by Amanda Vaill
“In India”: Gold and Fizdale, Misia, p. 239.
[>] “there was a stir”: Hugo, Le Regard de la mémoire, p. 206 (my translation).
“a world somewhere . . . men as women”: de Faucigny-Lucinge, Un gentilhomme cosmopolite, pp. 105 and 108 (my translation).
forthcoming sale . . . Picasso: Daix, Picasso, pp. 173, 176, and 178.
“There was . . . new orbit”: GCM, Murphy/MacAgy papers.
He couldn’t remember . . . that autumn day: Although Gerald told Calvin Tomkins that he saw all these artists in Paul Rosenberg’s gallery, that would have been impossible; Matisse was represented by Bernheim Jeune and Gris by Kahnweiler (as William Rubin points out in note 3, p. 44, The Paintings of Gerald Murphy), and their paintings would not have been hanging in Rosenberg’s window.
[>] “I was astounded . . . like to do”: GCM/CT interview, HMD. Quoted, with alterations, in LW, p. 25.
“a crazy Russian . . . and irresponsible childishness”: SWM to GCM, 16 Mar. 1918, HMD.
“charming, extraordinarily attractive”: Hester Pickman/HMD interview, HMD.
“She started us . . . non-representational”: GCM/CT interview, HMD.
They would subdivide . . . stronger ones less so: Rubin, The Paintings of Gerald Murphy, p. 9..
[>] “No apple on a dish”: SWM/CT interview, HMD.
The kind of art . . . simply pleased him: “Real objects which I admired had become for me abstractions, or objects in a world of abstractions,” wrote Gerald to Douglas MacAgy. “My hope was to somehow digest them along with purely abstract forms and re-present them.”
He and Sara and Hester . . . six months: MacAgy/Murphy papers.
“was still Mademoiselle”: Hester Pickman/HMD interview, HMD.
“a huge, blond” . . . all his work for him: Stravinsky and Craft, Conversations with Igor Stravinsky, p. 111.
“how he rushed up”: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.
“a sad business”: Charnot, Gontcharova, p. 77 (my translation). Gerald and Sara couldn’t agree about why the scenery needed repainting: Gerald said later that a fire had destroyed all the company’s sets, but Sara maintained (SWM/CT interview) that “it was just used up, worn out.” The fire makes a better story, but there’s no record of this event; wear and tear makes more sense.
Would Mademoiselle . . . scenery shop?: GCM and SWM/CT interview, HMD.
“serious and trying work”: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.
Diaghilev’s atelier . . . proper perspective: GCM/CT interview, CT notes, HMD.
[>] “hovered,—but pleasantly”: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.
peering through . . . offer corrections: GCM and SWM/CT interview, HMD; also MacAgy/Murphy papers.
“A dark, powerful”: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.
“very attractive”: Hester Pickman/HMD interview, HMD.
“What are you all”: Ibid. S&G, p. 15, using the same source, says the location was the Opéra, but Pickman clearly places the conversation at the atelier.
“a sort of movement . . . discussed it with you”: GCM/CT interview, HMD. Sometimes the new recruits . . . fondly afterward: SWM/CT interview, HMD.
[>] Gerald’s quarters . . . other supplies: Description of the studio’s interior is from Ernest Hemingway, Item 648A, p. 14, JFK. The description of the exterior of the building, and the surrounding neighborhood, is based on personal observation.
[>] broad-brimmed black . . . Toulouse-Lautrec poster: Reminiscence of William Lord, Yale class of 1922, quoted in S&G, p. 10.
“I seemed to see . . . giant scale”: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.
[>] “iron, glass, concrete”: Louis Lozowick, “Tatlin’s Monument to the Third International,” Broom, III, Oct. 1922, pp. 232–34.
He called one of them . . . engine block: Although William Rubin’s catalogue for Murphy’s MOMA show in 1974 has become the accepted chronology of his works, I differ from it on a few significant points. One concerns the identification of Murphy’s first two paintings, listed in the catalogue of the Salon des Artistes Indépendents (34e Exposition) as Turbines and Pression. Without any visual record to guide him, Rubin posited, not illogically, that Turbines is the painting now known as Engine Room and that Pression (or Pressure) is lost. However, the arts journal Shadowland published an article on the 1922 Salon des Indépendents illustrated by a photograph of Turbines on which I have based my description; I therefore assume that the picture we know as Engine Room is the original Pression.
He worked on . . . oils on the canvas: GCM. MacAgy/Murphy papers.
[>] He had never . . . until that moment: GCM to Rudi Blesh, quoted in Blesh, Modern Art USA, p. 95.
They settled in . . . digging in the sand: SWM scrapbooks, HMD.
