Abstract Expressionism

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PRESIDENT’S FOREWORD

‘You can turn the lights out. The paintings will carry their own fire.’

This is Clyfford Still, one of the greatest of the Abstract Expressionists, writing in high visionary style. There is no irony here, and no apology for what he sees as the artist’s profound and even metaphysical role. His fellow painters and sculptors were unafraid of difficulty, working through doubt and aesthetic risk to re-establish in the postwar era an authentic response to the great human questions. The overwhelming physicality and scale of their art reflects that uncompromising and occasionally tragic seriousness. For my generation of artists, who studied painting and sculpture in London in the late 1960s and early 1970s, American Abstract Expressionism has been an enduring presence. The creative energy and intelligence of arguably the most significant movement of the twentieth century, enriched so profoundly by émigrés from a broken Europe, was a response to currents of thought amid major international events. Together the Abstract Expressionists established a new and exhilarating authority for painting

that was thrilling for emerging artists, and indeed for artists of any age. I was too young to visit the last major exhibition on the subject in Britain, which toured to the Tate Gallery back in 1959, and so it is a particular pleasure for me that the Royal Academy is staging this longoverdue review, with so many of the grandest works by Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, Still, Gorky, Smith, Newman, Mitchell and Francis, as well as photographers and those undeservedly less well known. Making an exhibition of this scale and range involves many people. Firstly, I would like to thank the exhibition’s curators, Dr David Anfam and Edith Devaney. David Anfam is the leading international authority on Abstract Expressionism, and his deep knowledge, personal commitment and exceptional insight have been of enormous benefit to us. Edith Devaney has worked closely with David Anfam on shaping the exhibition and realising all aspects of its presentation. Particular thanks go also to Sunnifa Hope, Exhibitions Manager; Samantha Johnson, Exhibitions Assistant; and Lucy Chiswell, Curatorial Assistant. We are grateful to RA

Publications for producing this handsome catalogue, and to the authors for their vital contributions. Many of these works represent the high points of collections around the world, both public and private. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our many lenders for their generosity and commitment to this important endeavour. We are greatly indebted, too, to our lead sponsors, BNP Paribas, for their continued support of the Royal Academy and of this exhibition. In addition, we are extremely grateful to the Terra Foundation for American Art and to Phillips, to Jake and Hélène Marie Shafran and to Brooke Brown Barzun, as well as to all our other supporters. The Royal Academy is defined by the ambition and passion of artists for art. From our earliest discussions we determined to make this the greatest exhibition of Abstract Expressionism ever assembled. The movement deserves no less, and these exceptional galleries have been waiting since 1868 for just this moment. Christopher Le Brun pra President, Royal Academy of Arts

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PRESIDENT’S FOREWORD

‘You can turn the lights out. The paintings will carry their own fire.’

This is Clyfford Still, one of the greatest of the Abstract Expressionists, writing in high visionary style. There is no irony here, and no apology for what he sees as the artist’s profound and even metaphysical role. His fellow painters and sculptors were unafraid of difficulty, working through doubt and aesthetic risk to re-establish in the postwar era an authentic response to the great human questions. The overwhelming physicality and scale of their art reflects that uncompromising and occasionally tragic seriousness. For my generation of artists, who studied painting and sculpture in London in the late 1960s and early 1970s, American Abstract Expressionism has been an enduring presence. The creative energy and intelligence of arguably the most significant movement of the twentieth century, enriched so profoundly by émigrés from a broken Europe, was a response to currents of thought amid major international events. Together the Abstract Expressionists established a new and exhilarating authority for painting

that was thrilling for emerging artists, and indeed for artists of any age. I was too young to visit the last major exhibition on the subject in Britain, which toured to the Tate Gallery back in 1959, and so it is a particular pleasure for me that the Royal Academy is staging this longoverdue review, with so many of the grandest works by Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, Still, Gorky, Smith, Newman, Mitchell and Francis, as well as photographers and those undeservedly less well known. Making an exhibition of this scale and range involves many people. Firstly, I would like to thank the exhibition’s curators, Dr David Anfam and Edith Devaney. David Anfam is the leading international authority on Abstract Expressionism, and his deep knowledge, personal commitment and exceptional insight have been of enormous benefit to us. Edith Devaney has worked closely with David Anfam on shaping the exhibition and realising all aspects of its presentation. Particular thanks go also to Sunnifa Hope, Exhibitions Manager; Samantha Johnson, Exhibitions Assistant; and Lucy Chiswell, Curatorial Assistant. We are grateful to RA

Publications for producing this handsome catalogue, and to the authors for their vital contributions. Many of these works represent the high points of collections around the world, both public and private. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our many lenders for their generosity and commitment to this important endeavour. We are greatly indebted, too, to our lead sponsors, BNP Paribas, for their continued support of the Royal Academy and of this exhibition. In addition, we are extremely grateful to the Terra Foundation for American Art and to Phillips, to Jake and Hélène Marie Shafran and to Brooke Brown Barzun, as well as to all our other supporters. The Royal Academy is defined by the ambition and passion of artists for art. From our earliest discussions we determined to make this the greatest exhibition of Abstract Expressionism ever assembled. The movement deserves no less, and these exceptional galleries have been waiting since 1868 for just this moment. Christopher Le Brun pra President, Royal Academy of Arts

