Paul Mommer: A Life in Art

PAUL MOMMER A LIFE IN ART

CRARY ART GALLERY OCTOBER 1 - NOVEMBER 6, 2022

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It’s funny sometimes how things come about, or come around again. This exhibition certainly embodies one of those “small world” stories. This one involves not just the Crary Art Gallery and typical small-town coincidences, but connections that reach to the East and West coasts before arcing back here. The story hinges on a small painting by Paul Mommer which was brought to light a few years back.

In 2017, for the occasion of the gallery’s fortieth anniversary gala exhibition, I set out to document all the artists represented in the collection. I put together a book with a page or more dedicated to each artist’s biography. The project involved physically combing through the collection itself.

Museum Established 1977

PAUL MOMMER | A LIFE IN ART OCTOBER 1 - NOVEMBER 6, 2022

FOREWORD

Amongst the hundreds of stored works, one curious little painting – a simple depiction of sailboats that was executed with just a few thick brushstrokes – stood out to me. On the glass protecting its face, there was a large, wide “X” of masking tape. This was probably intended to temporarily keep any potential glass breakage from harming the art beneath, but the tape was now permanently fused to the glass. This fact, and the amount of fine dust in the frame’s crevices, indicated that this painting had not been displayed in decades. I cleaned it, replaced the glass, and photographed it. Its bold, childlike character was unusual for the collection, and it instantly became one of my favorites. It was then featured in the Crary Art Gallery’s fortieth anniversary exhibition brochure.

Cue small world coincidences.

cover image: Sailboats, date unknown, oil on canvas, 17” x 24” 2

The brochure was seen by Kevin Ignatius, who had recently moved back east after working for years in Hollywood and the film industry. In this brochure from a small museum – which happened to be located on his block in his hometown of Warren – he spotted the name Paul Mommer and the sailboat painting, and remembered that Nicholas Psinakis, his friend and business partner in Los Angeles, had a great-grandfather named Paul Mommer who had been a painter in New York City.

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Struck by the coincidence, Kevin contacted Nick, and Nick alerted his family on Long Island. I had known from my collections research about Jessica Ruppel, herself a great granddaughter of Mommer and cousin of Nick, from an article in the New York Times. Incredibly, while still a high school student, she helped produce an exhibition of Mommer’s paintings at the Islip Art Museum. It helped bring attention to Mommer, once part of the ground-breaking Abstract Expressionist scene, now slipped into obscurity following his sudden death in the early 1960s.

Thanks to Kevin, it wasn’t long before I was in touch with Nick and his father, James Psinakis, grandson of Mommer, and we were soon discussing the possibility of exhibiting more of Paul’s work at the Crary Art Gallery. Now, years later, that has come to fruition in this exhibition which Adrienne Grimes has curated.

There is one more crucial “small world” story tied to this, which may never be fully known or told, but deserves consideration: How did Mommer’s Sailboats arrive in Clare and Gene Crary’s collection in the first place? True for several artists whose works are in their collection, it’s entirely possible that the couple met Paul, and bought this painting from him personally. Perhaps they were friends.

This exhibition only skims the surface of Paul Mommer’s life. As Adrienne Grimes’ research brought to light, Mommer was more of a force in the art world than even most of his family knew.

Sadly, the paintings and drawings clearly suffer from years in storage, and many of them need significant conservation. We hope that this exhibition helps put the work of this quintessentially experimental and central painter back into the limelight it received during his lifetime.

We are pleased that Sailboats, at last and for this time, is rejoined with other works from Paul Mommer’s oeuvre here at the Crary Art Gallery. We wish to thank the artist’s family for helping bring them together.

Thomas Paquette, August 2022 Exhibitions Committee Chair Crary Art Gallery Board of Directors

The Church, 1956, oil on canvas, 40” x 60” 4

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Packed in a storage unit filled to the brim in an unassuming Long Island town are portraits of some of the most celebrated names in New York’s mid century art scene. Peggy Bacon, Edwin Dickinson, Mark Rothko, and Milton Avery, to name a few. The artist behind these portraits?