“always had a great flair . . . crystalline water”: GCM/CT interview, HMD.
10. “A prince and a princess”
[>] “Think for a moment”: Allan Ross Macdougall, “Independence and Otherwise in Paris,” Shadowland, Jun. 1923.
[>] “cubistic studies of machinery”: Ibid.
“very personal . . . decorative effect”: “American Art in Salon,” New York Herald (Paris), 9 Feb 1923.
This four-day bazaar . . . American artist had arrived: “Foire de Nuit à Bullier,” Comoedia, 22 Feb. 1923, p. 2; and “Le Bal des Artistes Russes,” Comoedia, 25 Feb. 1923, p. 2.
[>] Seldes considered . . . sublime: Kammen, The Lively Arts, p. 96.
returned from the Cote d’Azur . . . Versailles: SWM scrapbooks, HMD.
Sara delighted in prowling . . . antiques shops: SWM to FMB, 15 Jan. 1952, FMB.
But it was small . . . rats on the stairs: GCM/CT interview; HMD. In addition, GCM mentions the remodeling in the MacAgy/Murphy papers.
It wouldn’t do . . . residence at Versailles: Although Honoria Donnelly maintains in her book that the family didn’t acquire the quai des Grands-Augustins apartment until the fall of 1925, other evidence contradicts this date. The catalogues for the Salon des Indépendents for 1923, 1924, and 1925 give Gerald Murphy’s address as 23 quai des Grands-Augustins; and ESB, JDP, DOS, and Gerald Murphy himself placed the Murphys on the quai in 1923.
And they could justify . . . in February: SWM tax return for 1923, HMD.
The Kamerny actors . . . set was wide: Hugo, Le Regard de la mémoire, p. 224.
[>] The Man Who Was Thursday . . . “out of the country”: This account of the Kamerny Theater, and of the Murphys’ dinner party, is drawn from GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.
[>] “Once upon a time . . . be their friends”: DOS, By a Stroke of Luck! p. 117.
“Sara was obviously . . . brisk and preoccupied”: JDP, The Best Times, p. 145.
“an apostle”: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.
[>] “tugs clustered”: GCM art notebook, HMD.
“The banks of the Seine”: JDP, The Best Times, p. 146.
“had never had . . . three little towheads”: Ibid., p. 147.
Donald Ogden Stewart . . . visitors mistook it for: ESB interview.
[>] Gerald said . . . pale green celery: Marcel Espiau, “Chez M. Gérard Murphy, peintre ‘bien américain,”’ L’Éclair, 18 Feb. 1924, p. 1.
black or white opalescent vases: These vases are still in Honoria Donnelly’s possession.
spare cubicle . . . paintings afterward: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers. The rose—or, more accurately, roses on a single stem—appear in La rose et le compas, Roses et compas, Le Buste, Nature morte aux livres, and other paintings of 1925.
[>] “The Murphys were . . . United States”: Quoted in LW, p. 8.
“this year’s gift”: Louis Laloy, Comoedia (front page), Monday, 4 Jun. 1923. “an aesthetic revelation”: Paul Roche, “Les Ballets russes à Paris,” Le Gaulois (front page), 1 Jun. 1923.
The music . . . xylophone: Stravinsky, Chroniques de ma vie, pp. 41–43.
traditional gender divisions . . . as it was musically: See Garafola, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, pp. 125–29.
Natalia Goncharova . . . t
ight schedule: Nathalie Gontcharova [sic], “The Creation of ‘Les Noces,”’ Ballet and Opéra, Sept. 1949; and Bronislava Nijinska, “The Creation of ‘Les Noces’” (translated and introduced by Jean M. Serafetinedes and Irina Nijinska, Dance, Dec. 1974).
He also seized . . . finished their task: JDP, The Best Times, p. 148.
[>] considered squalor: See Cowley, A Second Flowering, pp. 91–98.
although Dos Passos . . . embarrassed: S&G, p. 13.
“everyone directly connected . . . worthy of the event”: GCM, quoted in LW, p. 31
Winnie de Polignac’s . . . Louis XIV: Description of the princess’s house comes from Jacques Brindejont-Offenbach, “Chez La Princesse Edmond de Polignac: “Une Répétition des ‘Noces’ de Stravinsky,” Tuesday, 12 Jun. 1923; the source of this clipping, in the press book for Les Noces in the Fonds Kochno, Musée de l’Opera, is unknown.
“The Cirque Médrano” . . . Germaine Taillefer: Sources for the description of the barge party are GCM’s interviews with CT, HMD; the MacAgy/Murphy papers; LW, pp. 31–33.