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SPONSOR’S STATEMENT

BNP Paribas is proud to sponsor ‘Abstract Expressionism’, a once-in-a-generation retrospective of one the most influential movements in the history of art. BNP Paribas values the important role that the arts play in helping to shape how we perceive and understand the world in which we live. Through our businesses and the BNP Paribas Foundation, we are committed to supporting culture and artistic

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heritage globally by way of sponsoring exhibitions and specialist publications, restoring masterpieces, assisting artists and backing community projects. Sponsoring ‘Abstract Expressionism’ extends BNP Paribas’s enduring relationship with the Royal Academy of Arts and underlines our commitment to supporting the arts specifically in the UK. As the bank for a changing world, we

hope that visitors will enjoy the chance to explore these compelling works produced by a diverse, radical and pioneering group of American artists who redefined the nature of painting at a time of significant global change. Ludovic de Montille Chairman of the BNP Paribas Group in the UK


SPONSOR’S STATEMENT

BNP Paribas is proud to sponsor ‘Abstract Expressionism’, a once-in-a-generation retrospective of one the most influential movements in the history of art. BNP Paribas values the important role that the arts play in helping to shape how we perceive and understand the world in which we live. Through our businesses and the BNP Paribas Foundation, we are committed to supporting culture and artistic

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heritage globally by way of sponsoring exhibitions and specialist publications, restoring masterpieces, assisting artists and backing community projects. Sponsoring ‘Abstract Expressionism’ extends BNP Paribas’s enduring relationship with the Royal Academy of Arts and underlines our commitment to supporting the arts specifically in the UK. As the bank for a changing world, we

hope that visitors will enjoy the chance to explore these compelling works produced by a diverse, radical and pioneering group of American artists who redefined the nature of painting at a time of significant global change. Ludovic de Montille Chairman of the BNP Paribas Group in the UK


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Royal Academy of Arts would like to thank the following individuals for their kind assistance during the making of this exhibition and its catalogue: Committee of Honour Richard Armstrong Larry Gagosian Arne Glimcher Glenn D. Lowry Samuel Sachs II Sir Nicholas Serota Lady Helen Taylor William Acquavella, Lucia Agirre, Jason Andrew, Dore Ashton, Lucinda Barnes, Frederick Bearman, Kristine Bell, Neal Benezra, John Berggruen, Charles C. Bergman, Betty Ann Besch Solinger, Ambassador and Mrs Donald Blinken, Manuel Borja-Villel, Tristan Bultman, Debra Burchett-Lere, Sandra L. S. Campbell, the Board of Directors of the

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Clyfford Still Museum, Candy Coleman, Harry Cooper, Susan Davidson, Gavin Delahunty, Alison de Lima Greene, Henk van Doornik, Douglas Dreishpoon, Charles Duncan, Susan Dunne, Yilmaz Dziewior, Barney A. Ebsworth, Robert Evren, Andrew Fabricant, Peter Freeman, Angelika Felder, Michael Findlay, Pamela Franks, Janne Gallen-Kallela-SirÊn, Gary Garrels, Kendy Genovese, Tom Gitterman, Natasha Gorky, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Mayor Michael B. Hancock, halley k harrisburg, Helen A. Harrison, Dakin Hart, Barbara Haskell, Sanford Hirsch, Tom Hunt, Koji Inoue, Donna and Carroll Janis, Bo Joseph, Melissa Kerr, Alice and Nahum Lainer, J. Landis Martin, Lisa Layfer, Christian Levett, Jeremy Lewison, Scott Lynn, Robert Manley, Nicholas Maclean, David McKee, Musa Mayer, Mitchell Merling, David and Audrey Mirvish, Robert Mnuchin, Peter Namuth, Sean O’Harrow, Meredith Palmer, Lord

Poltimore, Julie Prance, Leslie Prouty, Carter Ratcliff, Anna Reinhardt, Jock Reynolds, Kent Rice, Kimerly Rorschach, Michael Rosenfeld, Sir Norman Rosenthal, Cora Rosevear, Christopher Rothko, Kate Rothko Prizel, Philip Rylands, Irving Sandler, Amy Schichtel, Paul Schimmel, Jon and Kim Shirley, Manny and Jackie Silverman, Bruce Silverstein, Candida Smith, Elizabeth Smith, Rebecca Smith, Gary Snyder, James S. Snyder, Dean Sobel, Guillermo Solana, Matthew Spender, Saskia Spender, Pari Stave, Gail Stavitsky, Jerome L. and Ellen Stern, Lynn Stern, Peter Stevens, Diane Still Knox, Ann Temkin, Gary Tinterow, Lora Urbanelli, Gerard Vaughan, Daniel Vega, JuanIgnacio Vidarte, Sheena Wagstaff, Adam Weinberg, Rowland Weinstein, Billie Milam Weisman, Neil Wenman, Rachel White, Randy White, Ealan Wingate, Iwan Wirth, Betsy Wittenborn Miller, Christian Wurst, and David Zwirner.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Royal Academy of Arts would like to thank the following individuals for their kind assistance during the making of this exhibition and its catalogue: Committee of Honour Richard Armstrong Larry Gagosian Arne Glimcher Glenn D. Lowry Samuel Sachs II Sir Nicholas Serota Lady Helen Taylor William Acquavella, Lucia Agirre, Jason Andrew, Dore Ashton, Lucinda Barnes, Frederick Bearman, Kristine Bell, Neal Benezra, John Berggruen, Charles C. Bergman, Betty Ann Besch Solinger, Ambassador and Mrs Donald Blinken, Manuel Borja-Villel, Tristan Bultman, Debra Burchett-Lere, Sandra L. S. Campbell, the Board of Directors of the

