Content Description
Business records and curatorial files of Diego Cortez containing documentation of his work with galleries and artists, including information on artists and writers such as Duncan Smith, Henry Geld, Willam Burroughs, Nan Golden, Basquiat, Jimmy Desana, Julian Schnabel.
Dates
- 1934 - 2019
Creator
- Cortez, Diego (Person)
Biographical / Historical
Born James Allen Curtis in Geneva, Illinois in 1946, Curtis moved to New York City in 1973 and assumed the name Diego Cortez. He became well-known as an artist, club manager, promoter, and independent curator, co-founding the influential NYC nightspot The Mudd Club, which offered an eclectic mix of art, music and cultural events that combined both modernist and punk aesthetics. The Mudd Club operated at 77 White Street in downtown Manhattan between 1978 and 1983. In 1981, Cortez curated the groundbreaking exhibition "New York, No Wave" at a defunct elementary school in Long Island City, Queens called P.S. 1. The exhibition featured the work of David Byrne, Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Kenny Scharf, among many others.
Extent
27 cubic feet.
Language of Materials
English
- Status
- Completed
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Box: 1 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 2 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 3 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 4 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 5 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 6 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 7 (Mixed Materials)
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- Box: 9 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 10 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 11 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 12 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 13 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 14 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 15 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 16 (Mixed Materials)
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- Box: 18 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 19 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 20 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 21 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 22 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 23 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 24 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 25 (Mixed Materials)
- mapcase folder: 1 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 26 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 27 (Mixed Materials)
Repository Details
Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)
rareref@cornell.edu