 26
Oversized material housed in OV 27
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 2
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 3 and OV 26
Oversized material housed in OV 27
Oversized material housed in OV 27
Oversized material housed in OV 28
Oversized material housed in OV 27
Oversized material housed in OV 27
Oversized material housed in OV 29
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 4
Oversized material housed in OV 28
Oversized material housed in OV 29
Oversized material housed in OV 29
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 4 and OV 30
Oversized material housed in OV 31
Oversized material housed in OV 32
Oversized material housed in OV 30
Oversized material housed in OVs 33-34
Oversized material housed in OVs 33-34
Oversized material housed in OV 35
Oversized material housed in OV 35
Oversized material housed in OV 34
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 4 and OV 36
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 4 and OV 36
Oversized material housed in OV 36
Oversized material housed in OV 35
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 5
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 5
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 5
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 5
Circa 2 linear feet of material documents projects that were not ultimately executed by the artist.
Files typically contain artist statements, correspondence, legal documents including contracts, proposals, original drawings, plans and blueprints, photographs, and some printed material.
Series is arranged chronologically.
Oversized material housed in OV 37
Oversized material housed in OV 37
Oversized material housed in OV 37
Oversized material housed in OV 37
Includes transcript of an interview of Antonakos conducted by Kiichi Usui, Curator of the Meadow Brook Art Gallery at Oakland University
Oversized material housed in OV 37
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 6
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 6
Oversized material housed in OV 38
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 6
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 6
Oversized material housed in OV 38
Oversized material housed in OV 38
Oversized material housed in OV 38
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 6
Oversized material housed in OV 38
Oversized material housed in OV 38
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 6
Oversized material housed in OV 36
Oversized material housed in OV 36
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 6 and OV 39
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 7
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 7
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 7 and OV 39
Oversized material housed in OV 40
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 7
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 7
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 7
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 7
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 7 and OV 38
Oversized material housed in OV 40
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 8
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 8
Oversized material housed in OV 38
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 8
Series is generally arranged according to documentation of the projects provided by Naomi Spector Antonakos, discovered in Antonakos's records after his death.
Series documents Antonakos's Packages begun in the early 1970s which Antonakos sent to friends and colleagues with the stipulation that they be opened only on a specified date, or after the artist's death, or never. Naomi Spector Antonakos provided "Orientation Information" about the organization of the Packages based on documents she discovered after Antonakos's death.
Records include some of Antonakos's original lists and notes, correspondence, and many letters of transmittal signed by recipients of the Packages acknowledging that they will not open their Package until the prescribed date, will not attempt to discover the contents of the Package, and will inform Antonakos when the Package has been opened. Also found are printed material, postal receipts, gift agreements, and photographs of some recipients opening Packages.
This series houses a Package mailed to the Archives of American Art in 1975 and opened, as requested, after his death. The Package contained a 35mm microfilm of a sketchbook kept by Antonakos between 11 February 1974 to 19 March 1975, with sketches and notes about his neon projects.
Records related to Packages sent to Richard Artschwager, Daniel Buren, Sol LeWitt and Robert Ryman in 1974, can be found in 5.1., Box 13, Folders 23-25.
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 8
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 8
Exhibition files provide extensive and comprehensive documentation of over 100 solo exhibitions as well as numerous group shows in which Antonakos was represented in the United States, Europe and Japan.
Important exhibitions documented here include
Files typically contain artist statements, correspondence, original drawings and plans, instructions for fabricators and for installations, printed and digital material such as exhibition announcements, catalogs, and press clippings, and photographs of artwork, installations, and related events.
Series is arranged as 2 subseries.
Records are arranged chronologically by opening date of exhibition.
Includes 4 illustrated letters from Donald Mochon; oversized material housed in OV 41
Oversized material housed in OV 41
Oversized material housed in OV 41
Oversized material housed in OV 41
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 9
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 9
Oversized material housed in OV 41
Oversized material housed in OV 41
Oversized material housed in OV 41
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 9
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 9
Includes photos of Antonakos and transcript of a 1982 interview with Antonakos by David Shapiro; oversized material housed in OV 40
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 10
Oversized material housed in OV 42
Oversized material housed in OV 40
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 10
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 10
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 10
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 10 and OV 40
Includes photos of Stephen Antonakos with Daniel Buren, Sol LeWitt and Robert Ryman. Oversized material housed in OV 42
Oversized material housed in OV 42
Oversized material housed in OV 42
Oversized material housed in OV 42
Oversized material housed in OV 40
2 exhibitions and a book:
Oversized material housed in OV 42
Records are arranged chronologically by opening date of exhibition.
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 11
Oversized material housed in OV 42
Oversized material housed in OV 43
Oversized material housed in OV 43
Oversized material housed in OV 43
Oversized material housed in OV 43
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 11
Oversized material housed in OV 45
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 11
Oversized material housed in OV 44
Oversized material housed in OV 45
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 11
Oversized material housed in OV 44
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 11 and OV 44
Oversized material housed in OV 45
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 11
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 11
Oversized material housed in Box 24, Folder 11
Printed material includes announcements and catalogs for solo and group exhibitions, press and publicity clippings from magazines and newspapers, 9 publications about or including Antonakos, and posters for exhibitons, some of which may be duplicated in Series 5: Exhibition Files.
Of note is a poster for an exhibition not documented elsewhere:
Also found are 2 small edition silkscreens hand-cut by the artist: one for
Oversized material housed in OVs 46-47
Photographs of Antonakos and others include Antonakos as a boy with family; with Naomi Spector Antonakos and Ronald Bladen during installation of
Also found are photographs of artwork, most produced on a photographic printer as 8 x 10 images or as smaller images embedded in lists with accompanying information about the artwork, including some instructions for hanging.
One folder contains a list with embedded images of all of Antonakos's public works, distinguishing between permanent commissions and temporary large Public Works. There is also a document titled "Drawing Survey, 1950s-2012" with embedded images of Antonakos's drawings.
Series includes sample images of artwork in digital format.