“A real step”: Genauer, “Art and Artists.” “Limited”: Fitzsimmons, “Art,” pp. 7, 30. “The happy advance”: Stuart Preston, review, NYT, q. in Friedman, p. 206. “Return[ed] to some”: H[ess], “Reviews and Previews,” p. 40. In the same review, Hess says JP’s new works create a visual space “of about 6 inches in depth” where “Pollock’s usual energetic dramas are played—full of shouting, gesticulation and fury. But the space itself is a calm and stable medium.” “Touches of Motherwell”: [Coates], “The Art Galleries,” p. 81. “Disappointed”: CG; Friedman, p. 207. “Soft”; “forced”: CG, int. by Shorthall, Nov. 9, 1959. “Lost his stuff”: CG. Greenberg liking two works: CG, int. by Vallière, Mar. 20, 1968. “Onto something”; “phenomenal”: CG.
“This time”: CG. Arloie’s baby: Arloie’s baby was one of five newborns that died in the same week in the same small hospital. Given the amount of toxic waste generated by secret defense-industry plants in the area (the kind of waste that would later poison Sande), it is likely that a study of the Deep River area would have revealed high groundwater concentrations of carcinogens and other life-threatening toxins; see SMP to CCP, Feb. 27, 1954. “Terrible headaches”: Kadish; see also SMP to CCP, Feb. 27, 1954. Stella’s weight loss: SMP to CCP, Feb. 27, 1954. Lee’s colitis: Southgate. Snowy night: Cynthia Cole. Finding Jackson on the floor: John Cole: “Lee was too close to his suicidal tendencies. I just thought he was a troublesome drunk.” “Had really done it”; “popped up”: Cynthia Cole.
No more parties: Zogbaum. Beach parties: Slivka, who recalls attending an after-dark beach party at Barnes Landing with the Pollocks, the de Koonings, the Brookses, Louis Shaker, Paul Brach, and others. Exiting Rosenberg parties: Wilcox. “I’m the best”: Q. by Rosenberg. “Very in’eresting”: Q. by Dragon. “If you showed”: Dragon. “What the fuck”: Q. by Carone. “Fuck off: Q. by de Kooning, in Vallière, “De Kooning on Pollock,” p. 205. “Why bother”: Q. by CG. According to Greenberg, this remark was made in New York. Friendship with Carone: Friedman. “Impossible to separate”: Rivers, q. in “JP: An Artists’ Symposium, Part I,” p. 33. Residents of “red house”: Friedman. De Kooning’s studio: Liss, “Memories of Bonac Painters.” “Just madness”: Q. in Liss, Memories of Bonac Painters.” Lee’s rages: See Cile Downs (Lord), q. in Potter, p. 202. Twelve miles to Bridgehampton: Ted Hults. De Kooning’s taste for westerns: Pavia. Wrestling challenges: Ward.
Talks about joint fishing venture: John Cole, q. in Potter, p. 166. Cynthia Cole and Lee sharing anxieties: Cynthia Cole: Her husband John ”would happily share beer with [Jackson]. And I think Lee may have felt that that might trigger off a big episode where Jackson would just disappear.” “A role model”: Southgate. Southgate’s daily visits: Southgate, q. in Potter, p. 180. “Really sexy body”: Q. by LeSueur. “I took Lee’s side”: Southgate, q. in Potter, p. 198. Young men: Joe Liss: “In East Hampton at the time, there were a number of people with sophisticated pasts who came to take on these yeoman jobs. But they lived on their charm, really.” Work for Paris Review: Potter, p. 189. “Peter became a commercial fisherman”: Name withheld by request. “This classy blonde”: Southern.
