Jackson Pollock

by Steven Naifeh

  Interviews

  Peter Blake; Charles Boultenhouse; Charlotte Park Brooks; James Brooks; David Budd; Ted Dragon; Herbert Ferber; B. H. Friedman; Jane Graves; CG; Grace Hartigan; Dora Heller; Budd Hopkins; Axel Horn; Edward Hults; Reginald Isaacs; Harry Jackson; LK; Ernestine Lassaw; John Lee; John Little; ACM; George Mercer; Alfonso Ossorio; Vita Peterson; May Tabak Rosenberg; Dorothy Seiberling; Marta Vivas; Enez Whipple; Roger Wilcox.

  NOTES

  Private galleries quadrupling: From 40 to 150; Guilbaut, p. 91, citing Fortune, Sept. 1946, p. 144. For different numbers, see Naifeh, p. 81: 73 in 1945; 97 in 1950; 123 in 1955; based on a review of the listings in Art News and Art Gallery. Sales after 1944: Guilbaut, p. 91, citing Fortune, Sept. 1946, p. 144. Art not just for rich: Guilbaut, p. 94, citing Newsweek, June 28, 1943, p. 82. “Part of everyday life”: Guilbaut, p. 94. “Authenticated paintings”: Q. in Guilbaut, p. 93, citing Newsweek, June 28, 1943, p. 82.

  “The American century”; “fate”: Lippmann, “La destinée américaine,” p. 1. “New York is now”; “will the Paris School”: Germain Bazin, L’Amour de l’Art, July 1945, p. 27. q. in Guilbaut, p. 127. “American painting”: Degand, “Le retour d’un grand peintre,” p. 1. The French were never completely convinced of the triumph of American painting. In the April 4, 1947, issue of Arts, a French critic described his reaction to an exhibition of American paintings that had been sent to Paris, chiding the naiveté of Americans for thinking that there was something new or innovative in abstract art: “Is the purpose of this show to demonstrate to us that abstract art no longer holds any secrets for American artists? Or is it perhaps that they know no other aesthetic? Or is it merely that someone wanted to prove to us that the Yankees, always eager for novelty, are now at the cutting edge of modern art? … This kind of audacity has long been familiar in the art of western Europe. For us it could not cause either surprise or scandal. The only thing that can still attract us in a work is therefore its quality. This is not conspicuous in the painting of [Americans such as] Baziotes and Motherwell”; Denys Chevalier, “Introduction à la peinture américaine,” Arts, Apr. 4, 1947, q. in Guilbaut, p. 151.

  Wartime patriotism: Loucheim, “Who Buys What in the Picture Boom?” p. 12: “It is considered ‘patriotic.’” Rockefellers and Blisses: By moving into the domain of current art, they could stay ahead of the general public; see Guilbaut, p. 94. Life: Graves: “At that time, Life was the magazine. All the news was filtered through Time, Life, Newsweek, Look, and The Saturday Evening Post. But Life was the main one.” “The magazines defined taste”: Guilbaut, p. 94.

  “Round table”: “A Life Round Table on Modern Art,” Life, Oct. 11, 1948, pp. 56–70, 75–79. Sweeney: Sweeney recalled the more positive remarks in his own introduction to the 1943 exhibition at Art of This Century, noting Cathedral’s “spontaneity,” “freedom,” “expression,” “sense of textured surface,” and “linear organization.” Huxley: “It raises a question of why it stops when it does. The artist could go on forever. … It seems to me like a panel for a wallpaper which is repeated indefinitely around the wall.” Greene: The work left him “completely cold … a pleasant design for a necktie.” Frankfurter: He “thought this work remarkably good if compared with a lot of abstract painting that is being turned out nowadays.” Cathedral: The same painting was later sent to San Francisco to appear in the Third Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor; Friedman, p. 125. Romance of art: See White, “Mythic Links,” p. 54.