Paul Mommer.

A German expatriate in the New York City art scene, Mommer held ties to prestigious museums and galleries, world famous artists, and memberships in numerous art clubs and societies.

PAUL MOMMER: A LIFE IN ART Essay by Adrienne Grimes

Photograph by Richard Pousette-Dart of Paul Mommer.

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Today, Paul Mommer’s historical significance is obscured. A large selection of his paintings, drawings, and sculptures remain lovingly in the hands of his family who hold memories passed down of him attending private exhibition openings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and visiting Jackson Pollock’s home in the Hamptons.

While in some ways he may remain a mystery, Mommer’s legacy is a gift. Through Paul Mommer’s work we are given a unique look at a well-loved moment in history that not only shaped the art world as we know it today but also marked a shift in the ways that art communicated with the world at large. Active from the 1930s to the 1960s, Mommer’s extensive body of work opens doors to what it was like to be an artist in the middle of New York City’s active mid century art scene.

Oxford Art Journal paints a picture of this landscape and what was likely Mommer’s journey as an artist perfectly: The end of World War II was a pivotal moment in world history and by extension the history of art. Many European artists had come to America during the 1930s to escape fascist regimes, and years of warfare had left much of Europe in ruins. In this context New York City emerged as the most important cultural center in the West. In part, this was due to the presence of a diverse group of European artists like Arshile Gorky, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí, Piet Mondrian, and Max Ernst, and the influential German teachers Josef Albers and Hans Hofmann American artists’ exposure to 7

European modernist movements also resulted from the founding of the Museum of Modern Art (1929), the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (later the Guggenheim Museum, 1939), and galleries that dealt in modern art, such as Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of this Century (1941).

From what we do know about Paul Mommer, it’s easy to place him amongst the list of artists mentioned in the statement above. In a 1951 article in ARTnews, we know now that Arshile Gorky was a neighbor of Mommer and visited his studio. Gorky marveled at the artist’s palettes and joked that the artist would probably find more of an audience if he sold them instead. Gorky is quoted by critic Nathaniel PousetteDart in 1951 as having said, “Paul, why don’t you frame your palettes and exhibit them? They’re better than your paintings.”

Portrait of Mark Rothko date unknown graphite on paper 10.5” x 17” 8

Portrait of Peggy Bacon date unknown graphite on paper 10.5” x 17”

Portrait of Edwin Dickinson (II), 1940s, oil on canvas, 24” x 30” 9

WHO WAS PAUL MOMMER? Paul Mommer was born in 1899 in Luxembourg, Germany. As a boy, he was encouraged to draw by an uncle who was a sculptor. After spending two years as a prisoner of war in England during WWI, he decided that he would be an artist. He later credited his frequent use of darker palettes to this emotional time.

In 1921 Mommer arrived at Ellis Island and began his life in New York City. In a 1935 piece on the artist in the New Yorker magazine, we learn that Mommer by that year owned a salon in Astoria where he cut hair in the front and painted in the back. He had a wife and two children and used his talent as a hair stylist to support both his family and his painting.

The artist found success in showing at various midtown galleries and even prestigious art museums. He had his first solo exhibition in 1932 at the New School for Social Research.

His work has been held in the collections of many major museums – the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the National Arts Club, and the State Museum of Munich, among others. He exhibited in many prestigious venues including the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern art and the Gloria Vanderbilt Collection.

Record of Exhibitions, museum acquisitions, etc. courtesy of the Eva Lee Gallery records and the Archives of American Art 10

After his unexpected death in 1963, a large number of Mommer’s works stayed with family.

They have since been exhibited only twice, the most recent being a 2016 retrospective honoring the artist and his contribution to the art world. The artist’s great-granddaughter Jessica Ruppel worked in conjunction with her high school art teacher Loretta Corbisiero to curate the exhibition held at the Islip Art Museum in East Islip, New York.

