Archives West Finding Aid
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Betty Bowen photograph and film collection, circa 1890-1976
Overview of the Collection
- Collector
- Bowen, Betty, 1919-1977
- Title
- Betty Bowen photograph and film collection
- Dates
- circa 1890-1976 (inclusive)18901976
- Quantity
- 153 b/w prints, 3 color prints, 22 negatives, 1 slide, 1 color plate, and five 16mm films (2 boxes)
- Collection Number
- PH2004-035
- Summary
- Images of Mark Tobey together with family and friends and at exhibitions. Also includes films made by Seattle TV stations featuring Mark Tobey, Paul Horiuchi, Richard Gilkey, and Kenneth Callahan.
- Repository
-
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu - Access Restrictions
Collection is open to the public.
- Languages
- English
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Betty Bowen was born Betty Cornelius in 1919 in Kent, Washington, and raised in Skagit County. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1940, she worked first as a reporter for the Seattle Times, then as women's editor at the Seattle Star. She subsequently did free-lance public relations work.
From the 1940s, Bowen was a prominent figure in the Seattle art world. In 1953, Dr. Richard Fuller hired Bowen to be public relations director for the Seattle Art Museum. He later appointed her assistant to the director. She served until Fuller's retirement in 1973. Bowen's colorful personality both contrasted with and complemented Fuller's more conservative temperament and energized the Seattle arts establishment. Bowen effectively used her considerable influence in the art world and with the media to promote her interest in local artists. She was an original member of the Municipal (later Seattle) Arts Commission and a founding member of the Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Center. Bowen was also active in Seattle's historic preservation movement. She was founder and chairperson of the Allied Arts Historic Conservation Committee of Seattle and served as a member of the Friends of the Market, which won designation of the Pike Place Market as a historic district.
Bowen's personal commitment to the well being of local artists was legendary, and she was known as "the den mother of the city's arts." She did not merely provide artists with valuable public exposure and introductions to wealthy art patrons. Her support often extended to feeding and clothing her artist friends during lean times. She befriended and nurtured painters Morris Graves (whom she first met as a teenager), Mark Tobey, Richard Gilkey and others of their generation, and later Charles Krafft and the writer Tom Robbins.
Betty Bowen was married to John Bowen, captain of a transoceanic cable-laying ship. She died in 1977. Since 1978, the Betty Bowen Memorial Award has been award by the Seattle Art Museum to emerging and established regional artists.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Images of Mark Tobey together with family and friends and at exhibitions. Also includes films made by Seattle TV stations featuring Mark Tobey, Paul Horiuchi, Richard Gilkey, and Kenneth Callahan.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Custodial History
The current photograph collection, Photo Acc. 2004-035, was received together, between 1975 and 1978, with the materials that form two separate accessions (No. 2441-001 and No. 2441-005) in the Manuscripts collection. Please refer to the appropriate manuscripts finding aids to use those collections. The photographs were transferred to the Visual Materials Collection on March 24th, 2004.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Betty and John Bowen, 1975-1978.
Processing Note
Unprocessed.
Related Materials
University of Washington Special Collections has other materials by and about Betty Bowen.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Photographs and NegativesReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1/1 | Mark
Tobey One b/w portrait photographed by Art Hupy.
|
undated |
| 1/2 | George F. Brown
Family Nine b/w prints and seventeen negatives, including images of
Mark Tobey.
|
1924-1976 |
| 1/3 | Tobey
Family Eighteen b/w prints and eighteen negatives of Mark Tobey as a
child and young man.
|
ca. 1890's-1907 |
| 1/4 | Mark Tobey
Friends Four b/w prints and four negatives of Mark Tobey with Hilda
Morris, a sculptor, and Carl Morris, a painter, in Portland, Oregon and Pehr
Hallsten at Trafalgar Square in London.
|
1952 |
| 1/5 | Mark Tobey and
Betty Bowen Three b/w prints and one negative of Mark Tobey and Betty Bowen,
for which there is a citation in William Cumming's book. Also includes one
color print of Mark Tobey with a painting around 1974 and one b/w print of
Betty Bowen with a young child.
|
ca. 1974 |
| 1/6 | Mark Tobey's
80th Birthday Celebration Seventeen b/w prints of various guests at the exhibition and
celebration for Mark Tobey's 80th birthday on December 3rd, 1970.
|
1970 |
| 1/7 | Tobey
Exhibitions Four b/w prints of Mark Tobey with guests at exhibitions of his
paintings.
|
ca. 1960's |
| 1/8 | Morris Graves
print One b/w print of Morris Graves' "The Rock."
|
undated |
| 1/9 | Unidentified
Artists and Works Ten b/w and two color prints of unidentified artists and works.
Also includes a color plate by Mark Tobey intended for inclusion in a book
published in Germany.
|
1957-1971 |
| 1/10 | Scrapbook Scrapbook contains eighty-six b/w prints of Bowen's family and
friends.
|
ca. 1938-1942 |
| 1/11 | Mark
Tobey One b/w slide of Mark Tobey.
|
undated |
FilmsReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box | ||
| 2 | Paul
Horiuchi One 16mm color film made by KOMO TV featuring the artist Paul
Horiuchi.
|
1965 |
| 2 | Richard
Gilkey Two 16mm film clips made by KING TV News to publicize an art
sale at the Seattle Center raising funds for the victims of the Birmingham
bombing in Alabama.
|
1963 |
| 2 | Kenneth
Callahan One 16mm film made by KOMO TV News featuring the artist Kenneth
Callahan.
|
1965 |
| 2 | Mark
Tobey One 16mm film made by KOMO TV featuring the artist Mark
Tobey.
|
undated |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Personal Names
- Bowen, Betty, 1919-1977--Photographs
- Callahan, Kenneth, 1905-1986
- Gilkey, Richard C. (Richard Charles), 1925-1997
- Horiuchi, Paul, 1906-1999
- Tobey, Mark--Photographs
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Moving Image Collections (University of Washington)
- Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)
