“JUST WHAT WAS IT THAT MADE U.S. ART SO DIFFERENT, SO APPEALING?”: CASE STUDIES OF THE CRITICAL RECEPTION OF AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE PAINTING IN LONDON, 1950-1964 by FRANK G. SPICER III Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Adviser: Dr. Ellen G. Landau Department of Art History and Art CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY May, 2009 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of Frank G. Spicer III ______________________________________________________ Doctor of Philosophy candidate for the ________________________________degree *. Dr. Ellen G. Landau (signed)_______________________________________________ (chair of the committee) ________________________________________________Dr. Anne Helmreich Dr. Henry Adams ________________________________________________ Dr. Kurt Koenigsberger ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ December 18, 2008 (date) _______________________ *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. Table of Contents List of Figures 2 Acknowledgements 7 Abstract 12 Introduction 14 Chapter I. Historiography of Secondary Literature 23 II. The London Milieu 49 III. The Early Period: 1946/1950-55 73 IV. The Middle Period: 1956-59: Part 1, The Tate 94 V. The Middle Period: 1956-59: Part 2 127 VI. The Later Period: 1960-1962 171 VII. The Later Period: 1963-64: Part 1 213 VIII. The Later Period: 1963-64: Part 2 250 Concluding Remarks 286 Figures 299 Bibliography 384 1 List of Figures Fig. 1 Richard Hamilton Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? (1956) Fig. 2 Modern Art in the United States Catalogue Cover Fig. 3 The New American Painting Catalogue Cover Fig. 4 Opposing Forces Catalogue Cover Fig. 5 The Mysterious Sign Catalogue Cover Fig. 6 The Popular Image Catalogue Cover Fig. 7 Some Paintings from the E.J. Power Collection Catalogue Cover Fig. 8 Entrance to Vanguard American Painting, American Embassy, London Fig. 9 Graham Sutherland Christ Crucified (1946) Fig. 10 Robert Colquhoun Woman With a Young Goat (1948) Fig. 11 John Bratby The Toilet (1955) Fig. 12 Official Program of the Festival of Britain, 1951 Fig. 13 Installation view of Black Eyes and Lemonade Exhibition (Image from The Whitechapel Art Gallery Centenary Review, 2001) Fig. 14 Installation View of Parallel of Life and Art, 1953 (Image from www.independentgroup.org.uk) Fig. 15 Jackson Pollock Painting, Summer 1950. Photo by Hans Namuth Fig. 16 Catalogue Cover for Parallel of Life and Art Fig. 17 Jackson Pollock She-Wolf (1943) Fig. 18 Jackson Pollock Number 1A, 1948 (1948) Fig. 19 Mark Rothko Number 10 (1950) Fig. 20 Andrew Wyeth Christina’s World (1948) Fig. 21 Floorplan of The New American Painting 2 Fig. 22 Floorplan of The New American Painting Fig. 23 Floorplan of The New American Painting Fig. 24 Jackson Pollock Number 8 (1949) Fig. 25 Installation View of The New American Painting, Tate Gallery. Photo Credit: Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY Fig. 26 Mark Rothko Earth and Green (1954-5) Fig. 27 Hans Namuth Photograph of Jackson Pollock Fig. 28 Photograph of Pollock’s Grave in School of New York Fig. 29 Jackson Pollock Ocean Greyness (1953) Fig. 30 Alan Davie in Three Early Stages in the Execution of a Painting (Image from Bryan Robertson’s Private View [1965]. Photograph Undated) Fig. 31 Gillian Ayres Distillation (1957) Fig. 32 Jackson Pollock Electric Night (1946) Fig. 33 Jackson Pollock Unformed Figure (1953) Fig. 34 American Cartoons Catalogue Cover (ICA, 1956) Fig. 35 Exhibition Announcement for Place (1959) Fig. 36 Three Installation Views of the Whitechapel’s Jackson Pollock, 1912-1956 (Image from The Whitechapel Art Gallery Centenary Review) Fig. 37 Photograph from the Observer of Jackson Pollock, 1912-1956 at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (Image Undated) Fig. 38 Installation View of Jackson Pollock at MoMA, December 19, 1956 – February 3, 1957. Photo Credit: Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. Image Reference: ART364196 Fig. 39 Cover of Pollock’s Whitechapel Exhibition Catalogue Fig. 40 Frontispiece Overleaf for the Whitechapel’s Pollock Exhibition 3 Fig. 41 Film Still of Pollock Painting by Namuth, Published in The Listener, December 4, 1958 Fig. 42 Illustration of Pollock Painting, Vogue (Britain), November 1958 Fig. 43 Illustration of Pollock’s Whitechapel Exhibition, East London Advertiser, November 21, 1958 Fig. 44 Illustration of Pollock’s Whitechapel Exhibition, News Chronicle, November 13, 1958 Fig. 45 Cover of The Mysterious Sign Exhibition Catalogue, ICA, 1960 Fig. 46 Jasper Johns White Numbers (1957) Fig. 47 Jackson Pollock Self Portrait (1933) Fig. 