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Clyfford Still Museum, Candy Coleman, Harry Cooper, Susan Davidson, Gavin Delahunty, Alison de Lima Greene, Henk van Doornik, Douglas Dreishpoon, Charles Duncan, Susan Dunne, Yilmaz Dziewior, Barney A. Ebsworth, Robert Evren, Andrew Fabricant, Peter Freeman, Angelika Felder, Michael Findlay, Pamela Franks, Janne Gallen-Kallela-SirÊn, Gary Garrels, Kendy Genovese, Tom Gitterman, Natasha Gorky, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Mayor Michael B. Hancock, halley k harrisburg, Helen A. Harrison, Dakin Hart, Barbara Haskell, Sanford Hirsch, Tom Hunt, Koji Inoue, Donna and Carroll Janis, Bo Joseph, Melissa Kerr, Alice and Nahum Lainer, J. Landis Martin, Lisa Layfer, Christian Levett, Jeremy Lewison, Scott Lynn, Robert Manley, Nicholas Maclean, David McKee, Musa Mayer, Mitchell Merling, David and Audrey Mirvish, Robert Mnuchin, Peter Namuth, Sean O’Harrow, Meredith Palmer, Lord

Poltimore, Julie Prance, Leslie Prouty, Carter Ratcliff, Anna Reinhardt, Jock Reynolds, Kent Rice, Kimerly Rorschach, Michael Rosenfeld, Sir Norman Rosenthal, Cora Rosevear, Christopher Rothko, Kate Rothko Prizel, Philip Rylands, Irving Sandler, Amy Schichtel, Paul Schimmel, Jon and Kim Shirley, Manny and Jackie Silverman, Bruce Silverstein, Candida Smith, Elizabeth Smith, Rebecca Smith, Gary Snyder, James S. Snyder, Dean Sobel, Guillermo Solana, Matthew Spender, Saskia Spender, Pari Stave, Gail Stavitsky, Jerome L. and Ellen Stern, Lynn Stern, Peter Stevens, Diane Still Knox, Ann Temkin, Gary Tinterow, Lora Urbanelli, Gerard Vaughan, Daniel Vega, JuanIgnacio Vidarte, Sheena Wagstaff, Adam Weinberg, Rowland Weinstein, Billie Milam Weisman, Neil Wenman, Rachel White, Randy White, Ealan Wingate, Iwan Wirth, Betsy Wittenborn Miller, Christian Wurst, and David Zwirner.


Fig. 3 Hedda Sterne, New York, N.Y., 1955. Airbrush and enamel on canvas, 92.1 x 153 cm. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Gift of an anonymous donor, 56.20 Fig. 4 ‘The Irascibles’, 24 November 1950. From left to right: (back row) Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhardt, Hedda Sterne; (middle row) Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Jimmy Ernst (seated), Jackson Pollock, James C. Brooks (seated), Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell, Bradley Walker Tomlin; (front row) Theodoros Stamos, Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. Photograph by Nina Leen for Time-Life magazine, published 15 January 1951. The LIFE Picture Collection

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that, unlike some of the males, Krasner and the feminist Mitchell generally got bolder and better with age as they met less resistance? Their two respective late masterpieces, The Eye Is the First Circle and Salut Tom (cats 100, 131), are monumental, vibrant summations compared to the men’s often more introverted final efforts.9 Here it is also worth considering the endlessly reproduced photograph by Nina Leen of the so-called ‘Irascibles’ group – huddled together at short notice to protest the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s reactionary survey of contemporary American painting – published in Life magazine on 15 January 1951 (fig. 4). Endlessly reproduced... because there is no other image to hand of as many of the contenders gathered in one place. But its makeup is somewhat arbitrary. Fritz Bultman, a signatory to the Irascibles’