  Note of apology: JP to Bertha Schaefer, Oct. 11, 1945. Schaefer’s accusations: Wilcox. “Drinking heavily”: LK, q. in Gruen, pp. 231–32. “One didn’t tell Jackson”: Q. in Friedman, p. 126. Jackson falling off bike: Edward Hults. Heller’s background: Heller. First alcoholic treated: LK, q. in DP&G, “Who Was JP?” p. 48. “Personal poison”: Heller, q. by LK. “Can’t eat spinach”: Q. by LK, q. by Mercer. “You can’t drink”: Q. by James Brooks. “Take these”: Heller, q. by LK; see Friedman, p. 127. Friedman (p. 172) says Heller gave JP Antabuse, a relatively new drug at the time. JP was given Antabuse in the early 1950s, but there is no evidence that Heller gave it to him. Several people remember two different drug therapies, one with tranquilizers, one with Antabuse: Jackson; LK; Mercer; Wilcox. “Just talk”: Rosenberg. “Whenever the urge”: Q. by Rosenberg.

  Feeling calmer: Friedman, p. 127. “Quit for good”: JP, q. by ACM. “Jack’s new leaf”: ACM “The best news”: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, Jan. 1, 1949. “Jack and Lee were here”: SMP to CCP, Jan. 10, 1949. Tearing out partitions: Potter, p. 103. For entertaining; “show will be a test”: SMP to CCP, Jan. 10. 1949. See also SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan the same day: “I hope he will say no to every offer of liquor and his show will be a test if he can turn it down I hope so.” Last-minute preparations: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, Jan. 10, 1949. Driving into New York: Potter, p. 110. Borrowed station wagon: Ferber. McCoys’ arrival; first vacation: ACM to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, Jan. 27, 1949. No drinking: ACM. Staying at Hartigan’s: Hartigan. Hanging the show: During one of these sessions, Ferber and JP exchanged a sculpture for a painting: “I really fell in love with a small painting,” says Ferber, “and asked him if he would swap a sculpture for it, and he did.” Parsons impressed: Q. in Gruen, p. 238.

  “Lovely winter”: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, Jan. 24, 1949. Large crowd: ACM to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, Jan. 27, 1949. Dinner: Hartigan; Jackson. Eleven works sold: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, Mar. 16, 1949. The same figure appears in a record in the archives of Time/Life. But given the poor records kept by Parsons and JP, Stella’s figures remain, ironically, the best record of JP’s sales. “A wonderful show”: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, Mar. 16. 1949. Lee spreading news: Rosenberg; Wilcox. “He was the first”: Q. in DP&G, “Who Was JP?” p. 48; see also Friedman, p. 126, and Gruen, p. 54. No reference to tranquilizers: Lassaw: “In those days, nobody considered alcoholism bad. If you were taking drugs, they might have thought it was bad, but alcohol, they did it themselves.” “The gloomy prognosis”: Tabak, p. 198. “Never took”: Budd, who is only one of several dozen who repeated this myth to us.

  Never quit drinking: This observation was confirmed by Boultenhouse, Horn, Lee (recalling LK), Peterson, Wilcox, etc. Wilcox, for example, says JP “was never completely off alcohol, but pretty much so.” Cooking sherry: Horn. “Be completely crazed”: LK, q. by Lee. Jackson needing to stop: Wilcox added, “Some people don’t want to face their problems, but you have a problem you want to face. Because you have important things to do.” Career at stake: “Lucia and I decided that we were going to try to stop him because of that disastrous thing that happened [at Bertha Schaefer’s house]. We decided to try to work on him.” Astounding Science Fiction: Previously named simply Astounding Stories. “Reduce psychotherapy”: Wilcox. “Reverie”: Hubbard (p. 266) called his form of light hypnosis “reverie,” which, unlike true hypnosis, required the patient to remain at all times conscious. Bringing events into the light: Hubbard, p. 273, called the process of overcoming “erasing engrams.” “Unknown fears”: Hubbard, p. 1. Parlor game: Wilcox; he had already experimented on his wife Lucia, on Leo Castelli, and other friends. Description of spit: Epstein and Barlow, pp. 82–83. Grass and wildflowers: Epstein and Barlow, pp. 179–82. Favorite spot; Lee’s distrust: Wilcox.

