The triumph of American painting : a history of abstract expressionism

324 Pages·1970·30.333 MB·English

by  Irving Sandler,

THETRIUMPHOF
AMERICAN PAINTING

The Triumph of American Painting

Irving Sandler Yhe Ir iumph of
American Painting 4 History of
Abstract Expressionism
Icon Editions
Harper & Row, Publishers
New York, Hagerstown, San Francisco, London
THE TRIUMPH OF AMERICAN PAINTING. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Harper& Row,
Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10022. Published simultaneously in Canada by
Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, Toronto.
ISBN: 0-06-430075-7
80 1089 7 6 5
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and to the memory of H. S.
THIS book owes its existence to the support, encouragement, advice, and
assistance of many persons. My first debt is to those artists who generously
submitted to interviews, engaged willingly in lengthy discussions, and searched
Acknowledgments hard to answer specific questions: L. Alcopley, Milton Avery, William
Baziotes, Paul Brach, Ernest Briggs, James Brooks, Rosalind Browne, Fritz
Bultman, Rudolph Burckhardt, Paul Burlin, Peter Busa, Nicholas Carone,
Herman Cherry, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Burgoyne Diller,
Friedel Dzubas, Jimmy Ernst, Herbert Ferber, John Ferren, Perle Fine,
Louis Finkelstein, Helen Frankenthaler, Michael Goldberg, Robert Good-
nough, Adolph Gottlieb, Balcomb Greene, Philip Guston, David Hare, Al
Held, Hans Hofmann, Carl Holty, Harry Holtzman, Angelo Ippolito, Paul
Jenkins, Aristodemis Kaldis, Howard Kanovitz, Allan Kaprow, Alex Katz,
Robert Kaupelis, Franz Kline, Ibram Lassaw, Landis Lewitin, George Mc-
Neil, Nicholas Marsicano, Mercedes Matter, Joan Mitchell, Robert Mother-
well, Barnett Newman, John Opper, Alfonso Ossorio, Raymond Parker,
Philip Pavia, Philip Pearlstein, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner Pollock, Richard
Pousette-Dart, Ad Reinhardt, Milton Resnick, James Rosati, Mark Rothko,
Ludwig Sander, Jon Schueler, Charles Seliger, Tony Smith, David Smith,
Joseph Solman, Theodoros Stamos, William Turnbull, Jack Tworkov, Este-
ban Vicente, and Vaclav Vytlacil.
I also wish to thank those individuals in the other arts and my confreres
in art history, art publishing, and in museum and gallery positions who have
freely offered professional advice and shared information, recollections, and
ideas with me: Lionel Abel, Lawrence Alloway, John Cage, Nicolas Calas,
Leo Castelli, Howard Conant, Edwin Denby, David Ecker, Robert Gold-
water, Clement Greenberg, Jerome Hausman, Thomas B. Hess, Philip Lie-
der, Douglas MacAgy, John Myers, E. A. Navaretta, Frank O’Hara, Barbara
Rose, Harold Rosenberg, William Seitz, and Maurice Tuchman.
I am grateful as well to numerous collectors and museums for providing
documentation of works in their collections, photographs, and the permission
to reproduce them. For assistance in obtaining photographs, I am particu-
larly indebted to Linda Loving of the Museum of Modern Art, Denny Judson
of the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Betty Asher of the Los
Angeles County Museum. In addition I wish to thank my wife Lucy Freeman
Sandler for her constant encouragement and assistance; David Bell; Mary
Solimena Kurtz of Praeger Publishers for her tireless efforts in editing my
book and getting it into production; and my research assistants Barbara
Cohen and Katherine Rosenbloom. Finally, I should like to express my grati-
tude to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for awarding
me a fellowship in 1965 that was of great help in furthering my work on
this book.
New York City Irvinc SANDLER
September, 1970
at
Acknowledgments vi
Plates viii
List of Illustrations ix
Contents
Introduction 1]
. The Great Depression 5r
. The Imagination of Disaster —_29
. ArshileGorky #4
. The Myth-Makers 62
. William Baziotes 72
. ANew Vanguard Emerges —79
. The Gesture Painters 92
. Jackson Pollock 102
. Willem de Kooning 122
. Hans Hofmann 138
. The Color-Field Painters 148
. Clyfford Still 158
iOiOSYNl OOO
. Mark Rothko 175
pt WN
. Barnett Newman 185
. Adolph Gottlieb 193
. Robert Motherwell — 202
