Washington Review
Washington Review
Art Sites 6, 1994 edition
DisciplineThe arts
LanguageEnglish
Edited byClarissa Wittenberg
Mary Swift
Publication details
History1974–2002
Publisher
Friends of the Washington Review of the Arts (Washington, D.C., United States)
FrequencyBi-monthly
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4Wash. Rev.
Indexing
ISSN0163-903X
OCLC no.4526135

The Washington Review was an American bi-monthly journal of arts and literature published from 1974 to 2002 in Washington, D.C. The Review brought together information about art, dance, poetry, literature, music, photography, sculpture, theater, and events. The journal published artwork, essays, poems, commentaries as well as interviews by and about artists, curators, writers, performers, poets, choreographers, and directors, both emerging and notable.

History

The Washington Review was founded and helmed by Clarissa K. Wittenberg, who served as its founder and editor.[1] Inspired by the The Paris Review, in 1974 she started the journal initially with Jean Lewton, a colleague with whom she had worked with at X magazine.[2] Wittenberg wanted to document the underrepresented avant-garde culture of Washington. Review topics covered poetry, fiction, essays on the arts, book and art reviews, plays, interviews, photographs, graphics, and original artwork.[3]

The first Issue of the Washington Review appeared on May/July 1975. It was published by the Friends of the Washington Review of the Arts, Inc., a non-profit, tax-except educational organization. Tabloid-sized, it used two of the large pages per issue for poetry, and was saddle-stapled on high-quality newsprint. The Review had a circulation of 2,000 with 700 subscriptions, and was in 10 libraries.[4][5][6]

Magazine Cover of the Washington Review, the special artists 98 Edition, No. 1998, June/July 1998

Wittenberg worked with local contributors to develop the Review into a viable arts journal: gallerist George Hemphill, artist Clark V. Fox, dancer Maida Withers. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities was a regular provider of grants, along with a handful of local foundations.[2]

Mary Swift served as both chairman and president. Her key roles were as managing editor, perceptive interviewer, journalist, and photographer-in-residence from the journal's inception to its closure in 2002.[7] Swift's contributions included photographs, reviews of art exhibitions, and interviews with dancer Lucinda Childs, painter Robert Indiana, sculptor Anne Truitt, painter Howard Mehring and museum director and gallerist Walter Hopps. Swift interviewd DC artist Martin Puryear in the first article of his career.[7] For the February/March 1980 issue, Swift took the photographs and interviewed artist William Christenberry in his studio, including his collection of vintage signs, landscapes, and abandoned buildings from his home state Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[8][9]

In 1986, the Washington Review received the DC Mayor's Art Award for Excellence in Service to the Arts.[10]

The Washington Review ceased publication in 2002, when Wittenberg and Swift retired.[7]

Legacy

The full set of Washington Review journals are in the Library of Congress and the Mary Swift Papers (1973-2004) at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution.[11]

In November 2016, Swift donated thousands of contact sheets, negative, and prints, and more than one hundred cassette tapes of artist interviews to the archives of the Smithsonian Institution. Swift's collection measure 8.2 linear feet and date from 1973-2004. Most of the collection contains photographs that Swift took while working for the Washington Review.[11][8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Clarissa Wittenberg". Washington Film Institute. Washington D.C. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  2. 1 2 Anne Chamberlin (February 12, 1978). "Finding Happiness On F Street". Washington Post. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  3. ↑ "The 1988-89 Directory of Literary Magazines". Moyer Bell Ltd. 1998. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Art Sites 6". Washington Review. Washington D.C. 20 (2). 1994. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Poet's Market". Writers Digest. Cincinnati, Ohio. 1986. p. 312. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Friends of the Washington Review of the Arts, Inc". Open Corporates. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 Adam Bernstein (May 20, 2022). "Mary Swift, doyenne of Washington arts scene, dies at 95". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  8. 1 2 Mary Savig (January 2, 2018). "Acquisitions: Mary Swift Papers". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
  9. ↑ "William Christenberry papers, circa 1917-2018". Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. Washington, DC. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Artsites 98 Catalog". Washington Review. Washington D.C. 24 (1). 1998. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
  11. 1 2 "Mary Swift Papers, 1973-2004". Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C. 1973. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
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