  “Quieted any doubts”: Greenberg, “Art,” Feb. 19, 1949, p. 221. “Of the Hieroglyphics”: L[owengrund], “Pollock Hieroglyphics,” pp. 19–20. “Planes separate”: [De] K[ooning], “Reviews and Previews,” p. 44. The review misspells JP’s name “Pollack.” “Mop of tangled hair”: Genauer, “Ethel Edwards Proves Mature Artist.” “The disintegration”: Hunter, “Among the New Shows.” “Contour map”: “Words,” p. 51. Stella’s visit; “green fingers”: SMP to CCP, Apr. 1949. “Tons of coffee”: Ossorio, int. by Selvig, Nov. 19, 1968. “So nice”: SMP to CCP, Apr. 1949. Meeting Ossorio: Friedman, Alfonso Ossorio, pp. 32ff. Number 5, 1948: OC&T 188, II, p. 7. Ossorio and Dragon in Spri
ngs: Dragon. Restoration of painting: Dragon; Ossorio. Picking up painting: Friedman, Alfonso Ossorio, pp. 32ff. Thereafter, Dragon (q. by Ossorio) would joke, “Don’t let Pollock do any restoration work on a painting unless you want it better.” “Two or three times”: Dragon. “When Alfonso came”: Vivas. Exploring beaches: Ossorio, q. in DP&G, “Who Was JP?” p. 58.

  Potter’s background: He would drop hints of a grandmother rich enough to have a chauffeur (Potter, p. 121) and of a great-grandfather who, as Episcopal bishop of New York, refused John D. Rockefeller membership in his church, Saint John the Divine; Ossorio. Potter wanting to quit job: Potter, p. 114. Wanting to write: Potter, p. 126. Widow Hamlin: Mrs. Harry Hamlin. Potter meeting Jackson: Potter, p. 105. “Mouth was half open”; “wry half-smile”: Potter, p. 105. “Personality equivalents”: Potter, “Author’s Note,” n.p.; the book, not published until 1985, was To a Violent Grave. Lincoln convertible: Potter, p. 110. Isaacs’s background: Isaacs. Isaacs’s visits: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, n.d., in which she mentions that JP is having “people from Chicago this weekend.” We conclude that the visit probably took place on the weekend of Friday, July 22. “My God!”: Q. in Richard, “Two-Sided Pollock.” Isaacs taken by the man and his art: Isaacs, q. in Potter, p. 113. Three acquisitions; “the greatest painter”: Isaacs, q. in Richard, “Two-Sided Pollock”: In November 1973, Isaacs’s seventh floor apartment in Cambridge was robbed of all three paintings. On July 1, 1975, the police received a telephone call from a woman who told them to search a hotel room in Newton, where they located Number 7, 1951. In October 1983, the painting was sold to the National Gallery of Art; the other two works remain missing.

  “They’re terrific”: Q. in Seixas, “My Journal,” n.p. “Maidstone Club Irregulars”: Dragon. Show organized by Larkin: Aurthur, “Hitting the Boiling Point,” pp. 201–02. Whipple; “breakthrough show”: Q. in Potter, p. 111. “Incomprehensible drippings”: Aurthur, “Hitting the Boiling Point,” pp. 201–02. “White-gloved hostesses”; “horror chamber”; “barbarians”: Gina Knee, q. in Potter, p. 111. Washing hands: Enez Whipple, q. in Potter, p. 111. Jackson’s clothing: Potter, p. 112. Hamlin’s huffing: Potter, p. 112. Venomous artists; fistfight: Aurthur, “Hitting the Boiling Point,” pp. 201–02. Three-week run: July 7–26, 1949. Three paintings sold: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, July 26, 1949.

  Buying Brooks a car: Charlotte Brooks; James Brooks. Wedding: Hartigan. The reasons for the marriage were not exclusively romantic: “I could get a lot more money under Public Law 16, a kind of GI Bill for the combat disabled, if I was married.” says Harry, “about thirty-five dollars more a month.” “Did the knot tying”: Jackson. University of Illinois: Friedman, p. 130. Florence: La Strozzina, Strozzi Palace, Florence, La Collezione Guggenheim, Feb. 19–Mar. 10. 1949. Milan: Palazzo Reale, under auspices of L’Associazione Artisti Italiani, June, 1949. Shingling: SMP to CCP, Apr. 1949. New contract: It ran through Jan. 1, 1952. Date sculpture submitted: Barbara Dillman to JP, June 21, 1949, confirming that the sculpture was picked up by a representative of the museum on this date. Terra-cotta piece: OC&T 1053, IV, p. 129. WPA bronze: OC&T S/a, IV, p. 158, which OC&T include in “Problems for Study.” Number 10, 1949: OC&T 240, n, pp. 62–63. “Man and Wife”: Sidney Janis Gallery, Sept. 19–Oct. 8, 1949. “When the spectator: Rosenberg, Introduction to Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, The Intrasubjectives, n.p.

