Jackson Pollock

by Steven Naifeh

  “Done in a state”: Barr, p. 179. Barr conferring legitimacy; largest Surrealist exhibition; “Every artist associated”: Lader, pp. 70–71. Mumford an exception: Mumford, “Surrealism and Civilization,” p. 79. “Sham”: Skidelsky, ”‘The Sham of It,” p. 13. “Maelstrom”: Davidson, “Surrealism from 1450 to Dada & Dali,” in Diamonstein, ed., The Art World, p. 142. “A farce”; “a huge absurdity”: Skidelsky, “The Sham of It,” p. 13. “The supreme hoax”: Leo S. Goslinger, unidentified clipping, Ferdinand Perret Library, National Collection of Fine Arts Library, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., q. in Lader, p. 72. “Bound to be amused”: Davidson, “Surrealism from 1450 to Dada & Dali,” in Diamonstein, ed., The Art World, p. 142.

  Gorky the first: Tabak, “Tell Me More,” in “A Collage,” pp. 543–48. Kamrowski meeting Baziotes: Lader, p. 463: At Krasner’s loft. Wechsler, p. 45: It was soon after his arrival. Kamrowski: When he met Baziotes, the latter was already interested in the Surrealists. “We considered Dali”: Q. in Simon, “Busa and Matta,” p. 18. “Automatism was the first”: Q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 23. Baziotes taking Surrealism at its word: Busa, q. in Simon, “Busa and Matta,” p. 19: “Among all of us, he was probably the most faithful adherent to orthodox Surrealism.” Baziotes studying Miró and Arp: See Busa, q. in Simon, “Busa and Matta,” p. 19. Baziotes experimenting with coulage: Baziotes; David Rubin, “A Case for Content,” p. 107. Baziotes going to Columbia: Baziotes. Talking about Surrealism to Pollock: Baziotes; Kamrowski.

  Dating of discussions with Baziotes: Kamrowski. Wechsler (p. 45) gives date as 1941. Baziotes: “It must have been ‘forty.” Kamrowski: The incident took place in “the fall of ‘thirty-nine or the winter of ‘forty.” Kamrowski’s studio: At 241 Sullivan Street. “Was bringing”: Kamrowski to B. H. Friedman, 1972, q. in Wechsler, p. 45. “Wasn’t going well”: Kamrowski. Baziotes dribbling paint: Wechsler, p. 45. “Interpreted” as “bird’s nest”; “declined to comment”: David Rubin, “A Case for Content,” p. 107, citing interview with Kamrowski, June 26, 1978. “Demonstration”; “very free”: Kamrowski, q. in Wechsler, pp. 45–46. “Made his point”; “puzzling”: Q. in Wechsler, p. 46. “Everything wells up”: Q. in Picon, pp. 12–13. Gentle Baziotes: Fleiss: “The sweetest, gentlest, dearest, kindest, nicest man of them all was Baziotes.” Ex-boxer: Kamrowski: “He was a lightweight at 125 pounds.” Boxing “psychologically useful”; selling newspapers and shining shoes: Baziotes. Bootleggers, hat factory, stained glass; Leon Kroll’s class; always an umbrella: Ernst, p. 187. Ethel’s “Byzantine” serenity: Ernst, p. 186. “Dressed like”: Ernst, pp. 186–87.

  Paalen exhibition: Apr. 9–22, 1940. Paalen a Hofmann student: Ashton, p. 124. Miró exhibition: Mar. 12–Apr. 16. Marine Terminal mural; Brooks, admirer of Miró: Brooks. An earlier exhibition, “Joan Miró, Recent Works,” had been presented in 1938; Picon, p. 203. Influence of Miró in Baziotes’s work: Busa. Masson exhibition: Feb. 17–Mar. 14. It is unlikely, given JP’s friends and artistic development at the time, that he would have seen the Masson shows at Rosenberg and Matisse in 1932, at Matisse in 1935, and at Rosenberg in 1936. “How much”: Myers. “The only person”: Q. by Myers; see also Myers, “Surrealism and New York Painting,” p. 56; confirmed by Wilcox.