. The Abstract Expressionist Underground Surfaces — 211
. AdReinhardt — 225
. The Later Gesture Painters 233
SaSES L(“Oa SkOOSSsON ) SS
20. The Abstract Expressionist Scene, 1950-52: Success and Dissolution 269
Biographies 277
General Bibliography 281
Bibliography, by Artist 287
Index 299
Arshile\Gorky. Composition. 1932-33. Oil XIII. Mark Rothko. Orange and Yellow. 1956.
on canvas, 48 x 35% inches. Collection Oil on canvas, 91 x 71 inches. Albright-
Mr. and Mrs. I. Donald Grossman, New Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift
York. of Seymour H. Knox.
Plates II. Arshile Gorky. The Betrothal II. 1947. XIV. Mark Rothko. Black and Tan on Red.
Oil on canvas, 5034 x 38 inches. Collec- 1957. Oil on canvas, 69 x 55 inches. Col-
tion Whitney Museum of American Art, lection Mr. and Mrs. I. Donald Grossman,
New York. New York.
III. William Baziotes. Dwarf. 1947. Oil on XV. Barnett Newman. Vir Heroicus Sublimis.
canvas, 42 x 36% inches. Collection The 1950-51. Oil on canvas, 95% x 213%
Museum of Modem Art, New York; A. inches. Fractional gift to The Museum
Conger Goodyear Fund. of Modem Art, New York, of Mr. and
Jackson Pollock. Pasiphae. 1943. Oil on Mrs. Ben Heller, New York.
canvas, 56% x 96 inches. Collection Mrs. XVI. Barnett Newman. Onement No. 6. 1953.
Lee Krasner Pollock, New York. Photo Oil on canvas, 102 x 120 inches. Collec-
courtesy Marlborough Gallery Inc., New tion Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R. Weisman,
York. Beverly Hills, California. Photo Frank J.
Jackson Pollock. One (Number 31, 1950). Thomas, Los Angeles, California.
1950. Oil and enamel on canvas, 106 XVII. Barnett Newman. Day One. 1951-52. Oil
x 209% inches. Collection The Museum on canvas, 132 x 50% inches. Collection
of Modern Art, New York; Gift of Sidney Whitney Museum of American Art, New
Janis. Photo Malcolm Varon, New York. York; Gift of the Fnends of the Whitney
VI. Willem de Kooning. Pink Angel. ca. 1947. Museum of American Art (and purchase).
Oil on canvas, 52 x 40 inches. Collection Adolph Gottlieb. Brink. 1959. Acrylic on
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R. Weisman, canvas, 90 x 108 inches. Marlborough
Beverly Hills, California. Gallery Inc., New York.
VII. Willem de Kooning. Excavation. 1950. Robert Motherwell. Je t'aime, II A. 1955.
Oil on canvas, 80% x 100% inches. Cour- Oil on canvas, 72 x, 54 inches. Collection
tesy of The Art Institute of Chicago, Chi- Mr. and Mrs. I. Donald Grossman, New
cago, Illinois; Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. York.
VIII. Willem de Kooning. Pare Rosenberg. 1957. XX. Ad Reinhardt. Black Painting. 1960-66.
Oil on canvas, 80 x 70¥2 inches. Collec- Oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches. Collection
tion Mr. and Mrs. I. Donald Grossman, Mrs. Rita Reinhardt, New York.
New York. XXI. James Brooks. Number 36. 1950. Oil on
IX. Hans Hofmann. Transfiguration. 1947. Oil bemis cloth, 41 x 45 inches. Collection of
on canvas, 60 x 48 inches. André Emmer-
the artist.
ich Gallery, New York.
* Hans Hofmann. Bird Cage—Variation II. XXII. Bradley Walker Tomlin. Number 9: In
Praise of Gertrude Stein. 1950. Oil on
1956-58. Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches.
canvas, 49 x 102% inches. Collection The
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Saul Z. Cohen,
Museum of Modern Art, New York; Gift
Larchmont, New York. Photo Malcolm
of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III. Copy-
Varon, New York.
Clyfford Still. 1951 Yellow. 1951. Oil on right 1969 The Museum of Modern Art,
canvas, 109¥2 x 92% inches. Collection New York.
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R. Weisman, XXIII. Franz Kline. King Oliver. 1958. Oil on
Beverly Hills, California. Photo Frank J. canvas, 99 x 78 inches. Collection Mr. and
Thomas, Los Angeles, California. Mrs. I. Donald Grossman, New York.
XII. Clyfford Still. 1951-N. 1951. Oil on can- XXIV. Philip Guston. Painter’s City. 1957. Oil
vas, 92¥2 x 69 inches. Marlborough Gal- on canvas, 65 x 77 inches. Collection Mr.
lery Inc., New York. and Mrs. I. Donald Grossman, New York.
In the original edition of this book, the above mentioned plates were reproduced in color.
Vill