  Word-of-mouth overseas: Ossorio. On a ride into New York, JP listened intently as Ossorio outlined the advantages of selling abroad. “The easel picture”: JP, application for Guggenheim Fellowship, q. in OC&T IV, p. 238. Smith bringing clients: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, June 26, 1949: “There were some people out the Sunday we were there to see about a mural in a modern home that is being built he is very much excited about it.” O’Connor (in OC&T IV, p. 245) believes this reference is to the Gellers, for whom JP completed a mural in 1950. But Blake, who persuaded Marcel Breuer, the Gellers’ architect, to commission the mural, did not show the paintings to Breuer until the November 1949 show. So this must refer to another mural commission that did not materialize. Smith told about western roots; “he knew the west”: Int. by Vallière, Aug. 1965. Drive to California: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, June 15, 1949. The plans for the trip west drifted into limbo to be revived periodically over the next seven years.

  Meeting Blake: Friedman says they met in 1947, but Blake remembers specifically that it was after JP was on the wagon, which would put it in late 1948 at the earliest or, more likely, the summer of 1949. Blake’s background: Blake; Lynes, p. 276. “Absolutely overwhelming”; “create a sense”: Blake. “Ideal museum”: Mies Van Der Rohe, “Museum,” pp. 84–85. Description of museum; Jackson thrilled; “It would be nice”: Blake. “Just a decorator”: JP, q. by Blake.

  Sizes: Pasiphaë, 56” × 96”; Lucifer, 41” × 105½”. Number 1, 1949: OC&T 252, II, pp. 74–75 (63” × 104”). The other large painting was Out of the Web: Number 7, 1949, OC&T 251, II, pp. 72–73 (48” × 96”). Horizontal Composition: OC&T 227, II, pp. 50–51 (10” × 10′2″), was long but exceedingly narrow. JP gave it to the Larkins. Number 8, 1949, OC&T 239, II, pp. 60–61 (34” × 71¼”), was also relatively large. Number 8, 1949: OC&T 239, II, pp. 60–61 (34” × 71¼”). Number 13, 1949: OC&T 231, II, p. 54 (23” × 31”). Number 3, 1949: Tiger, OC&T 250, II, p. 72 (62” × 37”). Symphonic works: Also Number 9, 1949, OC&T 248, II, p. 70 (44¼” × 34”); Number 4, 1949, OC&T 249, II, p. 71 (35½” × 34½”); and Number 11, 1949, OC&T 246, II, pp. 68–69 (45” × 47¼”). Smaller pieces: Number 19, 1949, OC&T 229, II, p. 52 (31” × 22½”); Number 12, 1949, OC&T 233, II, p. 55; (31” × 21½”); Number 33, 1949, OC&T 234, II, pp. 56–57 (22½ × 31”); Number 34, 1949, OC&T 235, II, pp. 56–57 (22” × 30½”); Number 15, 1949, OC&T 236, II, p. 58 (31” × 22½”); Number 30, 1949, “Birds of Paradise,” OC&T 237, II, p. 59 (31” × 22½”); Number 17, 1949, OC&T 243, II, p. 65 (22½” × 28½”); Number 16, 1949, OC&T 244, II, p. 66 (31” × 22¼”). Number 31, 1949: OC&T 242, II, p. 64 (30¼” × 22”).

  Works with limited palette: Number 28, 1949, OC&T 218, II, p. 42 (12¼” × 13”); Numbers 24, 25, 29, 1949 (Triptych), OC&T 219–21, II, pp. 42–43 (27” × 12”; 28” × 11”; 17¼” × 15”; Number 23, 1949, OC&T 223, II, p. 46 (26½” × 12”); Number 26, 1949, OC&T 224, II, p. 47 (23” × 14”); Number 27, 1949, OC&T 225, II, p. 48 (21” × 12½”). Number 9, 1949: OC&T 248, II, p. 70 (44¼” × 34”). Number 4, 1949: OC&T 249, II, p. 71 (35½” × 34½”). Brush strokes reappearing: Number 11, 1949, OC&T 246, II, pp. 68–69 (45” × 47¼”); Number 3, 1949, OC&T 250, II, p. 72 (62” × 37”). Small composition: Small Composition, OC&T 241, II, p. 63. Out of the Web: Number 6, 1949, OC&T 247, II, pp. 68–69 (44” × 54”). He had used a similar technique in several collages; see OC&T 1030, IV, pp. 104–05; OC&T 1031, IV, p. 105; OC&T 1032, IV, pp. 106–07; OC&T 1033, IV, pp. 106–07.

