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Painterly Representation in New York: 1945-1975

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Painterly Representation in New York: 1945-1975 PAINTERLY REPRESENTATION IN NEW YORK, 1945-1975 by JENNIFER SACHS SAMET A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2010 © 2010 JENNIFER SACHS SAMET All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Art History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Dr. Patricia Mainardi Chair of the Examining Committee Date Dr. Patricia Mainardi Acting Executive Officer Dr. Katherine Manthorne Dr. Rose-Carol Washton Long Ms. Martica Sawin Supervision Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract PAINTERLY REPRESENTATION IN NEW YORK, 1945-1975 by JENNIFER SACHS SAMET Advisor: Professor Patricia Mainardi Although the myth persists that figurative painting in New York did not exist after the age of Abstract Expressionism, many artists in fact worked with a painterly, representational vocabulary during this period and throughout the 1960s and 1970s. This dissertation is the first survey of a group of painters working in this mode, all born around the 1920s and living in New York. Several, though not all, were students of Hans Hofmann; most knew one another; some were close friends or colleagues as art teachers. I highlight nine artists: Rosemarie Beck (1923-2003), Leland Bell (1922-1991), Nell Blaine (1922-1996), Robert De Niro (1922-1993), Paul Georges (1923-2002), Albert Kresch (b. 1922), Mercedes Matter (1913-2001), Louisa Matthiasdottir (1917-2000), and Paul Resika (b. 1928). This group of artists has been marginalized in standard art historical surveys and accounts of the period. In general, this is because figurative painting of this period does not fit into a teleological reading of art history, with abstraction perceived as the ultimate progression and goal of painting. As Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism gained force, the figurative painters were increasingly marginalized in the art world. The aim of this dissertation is to re- contextualize these artists into the New York art world of their time by discussing their training as abstractionists, their aesthetic iv theory, their teaching, their critical reception, and their careers. I focus particularly on the ways in which they reconciled the principles of abstraction with representational content. Although abstraction and representation were increasingly polarized in the art world, the painters themselves, and several critics and writers on their work were able to see the possibilities for a more dialectical synthesis of the two. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have helped me as I researched and wrote this dissertation. First, I would like to thank my dissertation committee. My advisor, Professor Patricia Mainardi, has always provided comprehensive feedback; her advice and her enthusiasm has helped guide this work to completion. It has been a special pleasure to work with her on this topic, since she knows the subject so well and so personally. I would like to thank my other readers in the department, Professor Katherine Manthorne, for her incisive comments and Professor Rose-Carol Washton Long for her support and helpful ideas. Portions of this dissertation were begun in seminars they each gave at the Graduate Center. I am grateful to Martica Sawin for serving as the outside reader, and for all of the support she has provided on a subject on which she is an expert. She has answered my research questions and has generously shared her own research and some unpublished material with me. Additionally I am grateful to the staff of the Art History program at the Graduate Center for their kindnesses over the years, including Sandylene Wakefield, Andrea Appel, and former Assistant Program officer, Lauren Frederick-Bowen. Thanks also go to classmates at the Graduate Center, including Marshall Price, Elizabeth Martin, Jennifer Katanic, and Taína Caragol for their friendship, advice, and support. As I began this project, Jan Leja, an art historian, very kindly and generously served as a mentor to help me get started in the process, meeting with me on several occasions and reading my earliest writing. Elizabeth Fodde-Rogeur helped to draft my bibliography when my writing was complete. vi I have used the resources and collections of several libraries and archives in my research. I would like to thank the entire staff of the Avery Library of Columbia University, which became a home away from home. Thank you also to the staff of the Mina Rees Library of the Graduate Center, CUNY. I used both the Museum of Modern Art Library and their Archives, in Manhattan and Queens, and am grateful to their helpful staff. I accessed a great deal of material at the Archives of American Art, and would like to thank Joy Wiener of the New York City office, and Marisa Bourgoin and