Lee Krasner (67 page)

1. Frederick Kiesler quoted in Edward Alden Jewell, “Gallery Premiere Assists Red Cross,”
NYT,
October 21, 1942, 22.

2. 1964-Seckler.

3. 1978-Cavaliere.

4. 1979-Novak.

5. 1980-Bennett.

6. 1980-Mooradian.

7. 2003-Herrera, 609, 621.

8. 1978-Cavaliere and LK to the author, 1977-Rose.

9. 1975-Nemser-1, 88.

10. 1979-Novak. Jean Connolly, “Art: Spring Salon for Young Artists,”
The Nation,
156, no. 22 (May 29, 1943), 786.

11. 1997-Rubenfeld, 64, 71.

12. Robert M. Coates, “The Art Galleries: From Moscow to Harlem,”
The New Yorker,
19 (May 29, 1943): 49.

13. JPCR, vol. 4, 228.

14. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.

15. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.

16. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.

17. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.

18. LK to Stella Pollock, undated letter, Morgan, quoted in JPCR, vol. 4, 228, D46.

19. LK's birth certificate number was 36035; she was born at 373 Sackman Street in Brooklyn.

20. 1944-Janis, LK's
Composition
is reproduced as plate 31; measuring 30 inches by 24 inches.

21. Ray Kaiser Eames's painting
For C in Limited Palette
was illustrated in
California Arts & Architecture
in 1943. See 1998-Kirkham, 38–39.

22. 1964-Seckler.

23. Sidney Janis quoted in 1972-Gruen, 245.

24. 1944-Janis, 112. Janis omitted the article in the title,
The She-Wolf.

25. Sidney Janis to JP, September 27, 1943, in JPCR, D47, 229.

26. LK to Mercedes Matter, letter of 1943, Mercedes Matter estate.

27. Lee Krasner to Mercedes Matter, letter of 1943, Mercedes Matter estate.

28. Charles Eames ran the Molded Plywood Division of Evans Products Company in Venice, California, which produced splints for the U.S. Navy. See John Neuhart, Marilyn Neuhart, and Ray Eames,
Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames
(New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1980). Earlier Matter had designed propaganda posters for the U.S. government and had disliked doing so; see also 2007-Landau, 45. See also: http://www.herbert-matter.com/index.shtml.

29. LK to Mercedes Matter, letter of 1943, Mercedes Matter estate.

30. 2007-Landau, 41, n. 7. The Bennett School was located in Millbrook, New York. Ray Eames studied there from 1930 to 1931.

31. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of 1943.

32. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of 1943.

33. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of 1943.

34. LK to Stella Pollock, letter of 1943, JPCR, vol. 4, D45, states: “Rube [Reuben Kadish] came in town for two weeks. He is with the army as an artist correspondent…. He plans coming east when it's over.” This photograph is reproduced in 1989-Kisseloff, insert, n.p.

35. See JPCR, vol. 4, 229. Reuben Kadish interview with Jeff Kisseloff, NYPL, states that he photographed Pollock in his Eighth Street studio.

36. Vita Petersen to the author, interview of 3-1-2010. See “Elizabeth Hubbard, Physician Since 1921,”
NYT,
May 23, 1967, 47.

37. 1989-Naifeh, 492. See Elizabeth Wright-Hubbard, MD,
Homeopathy as Art and Science: Selected Writings
(Bucks, UK: Beaconsfield Publishers Ltd, 1990). Elizabeth Wright Hubbard graduated in medicine in 1921 from Columbia University School of Physicians and Surgeons and interned at Bellevue Hospital, New York. She went on to study homeopathy for two years with Dr. Pierre Schmidt of Geneva, Switerland, and returned to the United States to pursue a career that brought her international acclaim and affection. She was the first woman to be elected president of the American Institute of Homeopathy.

38. 1979-Novak.

39. 1972-Gruen, 230.

40. JPCR, vol. 4, D49, 229.

41. LK to Carles Matter, undated letter of December 1943 and James Johnson Sweeney, introduction,
Jackson Pollock
, Art of This Century, November 8–29, 1943.