  Collaboration between Pollock and Baziotes: Baziotes: Baziotes was also “a fan of Moby-Dick.” Motherwell, q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 21: “I asked Baziotes who he thought to be the most talented of his friends. Baziotes thought probably Pollock.” “When I am away”: Unpub. version of statement by William Baziotes (1944), handwritten by Ethel Baziotes, AAA, q. in Cavaliere and Hobbs, “Against a Newer Laocoön,” p. 112. “What happens on the canvas”: Q. in Friedman, “The New Baroque,” p. 12. “To talk about art”; “phony”; “his own kingdom”: Q. by Baziotes.

  Onslow-Ford in New York: Sandler, p. 43 n. 26; Sawin, an expert on Onslow-Ford, is not certain that JP attended the lectures. Onslow-Ford was invited to America by Kay Sage and the Society for the Preservation of European Culture in 1940. Jackson at Onslow-Ford lectures: Lader, p. 187: “Onslow-Ford does not remember actually seeing Pollock there, nor had he met him by that time. Others who were present, however, have told him that Pollock was there.” “Look within himself”: Onslow-Ford, “The Painter Looks Within Himself,” pp. 30–31. Onslow-Ford’s background: Sawin. Onslow-Ford was in Paris from 1937 to 1939; Picon, p. 168. “The person who introduced”: Onslow-Ford.

  “It was the challenge”: Q. in Weld, p. 272. Blackening name of Surrealism: Nicholas Carone, a close friend of Matta’s: “The Surrealist influence on Pollock is far vaster than critics have allowed. They don’t want any allegiance to the European culture. It has to be something native American. There is an American Surrealism that the critics don’t want to touch.” To wit, CG: “The influence of the European painters on American art at midcentury is a convenient myth. Most of the Europeans who came were Surrealists.”

  Limited interaction with Surrealists: Lader, pp. 76–77; Motherwell, int. by Cummings. “Really enjoyed”: Bultman, int. by Sandler, Jan. 6, 1968. Larré: Weld, p. 270. Free French Canteen: Motherwell, int. by Cummings. Surrealists’ talk; “longing for the bistros”: Weld, p. 270. Spending time with Reises: See Motherwell, int. by Cummings; Lader, p. 95. Reis: “My husband could get the artists out of any difficulties, and find customers for them, and buy paintings from them.” Spending time with Murphys: Wilcox; Aurthur, “Hitting the Boiling Point,” p. 96. “Kept away from everything”; “terrible snobs”: CG, q. in Weld, p. 273. Duchamp and Seligmann more accessible: Weld, p. 272. Gorky favorite of Breton and Tanguy: Abel. French-speaking Americans preferred: Bultman, int. by Sandler, Jan. 6, 1968. “The Surrealists arrived”: Tabak, “Surrealists,” in “Collage,” p. 442.

  “Insisted in thinking”: Q. by Weld, p. 270, citing “Eleven Europeans in America,” The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, 1946. “Breton may have spoken”: Q. in Weld, p. 272. “Autocratic”: Ernst, ”The Artist Speaks,” p. 58. “It was amazing”: Q. in Weld, p. 257, citing interview, Feb. 12, 1979. “He was full”: Q. in Weld, p. 269. Breton refusing to learn English: Weld, p. 270. Abhorring eggs and gays: Weld, p. 270, citing David Hare. Calas ordered to marry: CG. “A form of psychoanalysis”; “gage”; “he got mortally offended”; “being brought blindfolded”: PG, p. 222.

  Surrealists seeming frivolous: See Friedman, p. 52. “In this country”: Tabak, “Surrealists,” in “Collage,” p. 442. Leaves and excrement: Weld, p. 151. Puritan sensibilities offended: Ashton, p. 86. Co-opting of American dealers: Abel. Co-opting of collectors and museums: Lader, p. 77. Levy taking orders from Breton: Abel. “The Museum of Modern Art people”: Motherwell, int. by Cummings, Nov. 24, 1971. “Swallowed all Gallic”: Ashton, p. 86. “[Reis’s] only money”: Int. by Cummings.