petition to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and an impressive if neglected abstractionist, was absent. Jimmy Ernst had nothing to do with Abstract Expressionism, whereas Hedda Sterne, despite her elevated standing in the shot, was the token woman. Unfortunately, although Sterne was a fine artist, she was not of the foremost calibre (fig. 3). Prejudice and other deleterious factors must be opposed when shaping any canon, yet not (pace some contemporary theory) at the expense of connoisseurship and quality: tokens are not fully fledged currency, nor are quotas. As with gender, so with race. Notwithstanding the black AfricanAmerican Norman Lewis’s participation in the historic Artists’ Sessions at Studio 35 in 1950 and his solo début in 1949 at the Willard Gallery, which Elaine de Kooning hailed, he was never properly accepted in the ranks. Only in recent years has Lewis’s subtle, haunting œuvre, which includes sly twists on some of his colleagues’ art, begun to receive its proper due.10 Of the remaining Irascibles, William Baziotes, Richard Pousette-Dart, Theodoros Stamos and Bradley Walker Tomlin have long been regarded as important but not quite in the same league as the biggest four ‘names’. Their work still demands attention. Lastly, Ad Reinhardt stood centrally though at the very back of the band of Irascibles. There is something apt about this placement. A deliberate gadfly who chastised his fellow artists for their Romantic excesses, Reinhardt knowingly stood aside from the mainstream. In the same breath, his involvement with colour and compositional absolutes – relentlessly pursued unto their final verities like the terms of an unfolding mathematical calculation – set him in a special niche.


Fig. 3 Hedda Sterne, New York, N.Y., 1955. Airbrush and enamel on canvas, 92.1 x 153 cm. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Gift of an anonymous donor, 56.20 Fig. 4 ‘The Irascibles’, 24 November 1950. From left to right: (back row) Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhardt, Hedda Sterne; (middle row) Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Jimmy Ernst (seated), Jackson Pollock, James C. Brooks (seated), Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell, Bradley Walker Tomlin; (front row) Theodoros Stamos, Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. Photograph by Nina Leen for Time-Life magazine, published 15 January 1951. The LIFE Picture Collection

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that, unlike some of the males, Krasner and the feminist Mitchell generally got bolder and better with age as they met less resistance? Their two respective late masterpieces, The Eye Is the First Circle and Salut Tom (cats 100, 131), are monumental, vibrant summations compared to the men’s often more introverted final efforts.9 Here it is also worth considering the endlessly reproduced photograph by Nina Leen of the so-called ‘Irascibles’ group – huddled together at short notice to protest the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s reactionary survey of contemporary American painting – published in Life magazine on 15 January 1951 (fig. 4). Endlessly reproduced... because there is no other image to hand of as many of the contenders gathered in one place. But its makeup is somewhat arbitrary. Fritz Bultman, a signatory to the Irascibles’

petition to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and an impressive if neglected abstractionist, was absent. Jimmy Ernst had nothing to do with Abstract Expressionism, whereas Hedda Sterne, despite her elevated standing in the shot, was the token woman. Unfortunately, although Sterne was a fine artist, she was not of the foremost calibre (fig. 3). Prejudice and other deleterious factors must be opposed when shaping any canon, yet not (pace some contemporary theory) at the expense of connoisseurship and quality: tokens are not fully fledged currency, nor are quotas. As with gender, so with race. Notwithstanding the black AfricanAmerican Norman Lewis’s participation in the historic Artists’ Sessions at Studio 35 in 1950 and his solo début in 1949 at the Willard Gallery, which Elaine de Kooning hailed, he was never properly accepted in the ranks. Only in recent years has Lewis’s subtle, haunting œuvre, which includes sly twists on some of his colleagues’ art, begun to receive its proper due.10 Of the remaining Irascibles, William Baziotes, Richard Pousette-Dart, Theodoros Stamos and Bradley Walker Tomlin have long been regarded as important but not quite in the same league as the biggest four ‘names’. Their work still demands attention. Lastly, Ad Reinhardt stood centrally though at the very back of the band of Irascibles. There is something apt about this placement. A deliberate gadfly who chastised his fellow artists for their Romantic excesses, Reinhardt knowingly stood aside from the mainstream. In the same breath, his involvement with colour and compositional absolutes – relentlessly pursued unto their final verities like the terms of an unfolding mathematical calculation – set him in a special niche.


109 Franz Kline, Andrus, 1961 Oil on canvas, 200.7 x 332.7 cm. The Collection of Jon Shirley

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109 Franz Kline, Andrus, 1961 Oil on canvas, 200.7 x 332.7 cm. The Collection of Jon Shirley

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110 Willem de Kooning, Villa Borghese, 1960

111 Willem de Kooning, Untitled, 1961

Oil on canvas, 203 x 178 cm. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Oil on canvas, 203.5 x 177.8 cm. Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham. Gift of Joachim Jean and Julian J. Aberbach, New York

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110 Willem de Kooning, Villa Borghese, 1960

111 Willem de Kooning, Untitled, 1961

Oil on canvas, 203 x 178 cm. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Oil on canvas, 203.5 x 177.8 cm. Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham. Gift of Joachim Jean and Julian J. Aberbach, New York

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INDEX All references are to page numbers; those in bold type indicate catalogue plates, and those in italic type indicate essay illustrations The names of artists whose works are included in the exhibition appear in bold type with their life dates

