Lee Krasner
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109. David Slivka to the author, August 2007.
110. George Mercer to LK, letter of August 3, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
111. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
112. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
113. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
114. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
115. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC. Mercer misremembered the title of Mumford’s book. He may have meant Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1938).
116. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
117. Francis Newton, “Memorial Showing and Members’ Art at Guild Hall,” East Hampton Star, July 19, 1945, 1.
118. American Watercolor Society, August 16, 1945, East Hampton Star, 3, reproduced Herbert H. Scheffel’s The Carrousel from the watercolor show.
119. See 1996-Braff, 7.
120. 1986-Weld, 336; 2002-Gill, 331; 2004-Dearborn, 230.
Chapter 10: Coming Together: Marriage and Springs, 1945–47 (pp. 231–248)
1. JP, quoted in 1950-Roueché.
2. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.
3. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.
4. 1979-Novak.
5. May Tabak Rosenberg quoted in 1986-Weld, 343.
6. 1981-Delatiner; 1973-Freed.
7. “Real Estate Brokers Report Record Number of Sales and Rentals Here,” East Hampton Star, November 8, 1945, 1.
8. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.
9. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.
10. 1979-Guggenheim, 108.
11. 1983-Liss, 43A.
12. 1972-Rose-1.
13. 1973-Freed.
14. 1973-Freed.
15. 1972-Rose-1.
16. 1973-Freed.
17. 1979-Novak.
18. 1972-Rose-1.
19. 1972-Rose-1.
20. 1963-Barker.
21. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.
22. 1972-Rose-1.
23. 1979-Munro, 114.
24. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.
25. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.
26. 1950-Roueché, 16.
27. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.
28. LK to 1963-Barker.
29. 1964-Seckler.
30. 1964-Seckler.
31. 1979-Novak. It wasn’t the end of East Hampton for Motherwell, who had Pierre Chareau build him a house in 1945, which was finished in 1946, but it was his last home in Springs.
32. 1999-Friedman, 20, journal entry of January 10, 1965.
33. JP, April 2–20, 1946, Art of This Century, 30 West Fifty-seventh Street, New York, featured eleven oils and eight temperas.
34. 1972-Rose-1.
35. Soglow’s character first appeared in 1931 in The New Yorker and then ran as a syndicated comic in Hearst-owned newspapers from 1934 until 1975. Pollock’s near silent first meeting with Herbert Matter is characteristic of such stories of Pollock’s reticent communication.
36. That Pollock repainted The Little King does not appear in the JPCR, but in Pepe Karmel, “Pollock at Work: The Films and Photographs of Hans Namuth,” 1998-Varnedoe, 104. Few seem to have realized the comic strip as a source. See William S. Wilson in 2000-Harrison, 204–205. The visible forms of Galaxy make clear its history, but Karmel does not account for the difference of several inches in each dimension, although he repeats those for The Little King in the JPCR, which were apparently inaccurately reported.
37. JPCR, vol. 4, 237, D64, JP to Wally & Ed Strautin, letter postmarked 8-14-1946. 1972-Rose-1.
38. 1977-Ratcliff, 82.
39. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.
40. 1961-Tenke, 37.
41. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.
42. 1981-Delatiner.
43. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.
44. 1981-Langer.
45. 1967-Glaser.
46. 1965-Friedman, 9.
47. JPCR, vol. 4, 236, D61, JP to Ed and Wally Strautin, neighbors in New York City, card of 11-29-1945.
48. LK to 1986-Weld, 101, interview of 1979.
49. 1946-Guggenheim.
50. 1972-Gruen, 231. This account confused the dates of this book’s publication and inscription, which took place after Krasner and Pollock were married.
51. 1981-Langer.
52. 1960-Rago, 32.
53. 1987-Solomon, 164.
54. 1978-Rose-1.
55. JPCR, vol. 4, 237, D63, JP to Wally & Ed Strautin, letter postmarked June 26, 1946.
56. Clement Greenberg to Florence Rubenfeld, interview of 2-16-90, Getty.
57. 1995-Friedman, 137.
58. George Mercer to LK and JP, letter of August 11, 1946, from Provincetown, PKHSC.
59. 1972-Rose-1.
60. 1964-Seckler.
61. 1965-Friedman, 10.
62. 1979-Novak.
63. 1979-Novak.
64. 1979-Novak.
65. 1979-Novak.
66. 1973-Nemser, 44.
67. 1968-Wasserman.
68. 1979-Novak.
69. 1978-Cavaliere.
70. See LKCR, 102, for the beach description of Night LIfe.
71. 1967-du Plessix, 51.