42. The itinerary was to the Denver Art Museum (March 26–April 23), the Seattle Art Museum (May 7–June 10), the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (June–July), and the San Francisco Museum of Art (July), and then to New York City.

43. LK to Carles Matter, undated letter of December 1943.

44. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.

45. Mercedes and Herbert Matter's son, Alexander Pundit Matter, born July 1942, was named after his godfather, Alexander Calder. His middle name was in honor of Pandit [or Pundit] Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), one of the foremost leaders of India's struggle for freedom. “Pundit” is a scholar, a teacher, particularly one skilled in Sanskrit and Hindu law, religion and philosophy. Alex was called Pundy.

46. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmark unclear, from December 1943, from 46 East Eighth Street, New York City.

47. JP to Herbert and Carles Matter, letter postmarked March 4, 1944.

48. JPCR, vol. 4, 233, D54. Letter JP to mother dated Friday (probably February 4, 1944) and JP to Charles, April 14, 1944.

49. JPCR, vol. 4, 233, D55. Letter JP to Charles, May 1944.

50. 1975-Nemser-1, 88.

51. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.

52. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.

53. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.

54. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.

55. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.

56. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944.

57. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter of March 1944. The definite article was part of Pollock's original title for this painting.

58. George Mercer to JP and LK, letter of April 17, 1942, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.

59. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked June 29, 1944, from Provinctown, Massachusetts. The show was at the Philadelphia Art Alliance; see Howard Devree, “From a Reporter's Notebook,
NYT,
March 5, 1944, X6.

60. JPCR, vol. 4, 234, D58, JP and LK to Mother LoieSande, undated letter of 1944.

61. JP to Herbert Matter at 11013½ Strathmore, Westwood, Los Angeles, California, postmarked September 7, 1944; postcard image: Jade Horse's Head from Chinese Tomb at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. See 1983-Rose, 29, who says LK painted in Hofmann's Provincetown studio during the summer of 1943, but it appears that LK, Rose's source, no longer recalled when they were actually in Provincetown.

62. 2009-Landau, 70, Note 75

63. Hans Hofmann to Jeannette (Mercedes) and Herbert, letter of October 14, 1944, Estate of Mercedes Matter, quoted in 2003-Dickey, 75.

64. Hans Hofmann to Mercedes Matter, letter of October 14, 1944, quoted in 2003-Dickey, 75.

65. George Mercer to LK, letter of December 4, 1944, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.

66. George Mercer to LK, letter of December 4, 1944, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.

67. George Mercer to LK, letter of December 4, 1944, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PKHSC.

68. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.

69. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.

70. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.

71. Val Schaffner to the author, 11-10-2010, and Val Schaffner, “Perdita Macpherson Schaffner (1919–2001), http://www.imagists.org/hd/perdita.html. Macpherson married the poet, Bryher, who shared his love for the imagist poet H. D. [Hilda Doolittle], and they formally adopted H. D.'s child, Perdita, Val's mother. H. D. and Bryher spent the war in London, while Macpherson came to live in New York City. Some writers have characterized Macpherson as “homosexual” see, for example 1986-Weld, 308–309, but see also 2004-Dearborn, 210, who concurs with Schaffner.

72. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944. Krasner was not yet married, but referred to herself as “Mrs.”

73. 1985-Potter, 70

74. 1975-Potter, 70.

75. 1971-Motherwell.

76. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.

77. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, letter postmarked December 21, 1944.

78. 1960-Guggenheim, 108. Her claim that Putzel died of a suicide is not confirmed in his obituary, which lists the cause of death as a heart attack.

79. George Mercer to LK, letter of April 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

80. George Mercer to LK, letter of April 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

81. George Mercer to LK, letter of April 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

82. 1964-Seckler, interview of November 2, 1964, AAA.