  Hélion: A founder of the Abstraction-Création group in Paris; see Lane and Larsen, p. 167. Prisoner-of-war camp: In Poland; Lane and Larsen, p. 168. Hélion married Peggy’s daughter Pegeen not long after; Weld, p. 320. “One day I looked”: Q. by Abel. Similar epiphanies: Lehman: Léger also paid a visit to the mural that Lehman was painting at Riker’s Island prison, with Sande as an assistant: “After looking quite a while at my full scale sketch, he said something in French to [George Boochever, Assistant Commissioner of Corrections,] who turned to me and translated, ‘M. Léger would like to know how long it’s going to take you to paint this.’ I said, ‘It should take me about a year and a half.’ Which he then told to Léger, after which Léger responded, in French. The man turned to me and said, “M. Léger says he could do it in six months.” Lehman explained the scheduling difficulties. “But the point is, here was a world-famous, established artist setting himself against a young painter in America. The competitive spirit was there.” “We have met them”: Int. by David Sylvester, in McCoy, ed., p. 170. “I don’t see”: Questionnaire in Arts & Architecture, p. 14.

  “A diamond”: Busa. “Gorky is like a cow”: Q. by Cavallon. Sterne: “Gorky was always under the influen
ce. He always understood from within. He became Modigliani. He didn’t just paint like Modigliani, he became him. And he could do a quick drawing by Picasso, including the signature. Gorky also made some of the greatest Gorkys totally under the influence of Matta, and they’re probably better than anything by Matta.” Baziotes deserving to be leader: Busa, q. in Simon, “Busa and Matta,” p. 19: “Among all of us, he was probably the most faithful adherent to orthodox Surrealism. … Bill was the one who would go out on the street and make the contacts. Even Kamrowski (who later had the blessing of Breton) was squeamish about it.”

  Matta’s background: Picon, p. 226. Reputation as libertine: Myers, p. 67. “A loved son”; “the most energetic: Motherwell, q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 21. “Touched base”: Nicholas Carone. Busa, q. in Simon, “Busa and Matta,” p. 17: “Surrealism was a fuse which lit up the American scene. But from where? It was [Matta’s presence] that personalized Surrealism for us.” “A genius”: Nicholas Carone. Matta as champion of automatism: Kamrowski. Date of Matta’s planning: Motherwell, q. in David Rubin, “A Case for Content,” p. 105. This incident could be dated as late as the fall of 1942. “He wanted to show”; “He realized”: Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 21.

  Motherwell a disastrous choice: Motherwell, int. by Cummings: He appealed to the Surrealists because he was willing and able to be helpful to them.

  Gorky and Baziotes reading Minotaure: Rosenberg. Motherwell’s background; “the French milieu”: Q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 20. Studies with Seligmann: According to Motherwell (q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 20), this was arranged by Meyer Schapiro. But Wilcox says it was arranged by his wife, Lucia, who knew Seligmann well. “In the three months”: Q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 20. Ferrera: Her name was given to us by Baziotes. “A little capricious”: Kamrowski.

  “Imbued”: Q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 21. “I would talk”: Motherwell, int. by Cummings. “You have a tremendous”: Q. by Motherwell, int. by Cummings. “Ransacking”: Motherwell, q. in Diamonstein, ed., Inside New York’s Art World, p. 247. Motherwell’s good looks: Int. by Cummings. Fired by Breton: Lader, pp. 277–78. Myers, p. 35: “Motherwell’s intellectual pretensions did not sit well on Breton’s very high brow.” The two men came to blows when Motherwell served for a few days as editor of Breton’s magazine. Asked to translate an article from the French, Motherwell told Breton that he could not translate the term conscience sociale because the term “social consciousness” meant something different in America. “Breton … fired him on the spot, then later gave Matta hell for suggesting him”; Lader, pp. 277–78, citing David Hare, letter in “Communication,” Art News, Dec. 1967, p. 10. “He used to come”; “a joke”: Q. by Wilcox. “Le petit philosophe”: Q. by Myers, p. 35. “A windbag”: Q. by Wilcox.