On the experience of working with Ruppel to bring her great-grandfather’s work to light once more, Corbisiero stated: 11

This “re-discovery” of Mr. Mommer’s work is an engaging story, which involves one of my art students, my own curiosity, and a series of serendipitous events that combine the intrigue of risk-taking and the chance to renew appreciation of a serious artist, whose significance was obscured by ordinary circumstance. The story starts with the inquisitive nature of a seventeen-year old girl, her passion for art, and her instinct to seek advice from her mentor regarding her great-grandfather’s artwork.

While doing her own research on Mommer for the Islip exhibition, Corbisiero shared this: I later found out when I interviewed Jess’s grandmother (Paul Mommer’s daughter) she would take day trips with her father to visit his friends, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, out on Long Island. Going through paintings, Jessica found many portraits and would send them to me asking, “Who is this guy?” At one point I asked her to find something confirming that Paul Mommer was a friend of Milton Avery (one of the “guys” in the portraits).

I explained that I could paint a portrait of Picasso but if I actually sat in a room with Picasso and painted his portrait it would have greater historical and monetary value. A few days later I get “How’s this?” It was a handwritten note “Dear Paul, I won’t be back by the 21st but you can have a painting of mine for the show.

Best regards, Milton Avery.” So yes, he not only knew the artists of the time, Paul Mommer was an active member in this circle.

Paul Mommer was not only an artist, but also a true friend of the arts. In an effort to support one of the most important art moments in modern history, Mommer was an active member of a few art societies. He was president of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors from 1952-53 and vice president of the Audubon Artists’ Society in 1953. In 1951 the National Arts Club held a 20-year retrospective for the artist.

Through his work in the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Mommer helped execute the Museum Gift Plan started by artist Harold Weston while Mommer was president of the Federation. The program worked to place contemporary art within the walls of American museums during a time when the institutions were hesitant to accept work that was so current. This plan led to dozens of contemporary pieces from this time accessioned by museums across the United States.

It’s unclear how Mommer built some of his impressive connections in the art world, but many can be linked through his inclusion in the Audubon Artists’ Society and the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors. Other members included Mark Rothko, Milton Avery, and Edwin Dickinson— all people who Mommer drew or painted various times.

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Note from Milton Avery to Paul Mommer, courtesy of the Mommer family.

Mommer was known by critics and fans for his individuality. In the press release for his 1961 solo exhibition at Two Explorers Gallery, it was stated that “[t]hroughout his career, Paul Mommer has sought his own road.

Though affected by contemporary life, he has always remained true to the quality of his own inner vision, a painter of strong individuality, uninfluenced by passing vogues and -isms. The abstract symbolism of his paintings of the last decade, through apparently far removed from the visionary romanticism of his early years, shows not a discontinuity but the deepening and integration of a spirit that seeks and questions, and does not repeat.”

Portrait of Milton Avery, 1936, graphite on paper, 10.5” x 17” 13

A 1951 article in ARTnews, titled “Mommer Paints a Picture,” provides a unique perspective into the artist’s painting process.

When Paul Mommer begins to paint a picture, its structure takes shape and form from long thought-out and long felt-out impressions. In the past it was his practice to make casual notes of a subject before starting his painting. These would be developed more fully in the privacy of the studio. He found that in this way he could attain the special type of intensification and simplification his imagination demanded. Today, however, Mommer very seldom makes preliminary sketches; the images he derives from nature resolve themselves into definite related symbols which are so real to him that it is unnecessary to visualize them before starting to paint. Creating in this way, he achieves a greater freedom within the scope of his expression because he is not copying a previously-expressed unity; neither is he limiting himself to a single concept.

Within his studio, Mommer has created a personal world, a haven of escape where he can work and contemplate his collection of paintings, sketches, photographs, books, letters and personal relics. He believes that this hideaway, and his varied experience, give him everything he needs for the creation of new work.

As the subject for the picture discussed here, he chose his own studio. Before starting, he draws on a pair of rubber gloves and then for some time stands scrutinizing his canvas, studying the compositional potentials contained within its dimensions.

