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Hedda Sterne and Abstract Expressionism

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1 Menacing Machines and Sublime Cities: Hedda Sterne and Abstract Expressionism Tasia Kastanek Art History Honors Thesis April 12, 2011 Primary Advisor: Kira van Lil – Art History Committee Members: Robert Nauman – Art History Nancy Hightower – Writing and Rhetoric 2 Abstract: The canon of Abstract Expressionism ignores the achievements of female painters. This study examines one of the neglected artists involved in the movement, Hedda Sterne. Through in-depth analysis of her Machine series and New York, New York series, this study illuminates the differences and similarities of Sterne‟s paintings to the early stages of Abstract Expressionism. Sterne‟s work both engages with and expands the discussions of “primitive” signs, the sublime and urban abstraction. Her early training in Romania and experience of WWII as well as her use of mechanical symbols and spray paint contribute to a similar yet unique voice in Abstract Expressionism. Table of Contents Introduction: An Inner Necessity and Flight from Romania…….…………..……………….3 Machines: Mechanolatry, War Symbolism and an Ode to Tractors……………………......13 New York, New York: Masculine Subjectivity, Urban Abstraction and the Sublime...…...26 Instrument vs. Actor: Sterne’s Artistic Roles………………..………………………….……44 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………49 Images…………………………………………………………………………………………...52 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………..67 3 “Just as each spoken word rouses an internal vibration, so does every object represented. To deprive oneself of this possibility of causing a vibration would be reducing one‟s arsenal of means of expression: anyhow, that is the case today. But besides this, there is another [answer] which art can always offer to any question beginning with „must‟: There is no „must‟ in art, because art is always free.”1 – Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art and Painting in Particular, 1912 “And through all this pervades my feeling that I am only one speck (hardly an atom) in the uninterrupted flux of the world around me.”2 – Hedda Sterne, “Documents: From Studio to Gallery,” 1954 Echoing Kandinsky‟s theory, Hedda Sterne sought the underlying threads of existence through any form that appealed to her, not restricting herself to rigid dogma about abstraction or realism. A yearning to share and to catch a glimpse of some eternal force weaves together her diverse oeuvre: “As she touches first one style and then another, first one subject or genre and then another, the linking image or idea is that of energy, force, personal commitment, the animus that is the inner state insisting on the outer condition.”3 Each painting shows a facet of Sterne‟s perspective; each is a discovery of her inner state as well as the wonder of the exterior world. Everything from tractors to lettuces to trees inhabits her work; numerous friends and family members fueled her love of portraiture. Some saw this as lack of sincerity or purpose but Dore Ashton described Sterne‟s practice, rooted in her knowledge of language and absorption of many different art historical periods as a child, as a “polyglot impulse,” the desire to transcribe the same idea or inspiration in many different ways. As a Romanian-born American, influenced by 1 Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art and Painting in Particular, (New York: George Wittenborn, Inc., 1955), 50. 2 Hedda Sterne, “Artist‟s Remarks,” Uninterrupted Flux: Hedda Sterne, (Champaign, Illinois: Krannert Art Museum, 2006), 2. 3 Lee Hall, “Hedda Sterne: Diversity and Imagery,” Hedda Sterne Retrospective, April 24 through June 26, 1977, (New Jersey: Montclair Art Museum, 1977), 14. 4 Constructivism, Surrealism and Renaissance masters like Da Vinci, Sterne certainly fused many sources in her vision of meaningful subject-matter. Although the canonical Abstract Expressionists4 did not share Sterne‟s European, cosmopolitan background, many shared her desire for volatile content in the wake of war. Whatever they labeled the product of their endeavors – sublime, metaphysical or living myth – the goal was the same: to perceive and represent some timeless, revitalizing facet of human existence. Although Sterne did not consider herself an Abstract Expressionist, many other factors tie her early work to that group. In New York, she participated in the roundtable discussions at Artists‟ Sessions at Studio 35.5 This discussion6 was one of the events that solidified the movement and those who attended were among the advanced artists in New York.7 Betty Parsons, one of the major dealers for Abstract Expressionism, showed Sterne‟s work throughout the life of her gallery even though she recognized that some did not appreciate Sterne‟s methods: “...she changed all the time, and the damn critics thought she wasn‟t serious. Maybe they thought that because she was a woman. And beautiful…Hedda was always searching, never satisfied. She had many ways; most artists have only one way to go.”8 Parsons‟ comments hint at the inequality that women faced; critics read lack of seriousness in the work of female painters even 4 Most critics include Adolph Gottlieb, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still in the core of the canon. William Baziotes, Arshile Gorky, Philip Guston, Hans Hofmann, and Franz Kline form a secondary group and the third tier includes Richard Pousette-Dart, Mark Tobey and Bradley Walker Tomlin. 