‘50 ans d’art aux Etats-Unis’, Paris (1955) 60, 60, 61 ‘54–64: Painting and Sculpture of a Decade’, New York (1964)  63, 69 ‘60 American Painters’, Minneapolis (1960) 126 A Abbott, Berenice  89 ‘Abstract and Surrealist American Art’, Chicago (1947)  116 ‘Abstract Painting in America’, New York (1935) 106 Abstract Surrealism  109 ACA Gallery, New York  109 action painting  62, 63, 67, 68, 119, 122 ‘Action Photography’, New York (1943)  42 Adams, Ansel  110, 114 African art  37, 71 ‘African Negro Art’, New York (1935)  29 Ala Napoleonica, Venice (1950)  57 Albers, Josef  105 Allan Stone Gallery, New York  126 Alloway, Lawrence  62, 65–66, 124 American Abstract Artists group (AAA) 29, 106 ‘American and French Paintings’, New York (1942)  76, 110 ‘American Painting 1945–1957’, Minneapolis (1957) 124 ‘American Painting Today’, New York (1950) 82, 118 ‘American Sculpture of Our Time’, New York (1943) 111 ‘American Sources of Modern Art: Aztec, Mayan, Incan’, New York (1933)  29 Amsterdam  57, 64, 68, 126, 127 Angry Young Men  63 Arb, Renée  82 Arendt, Hannah, The Origins of Totalitarianism 80 Ark  62, 66 Armenia  21, 26, 28, 29 Armory Show, New York (1913)  32, 86–87 Arp, Hans  29 Art d’aujourd’hui  59, 68–69 Art Digest 99 Art Institute of Chicago  116, 122, 127 Art International  65 Art of This Century, New York  32, 77, 89–90, 89, 91, 94, 96, 97, 98–100, 103, 110, 111, 112, 115 Artaud, Antonin  63, 65 ARTnews  55, 59, 82, 116, 117, 119, 120, 124, 125 Arts 63 Arts Council  63, 65–66 Ashton, Dore, The New York School: A Cultural Reckoning 127 Atelier 17  109, 112 Auerbach, Frank  63 automatism  76, 82, 109 Avery, Milton  73 B Bacon, Francis  65 Barcelona  60, 63 Barr, Alfred H. Jr  60, 64, 105, 106, 118, 118

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Basel  64, 69, 84, 125, 126 Baselitz, Georg  65 Baudelaire, Charles  21 Baziotes, William (1912–1963) 18, 19, 32, 37, 50, 76, 77, 78, 82, 90, 100, 112, 126 Mariner  268 Untitled 109, 140 BBC  63, 66 Beals, Jessie Tarbox  73 Beaton, Cecil  120, 120 Beckmann, Max  37 Belgrade 60 Bennington College, Vermont  120, 122, 125 Benton, Thomas Hart  30, 76, 105, 106 Social and Industrial History of Indiana 31, 31 Berger, John  62, 63, 66, 123 Berlin  64, 66, 124 Bettis, Valerie  20 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York  82, 90–98, 95, 98, 100–103, 100, 102, 114, 115, 118, 119 Black Mountain College  105, 105, 123 Blake, Peter  80 Blake, William  43, 80 Bluhm, Norman  85 Blum, Irving  84 Böcklin, Arnold, The Isle of the Dead 35–36 Bonestell Gallery, New York  108 Bonnard, Pierre  116 Bourdelle, Antoine  87 Bowness, Alan  63 Brancusi, Constantin  87 Brandt, Mortimer  90 Bransten, Ellen  96 Braque, Georges  21, 50, 57, 65 Breton, André  36, 75, 76, 77, 92, 110 Britain  50, 55–56, 57, 62–63 Brooks, James  19, 118, 123 Brussels  57, 64, 68, 124, 126 Buchholz Gallery, New York  111 Burke, James  78 Burke, Stephenson  98 C Cage, John  79 Cahiers d’art  60, 61 Cahill, Holger  61, 62 Calder, Alexander, Circus 87 California School of Fine Arts (CSFA)  20 Callahan, Harry (1912–1999)  32, 110, 114 Detroit  301 Sunlight on Water  300 Campigli, Massimo  50 Camus, Albert  54–55, 62 ‘Can We Draw?’, New York (1938)  108 Canada 21 Carnegie Museum, New York  123 Caro, Anthony  67–68 Carrà, Carlo  50 Cassou, Jean  69 Castelli, Leo  84, 118, 119, 124 Cavallon, Giorgio  82 Cedar Street Tavern, New York  80–82, 81, 83, 85, 111, 113, 119, 122 Cézanne, Paul  29, 49 Chagall, Marc  50 Charles Egan Gallery, New York  82, 83, 114, 117, 119 Chastel, André  60 Cherry, Herman  80 Chirico, Giorgio de  29, 50 CIA  31, 55, 124 Ciampi, John  94 Cimaise  60, 68–69 Cinecittà, Rome  56 Clad, Noel  70–71 The Club, New York  80, 81, 118, 123 Coates, Robert  114 CoBrA 68 Cockcroft, Eva  55 Cold War  31, 53, 55