His first strokes with a medium-sized brush dipped in black paint are tentative, but sensitive, indicating relationships between lines, spaces and forms which hint at future developments. Following his first delicate strokes, he puts in long straight and swirling lines which cause the whole canvas to vibrate with tensions of movement and balance.

These lines are not so bold, nor so dark, as one anticipates, because at the last moment a delicate sensitivity releases the brush and gives them added feeling and refinement.

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Photos of Paul Mommer painting a piece for the 1951 ARTnews article.

Photo credit: Richard Pousette-Dart 15

In a film of Matisse painting a picture, a similar phenomenon occurs: the French master’s stroke appears strong and definite – but when shown in slow motion it is hesitant, indecisive. This seems due to the original impulses being modified by both imagination and sensitivity.

As Mommer’s painting progresses, we realize that the lines, forms, and shapes that are being suggested on the canvas emanate from ideas and objects relating to his studio: paintings hung on or stacked against the walls, brushes in a glass, a neighborhood church, the artist himself.

In addition to the words of art critics, historians and artists concerning Paul Mommer’s style and process, the artist was also not afraid to comment on his own style. In a 1935 article written about the artist for the New Yorker magazine, Mommer says about his inclusion of darker colors and often sorrowful depictions in his work: “With a book, it’s different. You read a story by Poe, and then you put it away until the next time you’re in the mood. But a painting, hanging always on the wall looking at you–people want something pleasant. Still, I can’t paint any other way. I go out painting on a Sunday afternoon, and the sky in my picture is dark gray or dark green, full of sadness.”

On a few occasions, Mommer picked up the pen and wrote about art himself. In the pieces that follow, Paul Mommer speaks on his views of art, the way the world views art, and modern artists.

AS I SEE IT Paul Mommer’s essay for Creative Art, 1933 The modern artist does not paint what he sees with his eyes, but rather what he knows and feels about his subject. The reason is that the external is not important, because it is deceptive; it very often hides the truth. Therefore, the artist searches for the inner, true character of his subject. When he has discovered it to his satisfaction, he sets out to portray what he has found.

There are two ways for him to do this. Subtracting from the outward appearance the things that conceal the true character, he portrays what is left, namely, that part of the external which clearly reflects the inner soul of the subject.

The other way is to disregard the external entirely and portray the character in abstract shapes and colors. This requires of the artist extreme sensitiveness and clear insight. He must be able to associate emotions with definite abstract shapes and colors. One might argue that such a procedure must lead to academism, but nothing is ultimate. Let it last while it lasts, and then search for something now.

It is my intention to fight the artificiality that is cropping up everywhere in modern art. I do not believe in using color and form for decorative effect in fine art, because this is pretentious and therefore dishonest. Color and form, whether used in abstract or in naturalistic presentation, must have relation to our visual or emotional life and must be convincing to at least those who are interested enough to visit an art gallery.

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Craftsmanship is essential and important, but it is only the stepping stone from which the artist proceeds to express whatever he has to say; it should never be an end in itself. Naturally, there is virtue in the work of an exceptionally fine technician but, if this painter is unable to grasp the essential spirit of his subject and therefore cannot eliminate the non-essentials, what benefit can he be to society.

I would rather watch the man who struggles to express a valuable idea, than listen to the smooth talker who has nothing but words at his command.

I do not claim to have anything of great importance to say—if the expression of truth is not important to the progress of culture. Naturally, the truth at times seems brutal, but we have the art of design at hand to soften its momentary painful effect. But this design should never smother the truth.

Paul Mommer’s speech to the New York Women’s Press Club March 31st, 1962 Ladies and Gentleman, I want to thank the Chairman — Miss Harriet Fitzgerald — for her kind Introduction and, I would like to add just a few words about the art of painting and its meaning as I see it.

Paris, 1946 oil on paperboard 22” x 28” 18

Never, in the history of art have there been so many divergent styles and rapidly changing art forms converged into one particular era as in our time – and most of them are at odds with each other.

