Husband Philip Claflin
Queer Places:
Mount Holyoke College (Seven Sisters), 50 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075
Harvard University (Ivy League), 2 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138
Yale University (Ivy League), 38 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT 06520
Vassar College (Seven Sisters), 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
Agnes Rindge Claflin (May 19, 1900 - June 12, 1977) was an arts
administrator, collector, and educator who spent the majority of her career
at Vassar College as a professor and serving as director of its art gallery
for 28 years. Her interest in art was not confined to the campus. She numbered among her friends artists such as Alexander Calder, the sculptor, and painters such as Eugene Berman and
Pavel Tchelitchew.
She was close friends with Allen
Porter and Monroe Wheeler
and married Philip Claflin,
former partner of
John Mosher. Her associates included Alfred Barr, founder of the Museum of Modern Art,
A. Everett Austin, head of the Wadsworth Athenaeum
Agnes Millicent Rindge was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May
19, 1900. She graduated from the Madeira School in 1917, attended Mount
Holyoke College for two years, and graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe
College. Afterwards, Claflin briefly taught at Vassar College before returning
to Radcliffe and earning her M.A. and Ph.D. She rejoined the Vassar College
faculty in 1928 and served as the director of the Vassar Art Gallery from
1934-1962. Claflin published Sculpture in 1929 and in the 1930s she began
writing articles for several different publications. At the request of Alfred
Barr, she joined the Advisory Committee for the Museum of Modern Art in 1941
and became the Assistant Executive Vice President from 1943-1944. Claflin held
a number of other positions in art organizations such as the Commission on
Arts of the American Association of Colleges (1939), Art in America
(1940-1943), Art Division of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
(1941-1942), American Federation of Arts (1944-1945), and Committee on
Fellowships of the College Art Association (1945-1948).
She married Philip W. Claflin, a captain in the U.S. Army, in 1945.
Throughout her career, Claflin lectured at organizations and universities
across the United States, including the Chicago Art Institute, Columbia
University, New York University, Yale University, and many others. Agnes
Claflin died on June 12, 1977. Claflin and Alexander Calder were colleagues
and friends. In 1942, the Vassar Art Gallery hosted a Calder exhibition
installation. The following year, Claflin wrote and narrated a short film,
"Alexander Calder: Sculpture and Constructions," which was presented with the
Museum of Modern Art's Calder exhibition of the same year.
by George Platt Lynes
My published books:
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