72. 1973-Nemser, 44.
73. 1975-Nemser-2, 6.
74. 1975-Nemser-2, 6.
75. LK at the Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York, speaking in 1979 after a showing of Barbara Rose’s film, recording at PKHSC.
76. 1973-Nemser, 44.
77. 1973-Nemser, 44.
78. 1973-Tucker and 1978-Levin, 86. Krasner repeated this account to me in 1977, when I was planning to write about her work, and I included the influence of her learning Hebrew as a child in my essay for the catalogue Hobbs and Levin, 1978.
79. See http://www.dys-add.com/define.html#history
80. 1991-Hall, 21.
81. Sarah W. Tracy, Alcoholism in America, 281.
82. David Slivka to the author, July 2007.
83. JPCR, vol. 4, 240, D70, JP to Mother and all, letter of September 3, 1947.
84. Lee Krasner to Grace Glueck, “Scenes from a Marriage Krasner and Pollock,” Art News, December 1981, 60.
Chapter 11: Triumphs and Challenges, 1948–50 (pp. 249–268)
1. JPCR, vol. 4, 241, D73, Stella Pollock to Frank Pollock, postmarked December 11, 1947.
2. 1977-Diamonstein-1.
3. Grace Hartigan to the author, 3-30-2007, and earlier, 1979-Hartigan.
4. Grace Hartigan to the author, 3-30-2007, and earlier, 1979-Hartigan.
5. Grace Hartigan to the author, interview of 3-30-2007.
6. 1989-Naifeh, 565. Grace Hartigan to the author, interview of 3-30-2007.
7. Grace Hartigan to the author, interview of 3-30-2007. Hartigan’s marriage to Harry Jackson lasted only a year.
8. See Harry Jackson’s own account on his Web site: http://www.harryjackson.com/biography.cfm.
9. JPCR, vol. 4, 242.
10. LK to the author, many times.
11. 2002-Harrison, 80. Artist friends who settled in Springs or on eastern Long Island included Nicolas Carone, Costantino Nivola, Charlotte and Jim Brooks, John Little and his wife Josephine, Balcomb Greene and his wife Gertrude “Peter” Greene, Ibram Lassaw, and Perle Fine.
12. Vita Petersen to the author, interview of 3-1-2010, says that she studied with Hofmann later than Lee and Mercedes, since she only arrived from Germany in 1938 and entered the Hofmann School after the birth of her daughter in 1942.
13. Vita Petersen to the author, interview of 3-1-2010.
14. Vita Petersen to the author, 3-11-
2010.
15. Vita Petersen to the author, 3-11-2010. This photograph remains in the collection of PKHSC and was cited in 2007-Landau, 20. See cover of Mercedes Matter, 2009.
16. Vita Petersen to the author, 3-12-2010.
17. Vita Petersen to the author, 3-12-2010.
18. “House that ‘Lives’ Theme of Exhibit,” NYT, September 20, 1948, 22.
19. “House that ‘Lives’ Theme of Exhibit,” NYT, September 20, 1948, 22.
20. Ann Pringle, “Modern Houses Inside and Out,” New York Herald Tribune, September 20, 1948, 22, and “House That ‘Lives’ Theme of Exhibit,” NYT, September 20, 1948, 22.
21. Aline B. Louchheim, “Gallery, Decorator and Work of Art,” NYT, September 26, 1948, X9. Aline Bernstein Louchheim was later known as Aline B. Saarinen after her 1954 marriage to architect Eero Saarinen.
22. Ann Pringle, “Modern Houses Inside and Out,” New York Herald Tribune, September 20, 1948, 22.
23. “House that ‘Lives’ Theme of Exhibit,” NYT, September 20, 1948, 22.
24. LKCR 225 notes Krasner’s dismay at Schaefer’s decision to ask Alexander Styne to transform this painting into the top of a black wood coffee table.
25. LKCR, 103, note for CR 212, identifies “interstitial ‘images’ in Abstract No. 2 [that] resemble trap symbols from paleolithic caves,” which she thinks Krasner got from the book they owned: G. Baldwin Brown, The Art of the Cave Dweller (1931).
26. Frederick Gutheim, “Arts and Architecture at Work in Two New Exhibitions,” New York Herald Tribune, October 3, 1948, AAA, reel 3776, frame 1012.
27. 1977-Diamonstein-1.
28. 1973-Friedman, 32.
29. 1968-Ossorio.
30. 1968-Ossorio.
31. JPCR, vol. 4, 243.
32. JPCR, vol. 4, 243, D76, Stella Pollock to Charles Pollock, letter of January 10, 1949.
33. 1964-Seckler.