[>] “preferred pianist of les Six”: Survage, “Larionov, homme actif/Gontcharova, femme douce et discrète,” in Tatiana Loguine (ed.), Gontcharova et Larionov, cinquante ans à Saint-Germain-des-près, p. 134 (my translation). “Depuis le jour . . . my life”: Gerald thought Seldes had inscribed the menu, but Seldes was a Jew and unlikely to have had a first communion.
11. “There is American elegance””
[>] “On the pleasant . . . north in April”: TITN, p. 3.
July 3, 1923: SWM scrapbooks, HMD.
Sella rationalized . . . south for the sun: Blume, Côte d’Azur, p. 75.
[>] Antibes was a sleepy . . . unpaved: HMD interviews, personal observation, and LW, p. 96.
Before he left Paris . . . in February: Rubin, The Paintings of Gerald Murphy, p. 20, suggests that this painting, Boatdeck, was designed as an opening curtain for the ballet Within the Quota, but a simple consideration of the painting’s dimensions suggests otherwise. A painting eighteen feet high and twelve feet wide, while massive, would not begin to fill the proscenium space of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where the Ballets Suédois played, and would have had the wrong proportions besides. Drop curtains are generally wider than they are tall.
Possibly inspired . . . fall of 1921: Ibid., p. 22.
Gerald had taken more . . . Aquitania: Marcel Espiau, “Chez M. Gérard Murphy, peintre ‘bien américain,’” L’Éclair, 18 Feb. 1924.
By 1923 . . . Bonnard, and Léger: For a fuller discussion of the place of the Ballets Suédois in the Parisian avant-garde, see Bengt Häger, Ballets Suédois, and Lynn Garafola, “Rivals for the New: The Ballets Suédois and the Ballets Russes,” in Nancy Van Norman Baer, ed., Paris Modern: The Swedish Ballet, 1920–1925, pp. 66–83.
[>] She had even asked Igor . . . had declined: LW, p. 39.
One day . . . meet her grandson: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers; and Daix, Picasso, p. 182.
[>] wanted to come back: Ibid.
“didn’t speak a word” . . . Spanish: SWM/CT interview, HMD.
“entirely prosaic” . . . small talk: LW, p. 35.
“Chère Madame Picasso . . . American canoe”: SWM to Olga Picasso, undated letter on Hôtel du Cap stationery, Musée Picasso (my translation).
when the de Beaumonts . . . Garoupe beach: ESB interview.
The de Beaumonts planned . . . Friday noon: Undated invitation, Étienne and Édith de Beaumont to Pablo Picasso, Musée Picasso.
[>] They all clowned . . . grinning hugely: Photographs in SWM scrapbooks, HMD.
Picasso and Sara . . . end of his life: Rubin, “Reflections on Picasso and Portraiture,” Picasso and Portraiture, p. 55.
Picasso alone . . . shadowy and indistinct: Photographs in SWM scrapbooks, HMD.
Olga’s tension . . . delight in her children: William Rubin interview.
“She is never coy”: GCM/CT interview.
One day she was . . . “festin”: GCM to CT, 4 Sept. 1960, HMD.
[>] “sense of the grotesque . . . un chien”: LW, p. 36.
Opéra in Paris . . . “American elegance!”: GCM to CT, 25 Apr. 1962, HMD.
They rarely talked . . . El Greco’s model: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.
During those golden July . . . rope of pearls: These conclusions are the result of personal observations, made from examination of the Musée Picasso’s microfilms of Picasso’s 1923 sketchbook, now in the possession of Marina Picasso, and of conversations with William Rubin.
Some of these pictures . . . as a given: ESB interview; GCM/CT interview; Daix, Picasso, pp. 182–83. See also Cabanne, Le Siècle de Picasso, pp. 637ff.
“Picasso was in love . . . sexual adventure”: William Rubin interview.
“I would have thought . . . hard for her to resist”: John Richardson interview.
[>] “The Man of Taste” . . . feast with her tempter: Philip Barry, “The Man of Taste," unproduced manuscript, GUL.
[>] “chers Picassos . . . Sara”: SWM to Pablo and Olga Picasso, undated (but internal evidence places it in Jul.-Aug. 1923), Musée Picasso.
They posed like tourists . . . but at Sara: Photograph in SWM scrapbooks, HMD.
Sara felt . . . different reasons: ESB interview.
And Cole and Linda . . . for pleasure: James Douglas and Roderick Coupe interview.
After two weeks . . . work with Cole: HMD interview.
The two of them . . . went on swimming: S&G, p. 22.
[>] As someone who . . . not his type: James Douglas and Roderick Coupe interview.
X-ray examinations . . . alter the painting: William Rubin, “The Pipes of Pan: Picasso’s Aborted Love Song to Sara Murphy,” ArtNews, May 1994.
