Lee Krasner
Page 55
23. 1977-Bourdon, 57.
24. 2002-Rembert, 76.
25. Charmion Von Wiegand, quoted in 2002-Rembert, 76.
26. 2002-Rembert, 76.
27. 2002-Rembert, 76.
28. 2002-Rembert, 76.
29. Piet Mondrian quoted in Jay Bradley, “Piet Mondrian, 1872–1944: ‘Greatest Dutch Painter of Our Time,’” Knickerbocher Weekly, 3, 51, 1944, 17.
30. See 1998-Joosten, 174, and Geoffrey Hellman (as anonymous), “Lines and Rectangles,” The New Yorker, no. 3, March 1, 1941, 8–9. See also Herbert Henkels, “Mondrian’s Late Work: A Sketch,” in Mondrian in New York (Tokyo: Galerie Tokoro, 1993), 12–13.
31. See LKCR 96; also 94, 95.
32. George Mercer to LK, letter of February 23, 1942, from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, PKHSC.
33. George Mercer to LK, letter of February 23, 1942, from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, PKHSC.
34. George Mercer to LK, letter of February 23, 1942, from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, PKHSC.
35. George Mercer to LK, letter of March 16, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
36. Art News, quoted in 2002-Rembert, 72.
37. Edward Alden Jewell, “Abstract Artists Hold Sixth Show,” NYT, March 10, 1942, 24. Others included Krasner’s close friend from the Hofmann School, Ray Kaiser.
38. Art Digest, quoted in 2002-Rembert, 72.
39. George Mercer to LK, letter of April 27, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
40. George Mercer to Lenore Krasner, letter of July 13, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
41. George Mercer to Lenore Krasner, letter of July 13, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
42. George Mercer to LK, letter of August 4, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
43. 1966-Rose.
44. 1979-Munro, 114.
45. 1979-Novak.
46. 1968-Wasserman.
47. 1937-Graham, 135. See comparison of Krasner’s and Graham’s drawings in 1983-Rose, 47.
48. 1937-Graham, 136.
49. 1937-Graham, 116.
50. 1979-Novak.
51. 1979-Novak; see also John Graham, “Primitive Art and Picasso,” Magazine of Art, vol. 30, April 1937, 236–38.
52. Carl Holty interviewed by William Agee, AAA, December 8, 1964. He also recalled: “Graham had in his entourage de Kooning and Gorky, Pollock, and that’s about it,” conflicting with Krasner’s assertion that she introduced Pollock to de Kooning.
53. LK quoted in 1967-du Plessix and Gray, 51.
54. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 8, 1941, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC. He mentions Joe Fontaine and “S.S.” besides Bultman.
55. Reuben Kadish quoted in Kisseloff, You Must Remember This, 470.
56. 1988-Silvester, 145–46.
57. LK was aware of artists who went to the civil war in Spain. See 1972-Rose-1.
58. Café Society Uptown was on East Fifty-eighth Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues. See Barney Josephson with Terry Trilling-Josephson, Cafe Society: The Wrong Place for the Right People (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2009).
59. 1997-Erenberg, 366. See also 1988-Silvester, 145–60, which has ads and descriptions of the boogie-woogie craze at the club.
60. 1997-Erenberg, 367.
61. For reports of Eleanor Roosevelt at Café Society, see David W. Stowe, “The Politics of Café Society,” Journal of American History, vol. 84, no. 4 (March 1998), 1403, and the Ivan Black papers in the NYPL. For the dives in Harlem, see 1977-Rose-1.
62. 1968-Wasserman.
63. 1979-Novak.
64. 1979-Novak. I first interviewed Krasner about Kandinsky in January 1971.
65. 1964-Seckler. LK in lecture, New York Studio School, December 14, 1977, AAA, reel 3774.
66. Lee Krasner to Barbara Cavaliere, interview, AAA, reel 3774, frame 286.
67. 1985-Potter, 68.
68. Matter quoted in 1985-Potter, 68.
69. “War-and-College Montage for the Pennsylvania Station,” NYT, September 28, 1942, 19.