Lee not painting: John Cole: “I never saw her painting.” Southgate: “When I met her, Lee wasn’t painting at all.” The possible exception is Blue and Black (Rose, fig. 67, p. 70). Rose dates the painting 1951–53 and concedes that it “should have generated a series of ‘big pictures.’ As it stands, it is an exceptional prefiguration of works she would not feel free enough or sure enough to paint for a decade to come.” We believe that Blue and Black was either a survivor from the large, formal, chromatic abstractions she showed at the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1951 or, more likely, a substantially later work backdated by the artist or misdated by others. Lee drawing: Rose, p. 79. She would tack drawings to her studio wall, then systematically tear them up. Still later, she would begin pasting the fragments back together; Wallach, “Krasner’s Triumph,” p. 502. Black-and-white mosaics: Black and White Collage (Rose, fig. 71, p. 76); Untitled Collage (Rose, fig. 72, p. 77); Black and White Collage (Rose, fig. 74, p. 79). Small works: 22” × 30”, 22” × 30”, and 29” × 23”, respectively. Patches of color: City Verticals (Rose, fig. 75, p. 80); Untitled (Rose, fig. 76, p. 80). Brushwork over collage: Porcelain (Rose, fig. 80, p. 84). Scraps of canvas: Shattered Light (Rose, fig. 81, p. 84). Landscape: Rose, p. 82; Forest No. 1 (Rose, fig. 78, p. 82); Forest No. 2 (Rose, fig. 79, p. 83). All-women-artists show: Group Show—Eight Painters, Two Sculptors,” at Hampton Gallery and Workshop, Amagansett; see Rose, p. 164. Reassembling fragments of past: See Rose, p. 83.
Exhibition at House of Books and Music: LK. Bookstore-gallery: Aurthur, “Hitting the Boiling Point,” pp. 204–05. Mid-June dating: SMP to CCP, July 8, 1954: “Jack and Dekooning were scuffling one day three or four weeks ago and Jack fell and broke his ankle.” The date was not July 15, as cited in OC&T IV, p. 273. De Kooning and friends helping Braiders; Jackson offering to help; Elaine de Kooning calling husband; “they threw their arms”: Elaine de Kooning, q. in Potter, p. 201; this version is supported by Wilcox and by SMP to CCP, July 8, 1954. Stepping into path; Jackson and de Kooning falling: Pavia. “Absolutely indignant”: Q. in Potter, p. 201. Rushing to clinic: Carol Braider, q. in Potter, p. 201. Accused of attempted murder: Potter, p. 201. Cast and crutches: John Cole. “Trying to beat”: Pavia. “A big boy”: Q. in Friedman, p. 209. Rumors that de Kooning broke Jackson’s leg: Zogbaum.
Jackson missing opening: Schapiro. Period of confinement: SMP to CCP, July 8, 1954. Feeling sorry for himself: Potter, p. 201. Weight and beard: Friedman, p. 209. Sweeney letter: Sweeney to JP, July 15, 1954. Isaacs letter: Isaacs to JP and LK, Aug. 22, 1954. “German millionaires”: Tony Smith to JP, Aug. 23, 1954. Teaching position: Stanley A. Czurles, director of art education, to JP, July 9, 1954. Stella not visiting; Sande’s visit: SMP to CCP, July 8, 1954. “Sitting, staring”: LK. “Goddamn it”: Q. by LK. “New bravura”: Wallach, “Krasner’s Triumph,” p. 502. Testing leg: SMP to CCP, July 8, 1954. Passing Lee’s work: Gorchov: While convalescing, JP spent a lot of time “looking at Lee’s work.” Lee arguing more forcefully: Graves. “Lively”; “a hilarious imitation”: Cile Lord.
Driving: “When Krasner was feeling strong, she would harangue JP from the passenger seat. Ronald Stein: “It was a continuing run of very vocal criticisms.” But when JP was feeling strong, any outing could become a paralyzing war of nerves. “He knew that if he got her in the car, he could really work her over. He had her captive and he terrorized her.” Even JP’s friends admired Krasner’s courage. Dan Miller (q. in Vallière, “Daniel T. Miller,” p. 38) had often seen them drive up to his gas pumps and thought to himself, “‘Well, Lee, I wouldn’t drive with that son-of-a-gun—I’d get up and walk off.’ But she didn’t.” (Punctuation altered slightly.) “[She] was trapped”: Southgate, q. in Potter, p. 198. “What happens”; “series of funny”: Cynthia Cole. “Complete lack”: Southgate. Dating of lessons: SMP to CCP and Jeremy, Sept. 7, 1954. Symptoms of colitis: Peretz.
Ankle stiff’: The ankle was “stiff” through early September; SMP to CCP and Jeremy, Sept. 7, 1954. Softball games at Zogbaums’: John Cole; Pavia. “What’s this I hear”: Reis. “My wife’s”: Q. by Reis. Black-and-white works traded: Number 5, 1951 (OC&T 323, II, pp. 136–37) and Number 23, 1951 (OC&T 335, II, p. 153); see also OC&T IV, p. 273; Marca-Relli, q. in Potter, p. 198. Aug. dating from SMP to CCP and Jeremy, Sept. 7, 1954.