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This elusive thing called “Quality in Art” is not confined to any particular form of expression. It can be present – and it can be absent – in any of these forms. The art of the day reflects the condition of our time as truly as does the art of prehistoric cave dwellers reveal their time and its condition.

Art grows out of the imagination of men and women whom nature has endowed with certain capabilities, imagination, and varying degrees of sensibilities. It is not something separate from our social life – in fact, it reflects and conditions its existence at the same time.

Some individual artists reflect their own personal vision, growing out of their own experience – on the other hand, they cannot help being affected by what is going on around them, nor by what is happening in, and to, our world at large. They see a world in violent turmoil of fast changing values. A new “realism” is replacing our so-called “unrealistic” ethical and moralistic standards, resulting in a general confusion, anxieties, and even frustrations.

All these things are mirrored in equally fast-changing art forms that come and go — practically overnight — but an 20

Untitled Abstract #5, date unknown oil on paper 10.5” x 17” Mother and Daughters, 1936 oil on canvas 38” x 45” 21

art which is bound to its time, denies all values of the past, and has no visions for the future, cannot be of lasting value.

There are other artists who are in revolt against the burden science has imposed on the free flow of intuitive expression. The best example would be Jean Dubuffet, whose work at present can be seen at the Museum of Modern Art. It contains the greatest degree of freedom from such oppressive academic standards as correctness of a physical perspective, anatomical structure, spectrum color theories, and the visual realism of the camera. In fact, his art returns to prehistoric beginnings, to the art of the untutored child – even to the expression of the mentally disturbed. Within these simplest of forms he projects himself in the manner of the expression of juvenile minds as exposed on the walls of subway entrances and on billboards all over the country.

But Jean Dubuffet is no child nor is he a primitive. He is a brilliant painter possessed of a searching imagination who, in the full awareness of his being, has thrown off the shackles of scientific academic standards. He does not thereby reject science itself, which has brought untold benefits to the physical well-being of all of us, but he also imposed on all of us in a self-made, self-destructive robot. Thus, his work poses a question: what is art all about?

Art, at its best, is certainly not a matter of manufacturing a commodity, a picture to hang on your walls – to match your furniture or rugs – even though it is, and can be used, for such purposes, nor is it a performance to amuse and entertain. It is not an 22

interpretive art, but a reflective one. It reflects the reaction of one man, the painter, to the impact the incidents of our time and the fast-changing patterns of action and behavior standards have made upon him. Art must follow the dictum of intuition and the imagination. The degree to which our sensibilities are affected will determine the manner of expression and its validity as a work of art. It must grow out of a need and compulsion on the part of the artist.

I want to touch briefly on one particular form of painting. It is called abstract expressionism and is sometimes given the name Action Painting, or even Non Art. It started as a protest against established values but ended up in a new academy and consequently in the stock-market. Since its exponents deny all traditional values, there are no standards left for its evaluation as works of art – except that their exponents are more or less united in an endless protest against all tradition.

There are a few sincere exponents of this form of expression, but as a rule it grows out of a frustration – the causes of which may vary from a serious concern with the status of the world today to a mere inability to function as an artist in a period as turbulent as ours. Although science and modern thinking has given new forms to the expression of the artist, it was not able to add anything to the function of art itself, which is to stimulate, and stir the imagination to meditation and action – and this the artists were able to do superbly before the advent of the sciences. The ancients are gone, but their spirit has survived; it has survived even in the faked works of art we occasionally find in some of the museums of the world.

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The artist, as a rule, is an idealist. He is sometimes called a daydreamer, and with some justification.

The dreams of the past.

The dreams of the future.

And both, past and the future Merge, into the present moment.

An Opinion

by Paul Mommer May 10, 1952

Stone Quarry, 1950s oil on canvas 40.5” x 30.25” 24

The prevailing tendency among officials in the world of art only in regard to its outward form without consideration of its essential content, denotes either a lack of understanding of the meaning of art, or worse, a questionable alliance with those neo-intellectuals who consider themselves the sole exponents of progressive cultural development in the field of art. One wonders if the taste of these officials is so jaded that they are blind to the obvious fact that quality in art is not confined to any particular form of expression. While it is difficult to explain just what constitutes quality in art, there are certain basic requisites on which there can be agreement.