70. LK to author, 1977.
71. LKCR, 93, see LK papers at AAA.
72. LKCR, 93, see LK papers at AAA.
73. LKCR, 93–96, see LK papers at AAA.
74. “War-and-College Montage for the Pennsylvania Station,” NYT, September 28, 1942, 19.
75. According to LKCR, 94, Ben Benn’s signature appears on the lower right of a photograph of a cryptography design. For the first publication of these works since the year that they were completed, see 1978-Levin. See also War Services Project, Works Progress Administration, New York (O.P. 65-1-97-20763 W.P. 1).
76. 1972-Gruen, 230.
77. 1998-White, 80.
78. 1967-du Plessix and Gray, 49. Pollock’s brother, Sande, older by three years, but next to him in birth order, changed his surname to their paternal grandfather’s surname, which was replaced when LeRoy, their father, got adopted by the Pollock family.
79. 1967-du Plessix and Gray, 49.
80. 1998-White, 80.
81. 1998-White, 198.
82. For a discussion of the medical view of alcoholism prior to Prohibition, see 2005-Tracy, 226–272, and W. White, “The Rebirth of the Disease Concept of Alcoholism in the 20th Century, Counselor, vol. 1, no. 2, 2000, 62–66.
83. 1985-Potter, 67.
84. JPCR, vol. 4, p. 226.
85. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 6, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
86. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 4, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
87. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 4, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
88. 1981-Glueck-2, 59.
89. 1985-Potter, 66.
90. 1985-Potter, 66.
91. 1968-Wasserman.
92. John [a.k.a. Jean] Xceron was born Yiannis Xirocostasin in 1890 in Isary, Greece, and came to the United States in 1904 at the age of fourteen. In 1911–1912, he began studying at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. Serge Trubach emigrated from the Ukraine, where he was born in 1912; he came to the United States and studied at the National Academy, where he and Krasner might have first met.
93. Pearl Bernstein, administrator, Board of Higher Education, to Audrey McMahon, general supervisor, City War Services Project, letter of October 1, 1942, AAA.
94. Pearl Bernstein letter of October 1, 1942, lists Krasner as being in charge of these artists listed as on the project, AAA.
95. Jeanne Bultman interview with the author, April 23, 2007.
96. George Mercer to LK, letter of October 26, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
Chapter 9: Coping with Peggy Guggenheim, 1943–45 (pp. 197–230)
1. Frederick Kiesler quoted in Edward Alden Jewell, “Gallery Premiere Assists Red Cross,” NYT, October 21, 1942, 22.
2. 1964-Seckler.
3. 1978-Cavaliere.
4. 1979-Novak.
5. 1980-Bennett.
6. 1980-Mooradian.
7. 2003-Herrera, 609, 621.
8. 1978-Cavaliere and LK to the author, 1977-Rose.
9. 1975-Nemser-1, 88.
10. 1979-Novak. Jean Connolly, “Art: Spring Salon for Young Artists,” The Nation, 156, no. 22 (May 29, 1943), 786.
11. 1997-Rubenfeld, 64, 71.
12. Robert M. Coates, “The Art Galleries: From Moscow to Harlem,” The New Yorker, 19 (May 29, 1943): 49.
13. JPCR, vol. 4, 228.
14. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.
15. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.
16. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.
17. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.
18. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.
19. LK’s birth certificate number was 36035; she was born at 37
3 Sackman Street in Brooklyn.
20. 1944-Janis, LK’s Composition is reproduced as plate 31; measuring 30 inches by 24 inches.
21. Ray Kaiser Eames’s painting For C in Limited Palette was illustrated in California Arts & Architecture in 1943. See 1998-Kirkham, 38–39.
22. 1964-Seckler.
23. Sidney Janis quoted in 1972-Gruen, 245.
24. 1944-Janis, 112. Janis omitted the article in the title, The She-Wolf.
