Abstract Expressionism

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

7

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

8

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

8

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

255

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

255

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

256

257

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

256

257

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

314

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

315