83. 1964-Seckler, interview of November 2, 1964, AAA. 1999-Hobbs, 64–66, attributes the gray slabs to hearing about the Holocaust, but this seems unlikely. If anything affected her beyond the impact of Pollock's art, it would have been her father's death in November 1944.

84. 1965-Forge.

85. 1972-Rose-2, 121, 154.

86. Edward Alden Jewell, “Toward Abstract or Away?”
NYT,
July 1, 1945, 22.

87. Edward Alden Jewell, “Academe Remains Academe,”
NYT,
May 20, 1945, X2.

88. 1985-Potter, 77.

89. G. Baldwin Brown,
The Art of the Cave Dweller
(New York: R.V. Coleman, c. 1928–1932), 18, 57, 68, 224.

90. Brown,
The Art of the Cave Dweller,
156.

91. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

92. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

93. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

94. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

95. These included Terrence Netter, Father Anthony Lauck, and Father Pierre Riches, a converted Jew then at the Vatican, however, Krasner never converted and remained self-identified as Jewish.

96. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

97. George Mercer to LK, letter of June 24, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

98. “12 Artists in Prize Contest,”
NY T,
January 16, 1946, 23.

99. “Temptations of St. Anthony,”
Time,
March 25, 1946. “Ernst Painting Wins Loew-Lewin Award,”
NYT,
September 17, 1946, 10.

100. Edward Alden Jewell, “Chiefly Modern Idiom,”
NYT,
June 17, 1945, X2. Correct name is Loren MacIver.

101. Lee Krasner to the author, 1977-Rose. Among the other women in the show were Janet Sobel (an immigrant housewife who was self-taught); Alice Trumbull Mason (a founder of American Abstract Artists); Charmion von Wiegand, a disciple of Mondrian's; and LK's good friend, Perle Fine.

102. Stephen Birmingham,
Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York
(New York: Harper & Row, Inc., 1967), 344.

103. 2004-Dearborn, 70. Emma Goldman,
Living My Life
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931), vol. 2, chapter 56.

104. 1986-Weld, 74.

105. 1979-Guggenheim, 315.

106. LK to Angelica Zander Rudenstein, March 6, 1981,
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
(New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1985).

107. LK to the author, in conversation and 1977-Rose.

108. 2002-Harrison, 75. This conflicts with JPCR, which claims incorrectly that the shack was in Amagansett, another village outside of East Hampton.

109. David Slivka to the author, August 2007.

110. George Mercer to LK, letter of August 3, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

111. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

112. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

113. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

114. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

115. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC. Mercer misremembered the title of Mumford's book. He may have meant Lewis Mumford,
The Culture of Cities
(New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1938).

116. George Mercer to LK, letter of September 18, 1945, from Los Angeles, California, PKHSC.

117. Francis Newton, “Memorial Showing and Members' Art at Guild Hall,”
East Hampton Star,
July 19, 1945, 1.

118. American Watercolor Society, August 16, 1945,
East Hampton Star,
3, reproduced Herbert H. Scheffel's
The Carrousel
from the watercolor show.

119. See 1996-Braff, 7.

120. 1986-Weld, 336; 2002-Gill, 331; 2004-Dearborn, 230.

1. JP, quoted in 1950-Roueché.

2. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.

3. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.

4. 1979-Novak.

5. May Tabak Rosenberg quoted in 1986-Weld, 343.

6. 1981-Delatiner; 1973-Freed.

7. “Real Estate Brokers Report Record Number of Sales and Rentals Here,”
East Hampton Star,
November 8, 1945, 1.

8. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.

9. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.

10. 1979-Guggenheim, 108.

11. 1983-Liss, 43A.

12. 1972-Rose-1.

13. 1973-Freed.

14. 1973-Freed.

15. 1972-Rose-1.

16. 1973-Freed.

17. 1979-Novak.

18. 1972-Rose-1.

19. 1972-Rose-1.

20. 1963-Barker.

21. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.

22. 1972-Rose-1.

23. 1979-Munro, 114.

24. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.

25. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.

26. 1950-Roueché, 16.