It’s difficult . . . two people: HMD interview.
“Will you come” . . . in the margin: SWM to Pablo and Olga Picasso, undated, Musée Picasso (my translation).
[>] But after seeing the rehearsals . . . to the audience: LW, p. 41.
“nothing but a translation”: “American Ballet in Paris Tonight,” New York Herald (Paris), 25 Oct. 1923.
“It’s easier to write”: Ibid.
Within the Quota . . . action on stage: Within the Quota scenario described by La Revue de France and quoted in Hager, Ballets Suédois, p. 44. The original scenario has apparently been lost, and this is the only source.
Parade . . . inside the circus tent: An interesting discussion of Parade in this context appears in Siegel, Bohemian Paris, pp. 360–65.
[>] costumes . . . specifications: Although Gerald is listed as the costume designer for Within the Quota on the ballet’s program, a personal comparison of the costume sketches with Sara’s scrapbooks inevitably suggests that the renderings of the women’s costumes, at least are her work and not Gerald’s—a view that is supported by Honoria Donnelly. In addition, in an interview with Calvin Tomkins, Gerald referred to the Sweetheart costume as Sara’s work.
“the most powerful symbol”: GCM to CT, 3 Jan. 1962, HMD.
“a study of American women”: GCM quoted in “American Ballet in Paris Tonight,” New York Herald (Paris), 25 Oct. 1923.
[>] “DANCER RENEWS”: New York Herald (Paris), 13 Oct. 1923, p. 1.
“the Jazz Baby”: Within the Quota scenario described by La Revue de France and quoted in Häger, Ballets Suédois, p. 44.
“fashionable and artistic . . . laughter and applause”: “American Ballet Pleases Gathering at Paris Theatre,” New York Herald (Paris), 26 Oct. 1923.
Reviews . . . “American theme”: Gilbert Seldes, “Within the Quota,” Paris-Journal, 1923. See also Fokine, et al., Les Ballets Suédois dans l’art contemporain.
[>] But it was not performed . . . L’Homme et son désir: Gail Levin, “The Ballets Suédois and American Culture,” Paris Modern, pp. 123–24.
This tactic . . . discarded after one performance: DOS, By a Stroke of Luck! pp. 122–23.
only “modernist” . . . rest having been dropped: Gail Levin, “The
Ballets Suédois and American Culture,” Paris Modern, p. 124.
Stuart Davis’s 1924 painting . . . enormous newspaper: See Sims, Stuart Davis, p. 174. The art historian Elizabeth Garrity Ellis points out that the Suédois toured extensively in Davis’s home state of Pennsylvania, and he would very likely have seen the production either there or in New York, nine years later . . . come to life: Bergreen, As Thousands Cheer, p. 313.
“Paris is bound to”: “American Ballet in Paris Tonight,” New York Herald (Paris), 25 Oct. 1923.
[>] “Twenty-three Liners”: New York Herald (Paris), 19 May 1923.
The Herald . . . “any fun left”: “News of Americans Day by Day,” New York Herald (Paris), 7 Apr. 1923.
“practically nothing a year”: Le Vot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 172.
12. “Very serious over trivialities and rather wise about art and life”
[>] On February 7 . . . Boatdeck: “American’s Eighteen-Foot Picture Nearly Splits Independent Artists,” New York Herald (Paris), 8 Feb. 1924, p. 1.
“struck by the look”: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.
An emergency meeting . . . withdrew their resignations: “American’s Eighteen-Foot Picture Nearly Splits Independent Artists,” New York Herald (Paris), 8 Feb. 1924, p. 1.
“It could scarcely”: “Curious Art Seen at Indépendents,” New York Herald (Paris), 9 Feb. 1924, p. 2.
[>] “If they think . . . Grand Palais”: “American’s Eighteen-Foot Picture Nearly Splits Independent Artists,” New York Herald (Paris), 8 Feb. 1924, pp. 1–2.
[>] “truly sorry” . . . freight terminal: Marcel Espiau, “Chez M. Gérard Murphy, peintre ‘bien américain,’” L’Éclair, 18 Feb. 1924, p. 1 (my translation).
In the spring . . . hubcaps or headlamps: Photograph is in HMD’s collection; the attribution to Man Ray is by Turner, in “Paris: Capital of America,” Americans in Paris, p. 26. Additional details from AMacL, Riders on the Earth, p. 124.
“To be done . . . rated as somebody”: Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare and Company, quoted in Turner, Americans in Paris, p. 19.
“Mr. and Mrs. [Gerald] Murphy . . . when she danced”: Harry Crosby to Henrietta Crosby, 20 Dec. 1924, quoted in Wolff, Black Sun, p. 155.