  “He had a tremendous”: Q. in Simon, “Busa and Matta,” p. 18. “Revolution of the young”: Motherwell, q. in FVOC, “The Genesis of JP,” p. 210, citing Andr�� Fermégier, “Paris/New York/1940–45,” in Art de France (Paris, 1964), p. 232. “To develop some sort”: Lader, p. 82. “Show up”; “reliance”: Cavaliere and Hobbs, “Against a Newer Laocoön,” p. 111. “Annoyed because”: Q. in Simon, “Busa and Matta,” p. 18. Matta and Motherwell touring studios: Motherwell: Matta did not accompany him on trips to Gorky’s studio or de Kooning’s; see Cavaliere and Hobbs, “Against a Newer Laocoön,” p. 111. Gorky bemused: Tabak, “Tell Me More,” in “Collage,” pp. 543–48. De Kooning indifferent: Cavaliere and Hobbs, “Against a Newer Laocoön,” p. 111. Busa doesn’t agree with Motherwell’s characterization. “Exhilarated”: Kadish.

  “Initiate”; “the Surrealist mysteries”: Motherwell, int. by FVOC, Feb. 14, 1964, q. in FVOC, “The Genesis of JP,” p. 210. When Motherwell tried to explain Surrealism to him, Gorky baited him repeatedly with the line, “Tell me more,” then delighted his friends with the story; Tabak, “Tell Me More,” in “Collage,” pp. 543–48. Motherwell (q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 21) said he spent “four or five hours … explaining the whole Surrealist thing in general and the theory of automatism in particular” to JP. Motherwell would later say JP “listened intently” and “invited me to come back another afternoon” to provide more details. JP’s friends “thought the claims of Bob hilarious”; Tabak, “Tell Me More,” in “Collage,” p. 546. Pavia: “Motherwell, nobody survives that guy’s wrath. He’s so terrible. His stories. I just laugh when I hear them!” Kamrowski: “Motherwell may very well be the Pope of the Abstract Expressionists, and certainly that movement couldn’t have existed without him, but I think for him to claim everything, to claim everything for himself is his folly. When I first met Matta, with Bill (Baziotes] and Jackson and that group, Motherwell was just an art history student from whatever place.”

  “First Papers of Surrealism”: Weld, pp. 287–88. Superman and Father Divine: Busa. It is often said that JP was asked to exhibit in this show but turned down the invitation because he didn’t believe in group activities; see OC&T IV, p. 226; David Rubin, “A Case for Content,” p. 104. There is no hard evidence for this. Nine months before the “First Papers” show, JP had shown in the McMillen show, a very similar show that included a number of Europeans and about the same number of Americans. He raised no objections then about being part of a group. It seems more likely that he dropped out of the group that Matta and Motherwell had put together, and may have dropped out of the “manifestation” they were planning (before it was scrapped), and that this withdrawal is being confused with a supposed withdrawal from the “First Papers” show.

  Meetings on Twelfth Street: Baziotes: The meetings sometimes took place at Francis Lee’s studio. Busa: They sometimes took place at Motherwell’s apartment. Description of Matta’s apartment: Kamrowski. “The Exquisite Corpse” (game): Lader, p. 160. “The exquisite corpse” (sentence): Watson-Taylor, “Exquisite Corpses and Strange Apparitions,” p. 20. “To locate a common”: Baziotes, int. by David Rubin, June 16, 1975, q. in “A Case for Content,” p. 105. “The effort of the dance”: Written c. 1943; OC&T 697, III, p. 206. “What is a fox?”: Busa, int. by David Rubin, q. in “A Case for Content,” p. 105 n. 32. “One rainy night”: Motherwell, int. by Bryan Robertson, q. in Cavaliere and Hobbs, “Against a Newer Laocoön,” p. 111. “Fermé”: Q. in Kozloff, “An Interview with Matta,” p. 26. Jackson best at psychoanalysis: See David Rubin, “A Case for Content,” p. 105. Attendance falling off: Baziotes: Attendance was so sporadic that she and Lee both attended sessions, but never overlapped.