34. 1964-Seckler.
35. JPCR, vol. 4, 243, D77, Stella Pollock to Charles Pollock, letter of mid-April 1949.
36. JPCR, vol. 4, 245, D79, Stella Pollock to Frank Pollock, letter postmarked June 15, 1949.
37. Others in this show were Gina Knee, Julien Levy, Ibram Lassaw, David Burliuk, Ray Prohaska, and Lucia (Mrs. Roger Wilcox, who showed with Sidney Janis).
38. Stuart Preston, “New Group Exhibitions: Out of Town,” NYT, July 17, 1949, X6.
39. Robert Alan Aurthur, “Hitting and Boiling Point, Freakwise at East Hampton,” Esquire, June 1972.
40. Though a couple, Picasso and Gilot were not legally married.
41. Stuart Preston, “By Husband and Wife,” NYT, September 25, 1949, X9.
42. 1964-Seckler.
43. 1958-Time, 64.
44. JPCR, vol. 4, 246, D82, Stella Pollock to Frank Pollock, letter postmarked 12-22-1949.
45. LK to Alfonso Ossorio, letter of 1950, quoted in JPCR, 247.
46. 1985-Potter, 121–22.
47. 1985-Potter, 122.
48. Stuart Preston, “Chiefly Modern,” NYT, June 4, 1950, X6.
49. 1973-Nemser, 45.
50. Others included were Gina Knee and George Sakler.
51. “Guild Hall to Open Season with Abstract Art Show,” East Hampton Star, June 29, 1950, Lee Krasner Papers, AAA, reel 3780, frame 396-A.
52. This point has been argued by 1996-Wagner, 164.
53. Life, August 8, 1949, 42–45.
54. 1985-Potter, 114.
55. JPCR, vol. 4, 247. This letter was published in the New York Times and in the Herald Tribune.
56. Recently, 2009-Sandler, 229, made the inexplicable comment: “Had she wanted to she could have been included among the Irascibles in their photograph in Life, but she did not.” Sandler never tells us how he knows this; perhaps he imagines that LK could just have invited herself to join in after the fact of being passed over by Newman when he phoned, but this is not credible.
57. 1981-Langer.
58. For example, 1996-Wagner, 122–23.
59. For example, she taught the author a few of her favorite recipes.
60. 1950-Roueché, 16.
61. 1950-Roueché, 16.
62. 1950-Roueché, 16.
63. 1985-Potter, 200. 1989-Naifeh 750 erroneously places this event in 1955.
64. Time, November 20, 1950. JPCR, 253.
65. 1985-Potter, 130.
66. 1985-Potter, 130–31.
67. Josephine Little to Andrea Gabor, taped interview, claims that they were not present for this incident.
68. Reported by Peter Blake quoted in 1985-Potter, 131.
69. 1985-Potter, 133.
70. They were originally shown with numbers rather than these titles.
71. 1973-Friedman, 42.
72. 1985-Potter, 134.
73. Marvin Jay Pollock to Frank Pollock, letter of December 3, 1950, JPCR, 255.
74. 1985-Potter, 134–35.
75. Howard Devree, “Artists of Today: One-Man Shows Include Recent Paintings by Jackson Pollock and Mark Tobey,” NYT, December 3, 1950, X9.
76. Robert M. Coates, “Extremists,” The New Yorker, December 9, 1950, 110.
77. See B.K. [Belle Krasne], “Fifty-seventh Street in Review,” Art Digest, December 1, 1950, 16, who called the work “richest and most exciting.”
78. “The Year in Review: 1950,” Art News, reprinted in 1977-Diamonstein-2, 207.
79. JPCR, vol. 4, 257, D94, letter of late January 1951, JP to Alfonso Ossorio.
Chapter 12: First Solo Show, 1951–52 (pp. 269–288)
1. 1972-Gruen, 232–33.
2. 1985-Potter, 114.
3. JPCR, vol. 4, 257, D93, letter of January 6, 1951, JP to Alfonso Ossorio and Ted Dragon.
4. JPCR, vol. 4, 257, D94, letter of late January 1951, JP to Alfonso Ossorio, responding to Ossorio’s offer to pay for a painting with monthly installments of $200.
5. LKCR, chronology, 310, erroneously reports that Pollock was already seeing the “Sullivanian” therapist Ralph Klein, but in fact that treatment began several years later. 1999-Hobbs, 116, repeats this error. On Fox’s approach see, 1974-Blum, 174–75, 245.
6. 1998-White, 226, 229. Dr. Ruth Fox became the medical director of the National Council on Alcoholism.
7. 1974-Blum, 174–75.