Montauk cut off; hurricane: “Hurricane Rips Eastern Seaboard,” Nov. 2, 1954. Neighbors flocking to Pollocks’; Jackson helping neighbors; “the boat”; Barbara Hale’s thoughts on storms: Hale. Pause in storm: “Hurricane Rips Eastern Seaboard,” Nov. 2, 1954. “It’s coming back”: Q. by Hale. “The sun’s out”: Marca-Relli. Waters on Fireplace Road; “his crew”: Hale. “I’ve come”: Q. by Joe Liss. “Save what?”: Joe Liss. Houses remaining dark: Callaway. “If you don’t”: Q. by James Brooks. Brooks studio swept to sea: Aurthur, “Hitting the Boiling
Point,” p. 202. Jackson returning to Springs alone: Charlotte Brooks. Car crash: “JP Injured,” Sept. 2, 1954. “That many attacks”: MJP to CCP, Dec. 8, 1954. Struggling against bankruptcy: SMP to CCP and Jeremy, Sept. 7, 1954. In late January 1955, SLM had to give it up; SMP to CCP, Feb. 10, 1955. Arloie opening business: SMP to CCP, Nov. 11, 1954. Stella seeming strong prior to attack: ACM.
Thanksgiving: Nov. 25. “Fishermen”; “give him some milk”; fence incident: Millie Liss. “Fuck you”; “All I said”: Q. by Millie Liss. Lee’s objections: She routinely objected to JP sending money to his mother or to any member of his family and, after his death, refused to share her considerable income from JP’s paintings with family members. Even when Sande was dying of cancer and needed money to pay medical expenses, Krasner wouldn’t authorize him to print another edition of the silk-screen prints he and JP had made in 1951; Kadish; ACM. Jackson’s checks: SMP to CCP, Dec. 7, 1954. Slim allowance: JP approached several people for part-time work, including John Cole, Peter Matthiessen, and Jeffrey Potter; see Potter, p. 196. JP even suggested selling the house and moving in with Ossorio (Ossorio. q. in Potter, p. 207), a plan that Ossorio rejected. In addition to Janis’s allowance, JP received a check from Reginald Isaacs for $50 in late October (Isaacs to JP, Oct. 21, 1954) and another for the same amount on November 5 (Isaacs to JP, Nov. 5, 1954), apparently without informing Janis of either check. Sale of Ocean Greyness: Official word came to JP on Nov. 3, although the deal was no doubt made and JP informed before that; see James Johnson Sweeney to JP, Nov. 3, 1954. Reaction to checks in Deep River: ACM.
Arrival in Deep River: SMP to CCP, Dec. 7, 1954. Christmas visit: MJP and ABP were also there; MJP to CCP, Dec. 8, 1954. “Have a present”; trip to Hartford: Del Pilar. January visit; return to Springs; promise of return to Deep River: SMP to FLP, MLP, and Jonathan, Feb. 7, 1955. Lee pleading colitis: SMP to CCP, Jan. 15, 1955. Lee afraid of Jackson: Charlotte Brooks; James Brooks. Lee contemptuous of family: Del Pilar. “East Hampton is where”; “put her foot”; “[Stella] didn’t need”: ACM. Lee never forgiving family: Kadish. “Leaving her alone”: CG.
Date of second ankle accident: Feb. dating: Martha Jackson to JP, Feb. 14, 1955: “I hear you have broken your leg again.” Lords came over: In an earlier interview, Cile Lord said the incident took place at the Lords’ house. Sherry Lord pushing Jackson: In essence, tripping him; confirmed by Sheridan Lord. “Clunk”: Cile Lord. “I broke”: Q. by Cile Lord. “Oh, Jackson”: Cile Lord. “Goddammit”: Q. by Cile Lord. Same ankle: Some people have maintained that JP’s bones were brittle due to the year and a half of drinking Grant Mark’s nondairy drink; Sam Hunter, recalling Ruth Fox; also Wilcox. “How typical”: Q. in Potter, p. 215.