5 “Chronology,” Uninterrupted Flux: Hedda Sterne, (Champaign, Illinois: Krannert Art Museum, 2006), 121. 6 It resulted in a letter of protest to the president of Metropolitan Museum of Art, condemning the conservative group-exhibition juries. Ironically, before the discussion, one of those juries chose Sterne to exhibit in Young American Artists: Life Magazine’s Fifty Most Promising Painters in the United States at the Metropolitan Museum. Sarah L. Eckhardt, “Consistent Inconsistency: Hedda Sterne‟s Philosophy of Flux,” Uninterrupted Flux: Hedda Sterne, (Champaign, Illinois: Krannert Art Museum, 2006), 1. 7 Celia Stahr, “Case Study Four: Hedda Sterne,” The Social Relations of “Abstract Expressionism”, An Alternative History, (PhD diss., University of Iowa, August 1997), 286. 8 Ann Eden Gibson, “Lesbian identity and the politics of representation in Betty Parsons Gallery.” Journal of Homosexuality. 27 (1994): 258-259, accessed 28 January, 2011. 5 when those artists committed to a single style. Nonetheless, Sterne participated in major exhibitions9 alongside the canonical artists, counting some of them as friends. Despite similarities in content and style, anthologies of Abstract Expressionism rarely name Sterne, or any woman, as a major contributor. All of the masters are white, heterosexual and male. Sterne is perhaps luckier than other female, black or homosexual artists. She is at least listed as a participant in exhibitions or mentioned in footnotes. Although categories are historical constructions and tools that can outlast their use, power and legitimacy extend from categorization as well. Abstract Expressionism, as the most acclaimed American movement of the „40s and „50s, designated the elite and those outside of the standard of quality. Critics and artists did not recognize Sterne‟s contributions because of the rigid framing of the movement. For Abstract Expressionism, a style whose definition was intimately related to the identity of the artist, personal identity linked meaning to power. Prejudice and social sanctions involving sexuality and race were both internal and external. Those who were the most „different‟ from the white male norm (black female artists, for instance), had great difficulty establishing their ability to produce what Abstract Expressionist circles would see as meaning of consequence.10 The meaningful subject-matter was highly linked to the identity of the artist. The conventions promoted by prominent critics like Clement Greenberg became signs of authority; large canvases and brushstrokes, spontaneity and pure abstraction became the only signifiers for originality and power.11 Delicate lines and small canvases did not fit the profile of significant meaning. The 9 During the period from her arrival in New York to 1960 (and beyond the dates of this study), Sterne‟s work gained prominence in solo and group shows in the U.S., as well as in Italy. From the beginning of Parsons‟ Gallery, Sterne had solo shows nearly every year. She showed in the Third and Fourth Annual Exhibitions at the Stable Gallery, an important continuation of the 9th St. Show. She also had a solo show in Rome and participated in the 1956 Venice Biennale as well as the Mexican Biennale in 1960. The Whitney and the Art Institute of Chicago each exhibited her work in three group shows. 10 Ann Eden Gibson, Abstract Expressionism and Other Politics, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997), xxi. 11 Ibid., xxiii. 6 professed rejection of commercial interests, ideologies12 and sense of community added to the myth of the artist as lone warrior, delving into self to save society.13 Despite a growing lyrical quality and the personal interest of many artists in themes of love, death, chaos and rebirth,14 Greenberg‟s insistence on rejection of literary associations created a false mystique. Falling back on the notion of the inexplicable, viewers and critics did not question how presence in paintings might be gendered and thus a mirror of societal power structures. The paradigm of Abstract Expressionism did not bode well for Sterne; she was not a masculine, rough, spontaneous character who painted only forms that embodied plastic qualities and/or deep psychological experience. She was a woman who retained figurative elements in her work and refused to adhere to one style or to market her work aggressively. Hints of delicacy also damned her and other female painters. In Sterne‟s case, she used fine marks as well as spray-painted strokes which obscured the artist‟s hand. This tendency toward a reproducible mark defied the standard of originality – the gesture as a sign of the artist‟s unique inner struggle. In addition, Sterne was not consumed with purging all literary associations in her paintings but avidly absorbed contemporary literature.
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