  Date article proposed: Seiberling. “Went back and forth”: LK, int. by Seckler. Ossorio: “Jackson and Lee were terrified of submitting to an interview because of what Life had done to poor Dubuffet.” “Feebly mixed”: “Dead End Art,” p. 22. “Thumbs down”; “you didn’t know”: LK, int. by Seckler. Matisse’s offer; reproduction on door: Ossorio.

  Time-Life Building: One West 49th Street. Seiberling interview: Life, July 18, 1949. Book on Goya: Ossorio.

  “I could feel”: Vallière, “Daniel T. Miller,” p. 36.

  36. BREAKING THE ICE

  SOURCES

  Books, articles, manuscript, and transcripts

  Alloway and MacNaughton, Adolph Gottlieb; Friedman, JP; Fry, David Smith; Guilbaut, How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art; Myers, Tracking the Marvelous; Namuth, Pollock Painting; OC&T, JP; Potter, To a Violent Grave; Robbins and Neuberger, An American Collection; Rose, LK; Solomon, JP; Tabak, But Not for Love.

  Robert Alan Aurthur, “Hitting the Boiling Point, Freakwise, in East Hampton,” Esquire, June 1972; Alfred H. Barr, Jr., “Gorky, De Kooning, Pollock,” Art News, June–July–Aug., 19
50; Anthony Bianco, “When the Dow Took a Dive, Roy Neuberger Didn’t Even Blink,” Business Week, Oct. 6, 1986; E. A. Carmean, “The Church Project: Pollock’s Passion Themes,” Art in America, Summer 1982; Robert Coates, “The Art Galleries,” New Yorker, Dec. 3, 1949; Douglas Cooper, “The Biennale Exhibition in Venice,” London Listener, July 6, 1950; A[rthur] D[rexler], “Unframed Space: A Museum for JP’s Paintings,” Interiors, Jan. 1950; DP&G, “Who Was JP?” Art in America, May–June 1967; [Alexander Eliot], “Handful of Fire,” Time, Dec. 26, 1949; [Alexander Eliot], “What’s in Fashion: American Pavillion at Venice’s 25th Biennial Show of Contemporary Art,” Time, June 12, 1950; B. H. Friedman, “‘The Irascibles’: A Split Second in Art History,” Arts, Sept. 1978; “JP: Is He the Greatest Living Painter in the United States?” Life, Aug. 8, 1949; “Letters to the Editors,” Life, Aug. 29, 1949; “The Metropolitan and Modern Art,” Life, Jan. 15, 1951; A[my] R[obinson], “Reviews and Previews,” Art News, Dec. 1949; Harold Rosenberg, “The Search for JP,” Art News, Feb. 1961; [Berton Roueché], “Unframed Space,” New Yorker, Aug. 5, 1950; Irving Sandler, “The Club,” Artforum, Sept. 1965; Jeffrey Schaire, ed., “Was JP Any Good?” Arts and Antiques, Oct. 1984; Parker Tyler, “JP: The Infinite Labyrinth,” Magazine of Art, Mar. 1950; James T. Vallière, “Daniel T. Miller,” Provincetown Review, Fall 1968.

  Carlyle Burrows, Review, New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 27, 1949; editorial, New York Herald Tribune, May 23, 1950; “18 Painters Boycott Metropolitan; Charge ‘Hostility to Advanced Art,’” NYT, May 22, 1950; Emily Genauer, “Art and Artists: American Selection for the Venice Show; Does It Represent Us As It Should?” New York Herald Tribune, May 28, 1950; “The Irascible Eighteen,” New York Herald Tribune, May 23, 1950; Henry McBride, New York Sun, “Abstract Painting: The Whitney Museum Annual Is Completely Inundated with It,” Dec. 23, 1949; Stuart Preston, “Abstract Quartet; Late Work by Kandinsky, Pollock, and Others,” NYT, Nov. 27,1949.