Lee bringing news to bedside: LK. Explosion at Bennington: Marca-Relli: JP “had to swallow his pride when Greenberg was around. … Clem used to come around and try to talk, but there would be explosions. Someone would say something, or Jackson would just boil over, and you would have to keep them apart.” Greenberg’s disdain for Lee’s work: Bultman; Cile Downs (Lord) (q. in Potter, p. 139) remembers Greenberg looking at Krasner’s paintings and rudely being more impressed by the splatterings of paint on the walls behind them than by the paintings themselves. Greenberg (q. in Potter, p. 139) later said he didn’t think much of Krasner as an artist. “Forced, pumped”: CG, “‘American-Type’ Painting,” p. 186. “Peak of his achievement”: CG, “‘American-Type’ Painting,” p. 186. Greenberg may have misstated the year of the show. He later said the black-and-white paintings were JP’s best, but he may have been revising his opinions. In citing “four or five huge canvases of monumental perfection,” he probably meant the 1950 show, which included Autumn Rhythm, One, Number 32, 1950, and Lavender Mist. The 1951 show of mostly black-and-white paintings had only one or two large canvases. “An accomplished”; “pleasingly”; “he was not sure”: CG, “‘American-Type’ Painting,” p. 186.
Still the new favorite: Like JP, Still did not feel any sustained gratitude for Greenberg’s favor. Briggs: “Still and Greenberg were mostly on the outs from early on. I don’t think he had much respect for Greenberg’s understanding of the work, whether it was Pollock’s or his own.” “One of the most”; “liberat[ed] abstract painting”: CG, “‘American-Type’ Painting,” p. 187. “Late cubist” vs. “post-cubists”: The characterization of Greenberg’s article is Greenberg’s own; CG, int. by Shorthall, Nov. 9, 1959; see also Sandler, p. 13. “A lot of crap”: Int. by Shorthall, Nov. 9, 1959. Lee infuriated: CG, q. in Potter, p. 221; see Bultman; Little. Wanton misrepresentation: CG, int. by Shorthall, Nov. 9, 1959. Boycott of wedding: CG to JP, May 21, 1955. Wedding gift: OC&T 952, IV, p. 35. “A ruckus”: CG to JP, May 21, 1955.
Jackson not eating: Pearce. Turning away visitors: Marca-Relli. Afternoons at movies: Confirmed by Sheridan Lord. Helping the Hales: See Potter, pp. 196–97. Lee forbidding neighbors to let Jackson have liquor: Cile Lord. “Get sort of hurt”: Cile Downs (Lord), q. in Potter, p. 215. Watching kids: Southgate, q. in Potter, p. 189. “Charming”: Southgate. “Like a little boy”: Southgate, q. in Potter, p. 218. Braiders naming baby Jackson: Cile Lord. “Gentle and lovely”: Q. in Potter, p. 167. “She would pick at him”: Name withheld by request. “Now, Jackson”: Q. by Cile Lord; see Eleanor Ward, q. in Potter, p. 174. “I don’t want food”: Q. by Cile Lord, q. in Solomon, p. 245. Marriage counseling: LK. When JP gave Hubbard a bouquet of red and white flowers, she composed a poetic thank-you note that is almost pathetic in its dissociation from the reality of a marriage on the brink of collapse; Elizabeth Wright Hubbard to JP, Apr. 28, 1955.
May 13; “memorable weekend”: Edys and Sam Hunter to LK and JP, May 18, 1955; Edys also talks about “the thrill of seeing all the paintings—the Pollocks and the Krasners.” Jackson coming with orchids: Edys Hunter. Lee demanding more money: Southgate. Lending $100: Brach. Lee refusing sex: Kligman. Jackson asking women to have his baby: Name withheld by request. Jackson demanding apology from Whitney: John I. H. Baur, Whitney Museum of American Art, to JP, May 31, 1955. Jackson threatening trip to Paris: Martha Jackson to JP, Apr. 23, 1955. Passport: Issued July 21, 1955 (#738532). Hot summer: SMP (to CCP, Sept. 7, 1955) called it “sickening heat, like Iowa summers.” “Pilgrimage”: Budd. “Sitting on top”; meeting Solomon; “moved”; “sense of tragedy”: Solomon. Dropping in on Brach and Schapiro; barn; “shit test”: Schapiro. Brach uncomfortable with drinkers: Brach.