Margaret Zoller in Washington, D.C. The New York Studio School Library houses video recordings of their lecture series, including lectures and panel discussions by several painters discussed here, and I am grateful to the librarian, Charlotte Priddle for making these available. I would also like to thank the Dean of the New York Studio School, Graham Nickson. Thank you to Tina Dickey for making her interviews with former students of Hans Hofmann available at the Archives of American Art and for speaking with me and sharing additional interviews with me. Barbara Wolanin, who wrote about Mercedes Matter, Hans Hofmann, and Arthur B. Carles spoke with me to answer research questions. Alex Rankin at the Archival Research Center of Boston University assisted by making a comprehensive interview with Matter by Sigmund Koch available. Henry Finkelstein and Jock Ireland assisted with my research on Louis Finkelstein. Vita Petersen, a very close friend of Matter, shared her experience and knowledge with me. The family and representatives of estates of painters I discuss have been generous and helpful. Martha Hayden made the archives and paintings of Rosemarie Beck accessible to me and provided insight into her work. Beck’s granddaughter, Doria vii Hughes, of Cambridge, MA, has been archiving Beck’s journals and correspondence, and made this material available to me. Lori Bookstein and Lauren Bakoian of Lori Bookstein Fine Art have also helped with my research on Beck. Mark Borghi and Shannon McEneaney of Mark Borghi Fine Art made the papers of Mercedes Matter accessible and pointed me in the direction of important resources. Eric Brown of the Tibor de Nagy Gallery assisted me in my research of Nell Blaine and the Jane Street Gallery. Carolyn Harris gave me access to Blaine’s archives on several occasions, has discussed my work with me, and answered various research questions. Yvette Georges made several recordings of lectures and interviews with her father, Paul Goerges, available to me. Temma Bell, the daughter of Leland Bell and Louisa Matthiasdottir, helped at various moments by providing information and answers. I had the opportunity to conduct interviews with Rosemarie Beck and Paul Georges before they passed away, and I am grateful for these experiences. Jed Perl, who is also an expert on this subject, has kindly spoken with me on several occasions. Avis Berman, who conducted an in-depth interview with Paul Resika, also generously shared her work-in-progress, a chronology of Resika’s life, with me. David Shapiro and Bruce Gagnier read portions of the dissertation and provided feedback and ideas. Marjorie Kramer, Sam Thurston, Larry Faden, and Lennart Anderson spoke with me about the Figurative Artists Alliance. Stanley Grand, who has published on Paul Georges, shared information and his own interviews with the artist with me. Henry Justin, who has a major collection of work by several of these painters, hired me several years ago to make his collection public for two years. It was then that I became inspired to write on this subject; his enthusiasm has been an important force in this project. viii I would like to thank Peter Heinemann, and his wife, Marie Savetierre, for sharing his work with me, for speaking to me about his life and his painting, and for being supportive friends. Albert Kresch had helped me similarly, opening his studio to me, participating in several interviews, and discussing not only his own painting but also his friendships and collaborations with Leland Bell, Nell Blaine, Robert De Niro, and Louisa Matthiasdottir. Most especially, I would like to thank Paul Resika and Blair Resika. Paul and Blair have become wonderful friends, and both have helped me greatly in this process. Blair has made her meticulously-organized archives accessible to me, and Paul has always been willing to welcome me into his studio to look and talk, in both New York and Cape Cod. Paul has read most of the chapters, providing feedback, information, enthusiastic moral support, and corrections. His work and his outlook on life and art have been a tremendous inspiration. It is to my family that I am most deeply grateful. My wonderful boys, Julian and Jasper, bring me so much joy every day; I love my life with them. My father and stepmother, Leonard Samet and Barbara Okanes, have supported me and my work unconditionally and have taken care of my children as I researched and wrote over the last few years. I can not think of a more wonderful situation. My brother, Jared Samet, and his partner, Joel Spolsky, have been loving and generous in many ways. Finally, I am most grateful to my husband, Steven Harvey, to whom I would like to dedicate this work. He is my biggest fan and best reader. His passion for great painting inspired this project and his unwavering support, love, and enthusiasm have sustained me in every way throughout.
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