  Ninth Street meetings: Busa. For address, see Simon, “Busa and Matta,” p. 18. Date of meetings: Busa. Lee Krasner dismissed the impact of these evenings on the development of Abstract Expressionism as “overblown, to put it mildly”; LK to Landau, May 1, 1979, q. in Landau, “LK’s Early Career,” p. 234. “Treated their wives”: Q. in Wallach, “Krasner’s Triumph,” p. 501. “Resented most”: Q. in Simon, “Busa and Matta,” p. 18. Enthusiasm for Jackson’s work: Kadish. “To find new”: Matta, q. in Kozloff, “An Interview with Matta,” p. 25: “These things were like rain catching up with a man who is running.” “Natural elements”; “what it would be”: Busa. Later Matta would claim (q. in Weld, p. 274) that he used these sessions to lecture the Americans—who were “absolutely ignorant of European ideas”—on the principles of psychic automatism. In fact, Motherwell was the only one of the regular guests who had not been experimenting with automatism for several years.

  “The hours of the day”: See David Rubin, “A Case for Content,” p. 105. “Surrealism was largely”: Q. in David Rubin, “A Case for Content,” p. 105. Art subservient to metaphysics: “To me, painting is a technique at the services of a certain consciousness”; Matta, q. in Kozloff, “An Interview with Matta,” p. 26. “What common images”: Baziotes, int. by David Rubin, June 16, 1976, elaborated on May 25, 1977, q. in “A Case for Content,” p. 105. “Draw the hours”: LK, int. by David Rubin, Apr. 8, 1977, q. in “A Case for Content,” p. 105. Busa: Krasner told Matta that she “liked his spirit, but tho
ught his work was not plastic enough;” Busa, int. by Landau, Oct. 13, 1979, q. in Landau, “LK’s Early Career,” p. 215. Matta’s “dogmatism”: Busa. “Too much like”: Q. by Bultman, int. by David Rubin, Nov. 22, 1976, q. in “A Case for Content,” p. 105. “Intense”: Bultman, int. by David Rubin, Nov. 22, 1976, q. in “A Case for Content,” p. 105. “I can do that”: Q. by Busa. Jackson’s belief in Motherwell’s influence with Guggenheim: LK.

  Motherwell tracing images: Wilcox describes his arrival at Motherwell’s East Hampton studio: “I got there a little early for a visit to his studio. He lived on the second floor of Buddy Katz’s carriage house. I found the door open a little ways, so I knocked and went in. There his things were all spread out, and there he was assembling tracings of elements from Miró and other artists.” “He was a literary”: Name withheld by request.

  Motherwell’s background: Motherwell, int. by Cummings. Resentment of Motherwell: Kramer: “A lot of people in that generation and in every artistic generation since in New York have always very much resented the fact that Motherwell came from a family of money and had a university education and speaks well and has edited books and all of that. Strangely enough, I think it has acted as a barrier to a disinterested view of his art.” Motherwell’s life-style: Kamrowski; Lassaw. Father ruined in crash: Motherwell, int. by Cummings. Subsidies from mother: Holtzman.

  People intimidated by Motherwell: Abel. Illusion of power: Kamrowski. Motherwell claiming introduction to Guggenheim: Motherwell, int. by FVOC, Feb. 19, 1964, q. in FVOC, “The Genesis of JP,” p. 84. Motherwell, q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” pp. 21–22: “I think a lot of Pollock’s interest in me was not altogether in what I was saying, but in the fact that I had a connection with Peggy Guggenheim.” Motherwell’s visit, Lee’s help: Motherwell to Vallière, Aug. 31, 1964. Motherwell’s explanation of automatism to Hofmann: See Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 22; see also Motherwell’s later version of the same story, q. in Potter, p. 70. Carrying Jackson; “It was a helluva job”: Q. in Simon, “Motherwell,” p. 22. Meeting with de Kooning: LK, see also Motherwell, q. in Potter, p. 70.