Coleman, Roger  66–67 College Art Journal 84 Colour Field style  45 Columbia University  37, 109 communism  53, 54, 55, 56, 64, 65 conceptualism  69, 84 Connolly, Cyril  55–56 Constructivism 28 Contraband (film)  14, 15 Copenhagen 68 Cornell, Joseph  79 Crane, Hart  87 Craven, Thomas  30 ‘crisis of man’  53–5 Crispolti, Enrico  64 Cubism  21, 28, 29, 57, 63, 71, 114 ‘Cubism and Abstract Art’, New York (1936) 29, 106 D Dada 22 Dalí, Salvador  108 Davie, Alan  53 Davis, Bill  94, 99, 101 Davis, Stuart  71, 72, 103, 106 De Kooning, Elaine  18, 57, 78, 78, 108, 118, 119, 122 De Kooning, Willem (1904–1997) 15, 19, 21, 26, 47, 61, 63, 70–71, 77, 118, 121, 286 and The Club  80, 118 exhibitions  59–60, 77, 82, 83, 84, 117, 121, 127 and the Federal Art Project  30, 77–78 in Greenwich Village  71–72, 73 influences  29, 69 monochrome palette  114 sculpture 45 Abstraction 44, 173 Autumn Rhythm Number  30, 297 Collage 44, 291 Composition  219 Dark Pond 44, 171 ‘A Desperate View’  118 Excavation 119, 119 One: Number 31  297 Painting 117 Pink Angels 37, 157 ‘The Renaissance and Order’  118 Seated Woman 109, 109 Untitled (1939/40)  29, 137 Untitled (1948)  170 Untitled (1950)  291 Untitled (1961)  257 Untitled V  279 Untitled (Woman in Forest)  294 Villa Borghese  256 ...Whose Name Was Writ in Water  46, 278 Woman  175 Woman I  119, 121 Woman II  203 Woman as Landscape (1955)  218 Woman as Landscape (1965–66)  269 ‘Woman’ series  22, 44, 45–46, 65, 121 Zot 44, 172 Zurich 114 de Pisis, Filippo  50 ‘The Decisive Years: 1943–1953’, University of Pennsylvania (1965)  126 Denny, Robyn  63, 66 Denver 46 La Dernière Heure Lyonnaise 61 Descargues, Pierre  61 Dix, Georgina  55 Documenta I, Kassel (1955)  61 Documenta II, Kassel (1959)  55, 64, 65, 69 Documenta III, Kassel (1964)  126 Dodd, Lois  120 Dorival, Bernard  69 Dove, Arthur  31, 32 Thunder Shower 32, 32–33 Downtown Gallery, New York  100, 103

Downtown Group  118, 119 Dubuffet, Jean  57, 118 Duchamp, Marcel  32, 88, 89, 110, 122 Düsseldorf 60 E East River Gallery, New York  108 Eastman Brothers  71 Egan, Charles  82, 114 Ehrenzweig, Anton  63, 67 Eisenhower, Dwight David  60 Eliot, T. S., The Wasteland 24 Encounter 55 Ernst, Jimmy  18, 19, 118 Ernst, Max  36, 75, 92, 108 A Night of Love 29 European Economic Community  55 European Recovery Program  55 Euston Road School  63 existentialism  53–54, 57, 65, 67 Eyerman, J. R.  41 F f/64 Group  106 ‘Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism’, New York (1936)  106 Faulkner, William  56 Fautrier, Jean  57, 63, 65 Fauvism 29 Feature Group  106 Federal Art Project (FAP)  30, 73, 74, 75, 77–78, 106, 111 Ferber, Herbert  92 the field  43–44 ‘Fifteen Americans’, New York (1952) 102–103, 120 ‘Fifteen Unknowns’, New York (1950)  119 ‘Fifty Years of American Art’, Paris (1955) 122 Film and Photo League  30 Finland 109 ‘First Exhibition in America of ’, New York (1945) 94 ‘First Papers of Surrealism’, New York (1942) 110 First World War  23, 53 Florence, San Lorenzo  26, 26 Forum 49 Symposium  118 Foucault, Michel  15, 49 ‘Fourteen Americans’, New York (1947)  116 France  50, 53–54, 56, 57, 60, 65, 68–69 Francis, Sam (1923–1994)  20, 46, 59, 84, 112, 112, 120, 123 Black in Red, Paris  293 Chase Manhattan Bank Mural 125 Mural  125 Summer No. 2  226–27 Untitled  223 Untitled (Black Clouds)  201 Frank Perls Gallery, Beverly Hills  20 Frankenthaler, Helen (1928–2011)  47, 106, 119, 121, 125, 126 Beach 119 Europa  228 Mountains and Sea 120, 121 Frankfurt  60, 61–62, 63 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung  61, 65 Frankfurter Neue Presse 61 Futurism  21, 68, 114 G Galerie internationale d’art contemporain, Paris  68 Galerie Nina Dausset, Paris  59 Gallatin, A. E.  29 Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome 64 Gaullists 56 Gear, William  57 Géricault, Théodore  83 German Expressionism  29, 50, 114 Germany  50, 56, 57, 65