25. Sidney Janis to JP, September 27, 1943, in JPCR, D47, 229.
26. LK to Mercedes Matter, letter of 1943, Mercedes Matter estate.
27. Lee Krasner to Mercedes Matter, letter of 1943, Mercedes Matter estate.
28. Charles Eames ran the Molded Plywood Division of Evans Products Company in Venice, California, which produced splints for the U.S. Navy. See John Neuhart, Marilyn Neuhart, and Ray Eames, Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1980). Earlier Matter had designed propaganda posters for the U.S. government and had disliked doing so; see also 2007-Landau, 45. See also: http://www.herbert-matter.com/index.shtml.
29. LK to Mercedes Matter, letter of 1943, Mercedes Matter estate.
30. 2007-Landau, 41, n. 7. The Bennett School was located in Millbrook, New York. Ray Eames studied there from 1930 to 1931.
31. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of 1943.
32. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of 1943.
33. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of 1943.
34. LK to Stella Pollock, letter of 1943, JPCR, vol. 4, D45, states: “Rube [Reuben Kadish] came in town for two weeks. He is with the army as an artist correspondent…. He plans coming east when it’s over.” This photograph is reproduced in 1989-Kisseloff, insert, n.p.
35. See JPCR, vol. 4, 229. Reuben Kadish interview with Jeff Kisseloff, NYPL, states that he photographed Pollock in his Eighth Street studio.
36. Vita Petersen to the author, interview of 3-1-2010. See “Elizabeth Hubbard, Physician Since 1921,” NYT, May 23, 1967, 47.
37. 1989-Naifeh, 492. See Elizabeth Wright-Hubbard, MD, Homeopathy as Art and Science: Selected Writings (Bucks, UK: Beaconsfield Publishers Ltd, 1990). Elizabeth Wright Hubbard graduated in medicine in 1921 from Columbia University School of Physicians and Surgeons and interned at Bellevue Hospital, New York. She went on to study homeopathy for two years with Dr. Pierre Schmidt of Geneva, Switerland, and returned to the United States to pursue a career that brought her international acclaim and affection. She was the first woman to be elected president of the American Institute of Homeopathy.
38. 1979-Novak.
39. 1972-Gruen, 230.
40. JPCR, vol. 4, D49, 229.
41. LK to Carles Matter, undated letter of December 1943 and James Johnson Sweeney, introduction, Jackson Pollock, Art of This Century, November 8–29, 1943.
42. The itinerary was to the Denver Art Museum (March 26–April 23), the Seattle Art Museum (May 7–June 10), the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (June–July), and the San Francisco Museum of Art (July), and then to New York City.
43. LK to Carles Matter, undated letter of December 1943.
44. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.
45. Mercedes and Herbert Matter’s son, Alexander Pundit Matter, born July 1942, was named after his godfather, Alexander Calder. His middle name was in honor of Pandit [or Pundit] Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), one of the foremost leaders of India’s struggle for freedom. “Pundit” is a scholar, a teacher, particularly one skilled in Sanskrit and Hindu law, religion and philosophy. Alex was called Pundy.
46. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmark unclear, from December 1943, from 46 East Eighth Street, New York City.
47. JP to Herbert and Carles Matter, letter postmarked March 4, 1944.
48. JPCR, vol. 4, 233, D54. Letter JP to mother dated Friday (probably February 4, 1944) and JP to Charles, April 14, 1944.
49. JPCR, vol. 4, 233, D55. Letter JP to Charles, May 1944.
50. 1975-Nemser-1, 88.
51. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.
52. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.
53. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.
54. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.
55. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.
56. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.
57. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944. The definite article was part of Pollock’s original title for this painting.
58. George Mercer to JP and LK, letter of April 17, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
59. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked June 29, 1944, from Provinctown, Massachusetts. The show was at the Philadelphia Art Alliance; see Howard Devree, “From a Reporter’s Notebook, NYT, March 5, 1944, X6.
60. JPCR, vol. 4, 234, D58, JP and LK to Mother LoieSande, undated letter of 1944.
61. JP to Herbert Matter at 11013½ Strathmore, Westwood, Los Angeles, California, postmarked September 7, 1944; postcard image: Jade Horse’s Head from Chinese Tomb at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. See 1983-Rose, 29, who says LK painted in Hofmann’s Provincetown studio during the summer of 1943, but it appears that LK, Rose’s source, no longer recalled when they were actually in Provincetown.