Still’s Jaguar: Ossorio. “Second only”: Still to Ossorio, Mar. 15, 1955, q. in Friedman, p. 224. “There wasn’t a soul”: Schueler. Smith snubbed by Still: Smith. Correspondence with Martha Jackson: Martha Jackson to JP, Feb. 14, 1955, in which Martha Jackson included a contract for JP to sign; and Apr. 23, 1955, in which she suggested that she could arrange a “full length show” of JP’s work at the 1956 Venice Biennale and accused Janis of taking “some of Valentine’s ‘crap.’” De Kooning had only one show at Martha Jackson’s gallery before returning to Janis in 1956. “Major credit”; “interest”; “may I add”: Still to JP, Apr. 30, 1955. Between the two letters, apparently, Still had written Greenberg directly, accusing him of having based his characterizations of Still’s art on conversations with JP and Krasner, among others. Greenberg wrote back on March 15 denying that the Pollocks had ever tried to explain Still’s art to him and stating that they had expressed nothing more than admiration.
Lee stifling outrage at Greenberg: Marca-Relli: “Although she detested Clem personally, Lee was doing everything to keep Jackson and Clem together, to keep him in Jackson’s camp.” Steve Wheeler: “Lee had to keep Jackson at arm’s length from Clem. She was really very concerned that Jackson was going to demolish Clem. Lee always was the peacemaker there, knowing how important Clem was for her and for him.” Greenberg taking Lee’s side: CG. “Jewish cunt”: Q. by Vivas. “Never loved her”: Q. by CG. “Howled”: LK. “The marriage”: CG. Greenberg recommending Pearce: CG; LK. Jackson against seeing Pearce: Krasner later claimed that JP “didn’t say it was out
of the question. But he didn’t support it. Didn’t say go, didn’t say don’t go.” “Seriously ill”: Pearce. Jackson volunteering to reenter analysis: LK.
43. THE LAST ACT
SOURCES
Books, articles, manuscript, lecture, records, and transcripts
Dawson, An Emotional Memoir of Franz Kline; Friedman, Almost a Life; Friedman, JP; Graham, Systems and Dialectics; Gruen, The Party’s Over Now; Kligman, Love Affair; Naifeh, Culture Making; OC&T, JP; Potter, To a Violent Grave; Rose, LK; Seldes, The Legacy of Mark Rothko; Solomon, JP; Warhol and Hackett, POPism.
Robert Alan Aurthur, “Hitting the Boiling Point, Freakwise, at East Hampton,” Esquire, June 1972; Paul Brach, “Postscript: The Fifties,” Artforum, Sept. 1965; DP&G, “Who Was JP?” Art in America, May��June 1967; [Alexander Eliot], “The Champ,” Time, Dec. 19, 1954; [Alexander Eliot], “The Wild Ones,” Time, Feb. 20, 1956; B. H. Friedman, “The New Baroque,” Arts Digest, Sept. 15, 1954; B. H. Friedman, “Profile: JP,” Art in America, Dec. 1955; Grace Glueck, “Krasner and Pollock: Scenes from a Marriage,” Art News, Dec. 1981; Hayden Herrera, “John Graham: Modernist Turns Magus,” Arts Magazine, Oct. 1976; Thomas Hess, “Pollock: The Art of a Myth,” Art News, Jan. 1964; Eric Hodgins and Parker Lesley, “The Great International Art Market: I,” Fortune, Dec. 1955; “JP: An Artists’ Symposium, Part I,” Art News, Apr. 1967; Eila Kokkinen, “John Graham During the 1940s,” Arts Magazine, Nov. 1976; Frank O’Hara, “John Graham at the Stable Gallery,” Art News, Apr. 1954; Rosalind Krauss, “Contra Carmean: The Abstract Pollock,” Art in America, Summer 1982; Barbara Rose, “Arshile Gorky and John Graham: Eastern Exiles in a Western World,” Arts Magazine, Mar. 1976; Irving Sandler, “The Club,” Artforum, Sept. 1965; Leo Steinberg, “Month in Review,” Arts, Dec. 1955; P[arker] T[yler], “Reviews and Previews,” Art News, Dec. 1955; James T. Vallière, “De Kooning on Pollock,” Partisan Review, Fall 1967.
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