Giacometti, Alberto  45, 57, 87 Gilbert, Stephen  57 Gogh, Vincent van  22, 29, 106 Gombrich, E. H. The Story of Art 14 Goodnough, Robert  119 ‘Kline Paints a Picture’  121 ‘Pollock Paints a Picture’  59 Gorky, Arshile (1904–1948)  15, 21, 22, 72, 77, 106 biomorphism  21, 29 death  57, 84, 117 exhibitions  50, 57, 60, 106, 110, 119 and the Federal Art Project  30 fire in studio  114 in Greenwich Village  71–72 influences  26, 28, 29, 53 and loss of Armenia  26 Argula  50, 53 The Artist and His Mother  26, 27, 28, 29 Aviation  106 Diary of a Seducer 44, 151 Garden in Sochi 110 The Limit 44, 163 The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb 39 Master Bill  108 ‘Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia’  29 The Orators 44, 162 Portrait of Willem de Kooning  286 Self-portrait 26, 136 Soft Night 117, 117 Still-life on Table 28, 135 The Unattainable  150 Untitled (c. 1943)  287 Untitled (Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia)  286 Untitled (Virginia Landscape)  284–85, 287 Water of the Flowery Mill 44, 149 Gorky, Maxim  72 Gottlieb, Adolph (1903–1974)  15, 19, 83, 118, 124 death 127 exhibitions  77, 82, 90, 122, 126, 127 in Greenwich Village  73 letter to the New York Times  21, 111 ‘pictographs’  36–38, 110 sculpture 45 and ‘The Subjects of the Artist’  78–79 and The Ten  106 Burst 45, 45, 123, 124 Masquerade 110, 152 Penumbra  243 ‘Unintelligibility’ 117 The Wasteland 23–24, 24 Graham, John  71, 72, 76–77, 110 System and Dialectics of Art  71, 107 Great Depression (1930s)  23, 25, 30, 53, 72–73, 105 Greek art  37 Greek mythology  36 Green, William  67, 67 Greenberg, Clement  15, 31, 54, 57, 62, 67–68, 82, 109, 110, 111, 113, 114, 116, 117, 122, 122 ‘“American-Type” Painting’ 31, 122 ‘Jackson Pollock’s New Style’ 120 ‘The Present Prospects of American Painting and Sculpture’ 56 Greenwich Village, New York  29, 72–73, 80 Greif, Mark  44, 53 Grippe, Peter  118 Gris, Juan  21 Grohmann, Will  65 Guggenheim, Peggy  38, 53, 54, 57, 77, 82, 86–92, 87, 94, 96, 97, 98–101, 103, 110, 111, 115 Guggenheim, Solomon R.  108 Guggenheim Jeune, London  88 Guggenheim Museum, New York  29, 98, 127 Guilbaut, Serge  55 Guston, Philip (1913–1980)  15, 22, 30, 46, 69, 79, 82, 84, 112, 125, 127

Duo  252 The Gladiators 26 Low Tide 49, 280–81 The Porch  37, 49, 159 Prague  222 The Tormentors 116, 116 Untitled (c. 1953)  292 Guttuso, Renato  50, 65 H The Hague  60, 63 Hains, Raymond  68 Halpert, Edith  100, 103 Hamburg 64 Hamilton, Richard  67 Hancock, Tony  67, 67 Hare, David  77, 78, 116 Harris, Ed  14 Hartigan, Grace  75, 83, 84, 123, 125 Hartung, Hans  57 Hauck, Fred  101 Hayter, Stanley William  109, 112 Heidegger, Martin  40 Helsinki 60 Herald Tribune  82, 118 Heron, Patrick  59, 63 Hess, Thomas B.  83, 116, 118, 119, 126, 127 ‘De Kooning Paints a Picture’  121 Hilton, Roger  63 Hofmann, Hans (1880–1966)  15, 22, 25, 49, 61, 77, 114, 118 exhibitions  82, 90, 110, 112, 115, 119 influences  28, 29 students 74, 74, 106, 119, 122, 125 Idolatress I 37, 146 In Sober Ecstasy  259–61 Spring  114 Hollywood films  37, 56 Holocaust 53 Horizon  55–56, 57 Hulbeck, Dr Charles R. (Richard Huelsenbeck)  79 humanism 57 Hungary 64 Hunter, Sam  64, 69 I ICA, London  59, 62, 63, 66 ‘The Ideographic Picture’, New York (1947) 92, 115 Impressionism  50, 63 ‘Indian Art of the United States’, New York (1941) 110 ‘Individualités d’aujourd’hui’, Paris (1954)  59 Informel art  57, 59, 62, 63, 68–69 Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique  26, 28, 29 Institute of Design, Chicago  114, 122 International Council (IC)  55, 60, 64, 69, 124 International Program (IP), MoMA  55, 64 ‘The Intrasubjectives’, New York (1949)  82 Ippolito, Angelo  78 ‘The Irascibles’  18, 19, 82, 118 Italy  50, 56, 57, 64–65, 68 J Jachec, Nancy  54, 64–65 ‘Jackson Pollock, 1912–1956’ (1958)  64–66, 64, 65, 69, 124 James, Henry  20–21, 92 Janis, Sidney  42, 83, 84, 96, 98, 103, 116 Abstract and Surrealist Art in America 112 Le Jardin des Arts 61 Jewell, Edward Allen  79, 92 Johns, Jasper, Targets 84 Johnson, Lyndon B.  126 Johnson, Philip  96 Jorn, Asger  65 Julian Levy Gallery, New York  117