27. LK to Mercedes Carles Matter, undated letter postmarked November 29, 1945.

28. LK to 1963-Barker.

29. 1964-Seckler.

30. 1964-Seckler.

31. 1979-Novak. It wasn't the end of East Hampton for Motherwell, who had Pierre Chareau build him a house in 1945, which was finished in 1946, but it was his last home in Springs.

32. 1999-Friedman, 20, journal entry of January 10, 1965.

33. JP, April 2–20, 1946, Art of This Century, 30 West Fifty-seventh Street, New York, featured eleven oils and eight temperas.

34. 1972-Rose-1.

35. Soglow's character first appeared in 1931 in
The New Yorker
and then ran as a syndicated comic in Hearst-owned newspapers from 1934 until 1975. Pollock's near silent first meeting with Herbert Matter is characteristic of such stories of Pollock's reticent communication.

36. That Pollock repainted
The Little King
does not appear in the JPCR, but in Pepe Karmel, “Pollock at Work: The Films and Photographs of Hans Namuth,” 1998-Varnedoe, 104. Few seem to have realized the comic strip as a source. See William S. Wilson in 2000-Harrison, 204–205. The visible forms of
Galaxy
make clear its history, but Karmel does not account for the difference of several inches in each dimension, although he repeats those for
The Little King
in the JPCR, which were apparently inaccurately reported.

37. JPCR, vol. 4, 237, D64, JP to Wally & Ed Strautin, letter postmarked 8-14-1946. 1972-Rose-1.

38. 1977-Ratcliff, 82.

39. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.

40. 1961-Tenke, 37.

41. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.

42. 1981-Delatiner.

43. 1981-Glueck-2, 60.

44. 1981-Langer.

45. 1967-Glaser.

46. 1965-Friedman, 9.

47. JPCR, vol. 4, 236, D61, JP to Ed and Wally Strautin, neighbors in New York City, card of 11-29-1945.

48. LK to 1986-Weld, 101, interview of 1979.

49. 1946-Guggenheim.

50. 1972-Gruen, 231. This account confused the dates of this book's publication and inscription, which took place after Krasner and Pollock were married.

51. 1981-Langer.

52. 1960-Rago, 32.

53. 1987-Solomon, 164.

54. 1978-Rose-1.

55. JPCR, vol. 4, 237, D63, JP to Wally & Ed Strautin, letter postmarked June 26, 1946.

56. Clement Greenberg to Florence Rubenfeld, interview of 2-16-90, Getty.

57. 1995-Friedman, 137.

58. George Mercer to LK and JP, letter of August 11, 1946, from Provincetown, PKHSC.

59. 1972-Rose-1.

60. 1964-Seckler.

61. 1965-Friedman, 10.

62. 1979-Novak.

63. 1979-Novak.

64. 1979-Novak.

65. 1979-Novak.

66. 1973-Nemser, 44.

67. 1968-Wasserman.

68. 1979-Novak.

69. 1978-Cavaliere.

70. See LKCR, 102, for the beach description of
Night LIfe.

71. 1967-du Plessix, 51.

72. 1973-Nemser, 44.

73. 1975-Nemser-2, 6.

74. 1975-Nemser-2, 6.

75. LK at the Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York, speaking in 1979 after a showing of Barbara Rose's film, recording at PKHSC.

76. 1973-Nemser, 44.

77. 1973-Nemser, 44.

78. 1973-Tucker and 1978-Levin, 86. Krasner repeated this account to me in 1977, when I was planning to write about her work, and I included the influence of her learning Hebrew as a child in my essay for the catalogue Hobbs and Levin, 1978.

79. See http://www.dys-add.com/define.html#history

80. 1991-Hall, 21.

81. Sarah W. Tracy,
Alcoholism in America,
281.

82. David Slivka to the author, July 2007.

83. JPCR, vol. 4, 240, D70, JP to Mother and all, letter of September 3, 1947.

84. Lee Krasner to Grace Glueck, “Scenes from a Marriage Krasner and Pollock,”
Art News,
December 1981, 60.