62. 2009-Landau, 70, Note 75
63. Hans Hofmann to Jeannette (Mercedes) and Herbert, letter of October 14, 1944, Estate of Mercedes Matter, quoted in 2003-Dickey, 75.
64. Hans Hofmann to Mercedes Matter, letter of October 14, 1944, quoted in 2003-Dickey, 75.
65. George Mercer to LK, letter of December 4, 1944, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
66. George Mercer to LK, letter of December 4, 1944, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
67. George Mercer to LK, letter of December 4, 1944, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.
68. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.
69. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.
70. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.
71. Val Schaffner to the author, 11-10-2010, and Val Schaffner, “Perdita Macpherson Schaffner (1919–2001), http://www.imagists.org/hd/perdita.html. Macpherson married the poet, Bryher, who shared his love for the imagist poet H. D. [Hilda Doolittle], and they formally adopted H. D.’s child, Perdita, Val’s mother. H. D. and Bryher spent the war in London, while Macpherson came to live in New York City. Some writers have characterized Macpherson as “homosexual” see, for example 1986-Weld, 308–309, but see also 2004-Dearborn, 210, who concurs with Schaffner.
72. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944. Krasner was not yet married, but referred to herself as “Mrs.”
73. 1985-Potter, 70
74. 1975-Potter, 70.
75. 1971-Motherwell.
76. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.
77. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.
78. 1960-Guggenheim, 108. Her claim that Putzel died of a suicide is not confirmed in his obituary, which lists the cause of death as a heart attack.
79. George Mercer to LK, letter of April 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
80. George Mercer to LK, letter of April 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
81. George Mercer to LK, letter of April 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
82. 1964-Seckler, interview of November 2, 1964, AAA.
83. 1964-Seckler, interview of November 2, 1964, AAA. 1999-Hobbs, 64–66, attributes the gray slabs to hearing about the Holocaust, but this seems unlikely. If anything affected her beyond the impact of Pollock’s art, it would have been her father’s death in November 1944.
84. 1965-Forge.
85. 1972-Rose-2, 121, 154.
86. Edward Alden Jewell, “Toward Abstract or Away?” NYT, July 1, 1945, 22.
87. Edward Alden Jewell, “Academe Remains Academe,” NYT, May 20, 1945, X2.
88. 1985-Potter, 77.
89. G. Baldwin Brown, The Art of the Cave Dweller (New York: R.V. Coleman, c. 1928–1932), 18, 57, 68, 224.
90. Brown, The Art of the Cave Dweller, 156.
91. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
92. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
93. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
94. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
95. These included Terrence Netter, Father Anthony Lauck, and Father Pierre Riches, a converted Jew then at the Vatican, however, Krasner never converted and remained self-identified as Jewish.
96. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
97. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.
98. “12 Artists in Prize Contest,” NY T, January 16, 1946, 23.
99. “Temptations of St. Anthony,” Time, March 25, 1946. “Ernst Painting Wins Loew-Lewin Award,” NYT, September 17, 1946, 10.
100. Edward Alden Jewell, “Chiefly Modern Idiom,” NYT, June 17, 1945, X2. Correct name is Loren MacIver.
101. Lee Krasner to the author, 1977-Rose. Among the other women in the show were Janet Sobel (an immigrant housewife who was self-taught); Alice Trumbull Mason (a founder of American Abstract Artists); Charmion von Wiegand, a disciple of Mondrian’s; and LK’s good friend, Perle Fine.
102. Stephen Birmingham, Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York (New York: Harper & Row, Inc., 1967), 344.
103. 2004-Dearborn, 70. Emma Goldman, Living My Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931), vol. 2, chapter 56.
104. 1986-Weld, 74.
105. 1979-Guggenheim, 315.
106. LK to Angelica Zander Rudenstein, March 6, 1981, The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1985).
107. LK to the author, in conversation and 1977-Rose.
108. 2002-Harrison, 75. This conflicts with JPCR, which claims incorrectly that the shack was in Amagansett, another village outside of East Hampton.