The Sonya Rapoport Legacy Trust encourages and facilitates research and scholarship.
Please find below books and catalogs by authors Terri Cohn and Alla Efimova, an extensive selection of scanned primary source materials available in pdf form, and a guide to those interested in visiting the Sonya Rapoport Archives at the Bancroft Library of Western Americana at UC Berkeley.
PUBLICATIONS
Sonya Rapoport: Objects on My Dresser (2022)
Sonya Rapoport: Objects On My Dresser (2022) is an 86-page book that offers a comprehensive exploration of Sonya Rapoport’s most ambitious project – by Alla Efimova and Terri Cohn.
Sonya Rapoport: Biorhythm (2020)
The first in-depth interpretation of Sonya Rapoport’s early computer-based artwork. A pioneer in synthesizing science and technology with her personal, feminist practice, Rapoport has emerged a major figure in late 20th-century conceptual art. Published on the occasion of Sonya Rapoport: biorhythm at San José Museum of Art, with essays by curator Kathryn Wade and Farley Gwazda, authored by Terri Cohn and Alla Efimova.
Sonya Rapoport: Yes or No? (2016)
Sonya Rapoport was a Berkeley-based conceptual artist whose career consistently defied stereotypes and expectations. Yes or No? is an autobiographical work created in the last year of her life; a series of twelve seductively complex collages on pages from The New York Times, that convey the parting observations of an artist who kept ahead of her time for over six decades. By Alla Efimova and Terri Cohn.
Pairing of Polarities: The Life and Art of Sonya Rapoport (2012)
Terri Cohn, co-curator of Sonya Rapoport’s retrospective exhibitions at Kala Art Institute and Mills College Art Museum, edited this collection of essays about Rapoport’s work by twelve noted scholars, scientists, and art historians, including Richard Candida Smith, Judy Malloy, Anuradha Vikram, John Zarobell, Meredith Tromble, Anna Couey, Ernestine Daubner, and Roger Malina. Includes an introductory essay by Terri Cohn and a chapter by Rapoport’s daughter, Hava Rapoport.
This book is widely available online.
Primary Source Document Collection
The Sonya Rapoport Legacy Trust is making available to the public an extensive collection of Rapoport’s most essential archival materials, including announcements, articles, notes, images, and ephemera. These are available as a collection of pdfs, organized by era or project.
These are provided for the benefit of teaching, criticism, research, scholarship, education, and other cultural uses. Copyright remains with the original holder or the Estate of Sonya Rapoport.
Sonya Rapoport Archives at The Bancroft Library
Sonya Rapoport’s papers and other archival materials are preserved and made available at the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
The papers are available to any member of the public. You must first register for an Aeon account. All materials are stored off-site and must be requested online at least three days prior to any visit. The materials are non-circulating and can only be accessed at the Heller Reading Room in the Bancroft Library – plan your visit.
The archive consists of a primary collection of papers, and a smaller collection of pictorial materials, each of which has a finding aid (index) available via the Online Archive of California:
The Sonya Rapoport Papers include artworks, research for artworks, exhibition announcements, correspondence and other materials documenting Rapoport’s work over the course of five decades.
Pictorial Material from the Sonya Rapoport Papers is a separate, smaller collection which includes photographs, artist’s books, and drawings.
An incomplete but useful selection of video and audio tapes from the Bancroft archives have been digitized via the Calisphere project and are available online.
We would be very happy to discuss your research and guide your exploration of the archives: please contact us.