8. Linda Lindeberg quoted by 1975-Nemser-2, 7.
9. Ruth Fox, M.D., “The Alcoholic Spouse,” 158–59.
10. 1956-Fox, 151–52.
11. 1974-Hutchinson.
12. 1979-Novak.
13. JPCR, 259–60, C96, C97.
14. Among the other women artists in this show were: Perle Fine, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Anne Ryan, Sonia Sekula, Day Schnabel, and Jean Steubing. Most artists, including Krasner, were identified by surnames only.
15. JPCR, vol. 4, 261, D99, letter of late June 7, 1951, JP to Alfonso Ossorio and Ted Dragon.
16. 1985-Potter, 139.
17. 1979-Novak.
18. 1973-Nemser, 45.
19. 1973-Nemser, 45.
20. 1973-Nemser, 45.
21. 1965-Friedman, 11. LKCR, 123.
22. 1967-Seckler.
23. See LKCR, 124, CR252. The catalogue raisonné does not associate this quotation with this work, though the link seems clear.
24. John Bernard Myers, “Anne Ryan’s Interior Castle,” Archives of American Art Journal, vol. 15, no. 3 (1975), 8–11.
25. See 1972-Holmes quoted in Chapter 17: The Feminist Decade, 1970–79, 392.
26. Stuart Preston, “Among One-man Shows,” NYT, October 21, 1951, 105.
27. Stuart Preston, “Among One-man Shows,” NYT, October 21, 1951, 105.
28. See 1996-Wagner, 166–167, who argues strongly for Rice Pereira and 1983-Rose, 66, who argues for Mondrian. LKCR ignores 1972-Holmes, where LK says she knew Rice Pereira’s work.
29. Robert Goodnough, “Lee Krasner,” Art News, November 1951, 53, photocopy given to the author by LK with her notations.
30. Dore Ashton, “Lee Krasner,” Art Digest, November 1, 1981, 59
. Krasner remained proud of these reviews, copies of which she gave me for my files.
31. Emily Genauer (1911–2002) [initials handwritten by LK seem to be E. G.], “Abstract and Real,” New York Herald Tribune, unidentified newspaper clipping, LK papers, AAA, roll N6867, frames 123–33. LKCR attributes this review to Eugene Goosen, which seems impossible. According to his obituary, he was then “an art and theater critic for The Monterrey Peninsula and Herald in California before joining the faculty of Bennington College in 1958.” See Judith Dobrzynski, “Eugene Goosen, 76, Art Critic,” NYT, July 18, 1997. The author discussed Krasner with Genauer on several occasions during the late 1970s.
32. Emily Genauer [initials handwritten by LK seem to be E. G.], “Abstract and Real,” newspaper clipping, LK papers, AAA, reel N6867, frames 123–33.
33. 1987-Soloman, 196; 2002-Harrison, 76.
34. Betty Parsons gave Alfonso Ossorio solo shows at her gallery in 1951, 1953, and 1956, but she had already given him shows when she worked at the Wakefield Gallery in 1941 and 1943 as well as at the Mortimer Brandt Gallery in 1945. He also helped to support her gallery.
35. Greenberg, “Art Chronicle: Feeling Is All,” Partisan Review, January 1952, reprinted in 1993-Greenberg, 105–06.
36. Clement Greenberg interviewed by James T. Valliere, in 2000-Harrison, 255.
37. 1985-Potter, 146.
38. 1985-Potter, 145.
39. 1985-Potter, 145.
40. JP quoted in 1985-Potter, 156. See also 2000-Harrison, 29.
41. 1985-Potter, 150.
42. JPCR, vol. 4, 267, D103, letter of March 30, 1952, JP to Alfonso Ossorio.
43. 1985-Potter, 145.
44. 1952-Warner, copy inscribed on the half title page in the artist’s hand: “Alfonso Ossorio ’52 East Hampton,” collection of the author.
45. Constance J. S. Chen, “Transnational Orientals Scholars of Art, Nationalist Discourses, and the Question of Intellectual Authority,” Journal of Asian American Studies, vol. 9, no. 3 (2006), 215–42.
46. Benjamin Rowland, Jr., “Langdon Warner, 1881–1955,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 18, no. 3/4, December 1955, 450. Warner served in the United States Army’s Antiquities Division in World War II and became something of a legendary hero in Japan, where he was credited with saving the culturally rich cities of Nara and Kyoto from nuclear destruction.
47. Daisetz T. Suzuki, Introduction to Zen Buddhism (Kyoto: The Eastern Buddhist Society, 1934). New York artists were more likely to have read the edition published in 1949 by the New York Philosophical Library.