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Art is intuitive, and not related to the scientific discoveries such as the knowledge of anatomy, the discovery of the scientific perspective, the composition of the spectrum, etc. These, to be sure, have left their mark on the outward forms of expression, but surely did not and could not add anything to the basic nature of art itself, which is a reflection of man’s intuitive reaction to his environment or his speculation about the world of which he is a part. It is the degree of insight, his experiences, imagination, depending on the extent of his sensibilities, and his maturity which determine the relative value of a work of art, granted that there is a corresponding knowledge of one’s craft.

The art of the man of culture is not necessarily superior nor must it be inferior to that of the primitive. It merely takes on a different form. As has been stated, that elusive thing called quality is not confined to any particular form of expression, it can exist, it can be absent in any form, be it naturalistic, abstracted naturalism, or in the pure non-objective.

Therefore, in order to properly evaluate a work of art, there must be a primary consideration of its essential content and not an exaggerated emphasis of the form itself.

Vespers, 1946 oil on canvas 40” x 30” 26

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FINAL THOUGHTS FROM THE CURATOR I wonder what Paul Mommer would think today if he knew that his mark on this world was the preservation of such an important moment in art history. In talking with his family and reading his own words, it seems clear to me that may have been his intention all along.

I believe this statement from Mommer’s New York Women’s Press Club speech speaks directly to what he would’ve thought of his time capsule: The artist, as a rule, is an idealist. He is sometimes called a daydreamer, and with some justification.

The dreams of the past.

The dreams of the future.

And both, past and the future Merge, into the present moment.

Paris, 1946 oil on paperboard 22” x 28” 28

The artist’s large body of work preserved today is a representation of the dreams of the past. It provides us with a unique view of a moment in art history that exceeds just his legacy and talent. The dreams of the future are represented in Mommer’s 29

Bibliography

wishes, passed down through his family. To not sell to the highest bidder, but instead carve out a space for his work to be appreciated by many. To preserve a slice of what it was like to be an artist then for artists now to learn from.

“Painters in Postwar New York City.” Oxford Art Online, www.oxfordartonline.com/page/1634.

Accessed 31 July 2022.

In the resurgence of Mommer’s work, we truly “merge, into the present moment.”

We’re left with a sliver of the past as we head into a future that has the potential to be just as fascinating as the time period in which Paul Mommer created.

Corbisiero, Loretta. “An Adventure in Modern Art.” The NYSATA News, vol. 44, no. 4, Spring/Summer 2016, pp. 6–8 Corbisiero, Loretta. “Transformations of a Visionary: Paul Mommer.” 2016.

As you experience Mommer’s work for the first time, consider this: sixty years from now, who will be the next Jackson Pollock? The next Mark Rothko or Milton Avery?

Who will be noted for their contribution to such an influential moment in history?

And who will be the Paul Mommer – whose life’s work was a time capsule for those who weren’t lucky enough to have a front seat in it all?

Jacobson, Aileen. “A Forgotten Master and a Curious Teenager.” The New York Times, 18 February 2016.

Liebling, A. J., and Harold Ross. “Painter.” The New Yorker, 25 October 1935.

There is no better insight to history than art, and Paul Mommer’s story is evidence of that.

Mommer, Paul. “An Opinion.” May 1952.

Mommer, Paul. “As I See It.” Creative Art, 1933.

Adrienne Grimes, August 2022 Exhibition Curator Crary Art Gallery Board of Directors

Mommer, Paul. New York Women’s Press Club Speech.

March 1961.

The Painter, 1958 oil on canvas 30” x 40” 30

Pousette-Dart, Nathaniel. “Mommer Paints a Picture.”

ARTnews, vol. 50, no. 1, March 1951, pp. 36–37.

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www.craryartgallery.org 32