48 Jackson Pollock Woman (undated) Fig. 49 Jackson Pollock Interior with Figures (1937) Fig. 50 Jackson Pollock Masqued Image (1938) Fig. 51 Jackson Pollock Stenographic Figure (1942) Fig. 52 Jackson Pollock Moon Woman Cuts the Circle (1943) Fig. 53 Installation view of Mark Rothko at MoMA, January 18 through March 12, 1961. Photo Credit: Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. Image Reference: ART364236 Fig. 54 Installation view of Mark Rothko: A Retrospective Exhibition: Paintings, 1945-1960 at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (Image from The Whitechapel Art Gallery Centenary Review) Fig. 55 Installation view of Jackson Pollock, 1912-1956 at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1958 (Image from The Whitechapel Art Gallery Centenary Review) Fig. 56 Jackson Pollock Cathedral (1947) Fig. 57 Mark Rothko White Center (1957) Fig. 58 Entrance to the Vanguard American Painting Exhibition, American Embassy, London, March 1962 (Image from Donson, “The American Vanguard Exhibitions in Europe”) 4 Fig. 59 Installation View of Vanguard American Painting, American Embassy Library (Image from Donson, “The American Vanguard Exhibitions in Europe”) Fig. 60 Jasper Johns False Start (1959) Fig. 61 Robert Rauschenberg Trophy I (For Merce Cunningham) [1959] Fig. 62 Robert Rauschenberg Factum I and Factum II (1957) Fig. 63 Derek Boshier Identi-Kit Man (1962) Fig. 64 Peter Phillips The Entertainment Machine (1961) Fig. 65 Patrick Caulfield Vases of Flowers (1962) Fig. 66 Cover of The Popular Image Exhibition Catalogue, ICA, 1963 Fig. 67 Robert Rauschenberg Canyon (1959) Fig. 68 Jasper Johns Flag on Orange Field (1954) Fig. 69 René Magritte The Treachery of Images (1929) Fig. 70 Jasper Johns Periscope (1963) Fig. 71 Robert Rauschenberg Trophy II (1960-61) Fig. 72 Catalogue Title Page of 54-64: Painting and Sculpture of a Decade, Tate Gallery Fig. 73 Installation View of Robert Rauschenberg’s Monogram (1959) in the Tate Gallery Exhibition, 54-64: Painting and Sculpture of a Decade. © The Tate Gallery Fig. 74 Cover of the Sunday Times Colour Magazine, April 26, 1964 Fig. 75 Installation View of Robert Rauschenberg: Paintings, Drawings and Combines, 1949-1964, Whitechapel Art Gallery, February – March 1964 [Image from The Whitechapel Art Gallery Centenary Review] Fig. 76 Installation View of Robert Rauschenberg: Paintings, Drawings and Combines, 1949-1964, Whitechapel Art Gallery, February – March 1964 [Image from The Whitechapel Art Gallery Centenary Review] 5 Fig. 77 Installation View of the Exhibition, "Rauschenberg: Illustrations for Dante's 'Inferno.'" March 10, 1964 through April 10, 1964. Location: United States Embassy, London, England. Photo Credit: Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY Fig. 78 Robert Rauschenberg Bed (1958) Fig. 79 Robert Rauschenberg Coca-Cola Plan (1958) Fig. 80 Jasper Johns Flag (1954-55) Fig. 81 View of Jasper Johns: Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, 1954-1964, Whitechapel Art Gallery [Photograph from the Manchester Guardian Weekly, December 17, 1964] Fig. 82 Jasper Johns According to What (1964) Fig. 83 Jasper Johns Painted Bronze (Beer Cans) (1960) Fig. 84 Peter Phillips Purple Flag (1960) 6 Acknowledgements “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” This lyric from a Grateful Dead song has attained widespread pop cultural familiarity and is relevant as a metaphor for surviving the trials and tribulations that life can throw at you. I have devoted the past six years to completing this dissertation, and along the way, there have been many joyous moments and wonderful adventures, as well as life’s share of challenges and adversities, that strengthened my resolve to reach this point. Of course, there are also many people along the way who have provided the advice, wisdom, feedback, support, love and patience that has enabled me to complete this dissertation. The journey began a long time ago at a university not too far away. Kent State’s art history faculty had a formidable impact on my development of skilled research methodologies, and their emphasis on instruction allowed me to develop a strong knowledge base of the field that proved to be extremely useful for my graduate studies. Professors Gus Medicus, Diane Scillia and Fred Smith, adjunct faculty Albert Reischuck and the rest of the department deserve my utmost gratitude for fostering my early scholarly development and for providing me with the necessary tools to succeed in my post-baccalaureate endeavors. My graduate career at Case has been shaped and influenced by so many important people that it is almost difficult to remember every single person. I pursued the