K Kamrowski, Gerome (1914–2004)  37, 106, 109, 109 Untitled 109, 140 Kandinsky, Wassily  57 Kassel see Documenta Kaufman, Louis  94 Khrushchev, Nikita  64 Kierkegaard, Sören  54 Kiesler, Frederick  89, 96, 110 Klee, Paul  50, 53, 116 Klein, Yves, Anthropometries de l’époque bleue 68, 68 Kligman, Ruth  123 Kline, Franz (1910–1962)  15, 41–42, 85, 106, 126 on art  79 black and white paintings  42, 46 and The Club  80, 118 death 126 early career  83 exhibitions  69, 82, 119, 122, 126 influences  22, 29, 69 Andrus  254–55 Requiem 22, 239 Self-portrait 25, 160 Siegfried 21–22 Spagna  251 Untitled (1948)  117, 117 Untitled (c. 1951)  292 Untitled (1952)  204–205 Vawdavitch  220–21 Zinc Door  249 Kootz, Samuel M.  82, 100, 103, 113 New Frontiers in American Painting  82, 111 Kootz Gallery, New York  119 Kozloff, Max  64 Krasner, Lee (1908–1984)  44, 76–77, 76, 99, 104, 108 exhibitions  93, 110, 119, 120, 121, 126 and the Federal Art Project  30 marriage to Pollock  15–18, 43, 77, 110, 114, 123 studies with Hofmann  73–74, 106 Blue Painting 114 The Eye Is the First Circle  18, 47, 244–45 Little Images  43, 114 Self-portrait 25, 130 Untitled (1948, oil on canvas)  169 Untitled (1948, oil on panel)  168 Kraushaar, Antoinette  103 Kristeva, Julia  26 Kunsthalle, Basel  83 Kunstmuseum Basel  64, 69, 125 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen  69 L Lanyon, Peter  63 ‘Large-scale Modern Painting’, New York (1947) 115 Lassaw, Ibram  118 Latin America  55 Leen, Nina  18, 19 Léger, Fernand  108 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York  84, 124 Leslie, Alfred  83 Les Lettres Françaises 61 Lewis, Norman (1909–1979)  18, 22, 44, 117, 118 Metropolitan Crowd  161 Migrating Birds 123, 123 Lewitin, Landes  80 Liberman, Alexander  91 Life magazine  18, 42, 59, 82, 101, 116, 118, 125 Linfert, Carl 61 Linz 60 Lippold, Richard  118 Lipton, Seymour  118 Listener  63, 67 Lloyd, Mrs H. Gates  99

Logan, John, Red 14 London  59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 88, 124, 126 Longwell, Mrs Daniel  101 Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)  20, 126, 127 Lusinchi, J.  60 M Maccari, Mino  50 McCarthy, Senator Joseph  41 McCray, Porter  55, 64 McDarrah, Fred W.  70–71, 81, 122, 124–27 McMillen Gallery, New York  76 McNeil, George  74 Macpherson, Kenneth  94 Macy’s department store, New York  82 Mad Men (television series)  14 Madrid 64 Maillol, Aristide  50 Malbin, Lydia Winston  99 Marca-Relli, Conrad (1913–2000)  44, 111, 118, 118, 123, 127 East Wall (LL-10-59)  248 Ornations L-R-4-57  229 Marshall Plan  53, 55, 56 Martini, Arturo  50 Marxism  37, 41, 54 Masson, André  36, 53, 75 Matisse, Henri  29, 57, 73, 110 Matisse, Pierre  29 Matta, Roberto  36, 61, 76, 108, 109, 118 Matter, Herbert (1907–1984) 42 Untitled (c. 1939–43)  298 Untitled (c. 1940s)  298 Matthiesen Gallery, London  57 Melville, Herman  56 Melville, Robert  62–63 Menant, Georges  61 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, Cézanne’s Doubt 54 ‘Metavisual Tachiste Abstract: Painting in England Today’, London (1957)  63 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York  18, 82, 118, 127 Metzger, Edith  123 Mexico 29 Michelangelo, The Tomb of Lorenzo de’ Medici 25–26, 26, 28 Midtown Galleries, New York  90 Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig  40 Milan  57, 64, 124 Mili, Gjon (1904–1984) 42 Figure Skater Carol Lynne  302 Miller, Dorothy  60, 61, 66, 102, 107, 116, 124 Millet, Jean-François  29 Minimalism  69, 84 Miró, Joan  29, 53, 75, 113 Seated Woman II  54 Mitchell, Joan (1925–1992)  15, 18, 47–49, 74–75, 83, 85, 106, 118, 119 Hemlock 124, 124 Mandres  258 Salut Tom 18, 282–83 Mitchell, Sue  101 ‘Modern Art in the United States’ (1955–56) 50, 60–63, 62, 64, 69, 123 Modernism 103 Moholy-Nagy, László  114 Le Monde 60 Mondrian, Piet  32, 59, 69, 92, 108, 116 Monet, Claude  69 Nymphéas  49, 61 Monitor (BBC TV)  66 Moore, Henry  50, 67 Morandi, Giorgio  50 Morgan, Barbara (1900–1992)  21, 42 Light Waves  302 Pure Energy and Neurotic Man  299 Valerie Bettis, Desperate Heart  20 Morley, Grace McCann  99 Mortimer Brandt Gallery, New York  94

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