Acknowledgments

Gibson, Ann Eden

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Acknowledgments

Ann Eden Gibson

Abstract Expressionism: Other Politics

BECAUSE WRITING THIS book required both expansion and revision of my art historical methods, sources, rosters of artists and critics, and cultural attitudes, I found myself needing a lot of advice. There are two people, however, to whom I am particularly indebted. The first is ceramist and filmmaker Camille Billops, who with her husband, scholar James Hatch, runs the Hatch-Billops Archives in New York City. She introduced me to authors and artists who have been crucial for this book and …

Author

Ann Eden Gibson

PublisherYale University Press

CopyrightYale University Press 1999

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00006.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-14793

Acknowledgments

Because writing this book required both expansion and revision of my art historical methods, sources, rosters of artists and critics, and cultural attitudes, I found myself needing a lot of advice. There are two people, however, to whom I am particularly indebted. The first is ceramist and filmmaker Camille Billops, who with her husband, scholar James Hatch, runs the Hatch-Billops Archives in New York City. She introduced me to authors and artists who have been crucial for this book and encouraged me in the early stages. For valuable feedback, further help in locating works and sources of information in later stages, and for the opportunity to publish some of this material in exhibition catalogues, I was fortunate to have also the support of Corinne Jennings, who with painter Joe Overstreet runs the Kenkeleba Gallery.

In addition, I owe debts of gratitude to: Karen Bearor for her help with obtaining information and locating works by Irene Rice Pereira; James Beck for leading me to Jeanne Miles; Maurice Berger for his unflagging reassurance and encouragement; Deirdre Bibbey; John Biggers; Suzanne Bollag for assistance beyond the call of duty with Sonia Sekula; Sylvia Boone; and Angela Chin at the NYU Archives for locating information on Hale Woodruff. Anna Chave gave me bracing criticism at a late stage in writing. Kinshasha Conwill helped with the jazz photography of Roy DeCarava in the form of the Studio Museum’s out-of-print catalogue, The Sound I Saw. David Craven has been helpful in many ways, among others, for leading me to the statement by Sartre that opens chapter 3; Diane Dillon presented me with a copy of Paul Smith’s indispensable Discerning the Subject; Angela Dalle Vacche brought Diane Waldman’s article on the representation of art in 1940s films to my attention. I also received valuable advice from Isabelle Duchesne, Julian Euell, the late Elton Fax, and Barbara Frank, who suggested that this book needed a note on terminology and helped me with African references. Beth Gersch told me about her interview with Ruth Abrams and helped me to obtain a copy; Anne Hanson and Leslie King Hammond encouraged my efforts. Michael Harris introduced me to The Africa That Never Was, and Helen Harrison, director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, supplied valuable advice and research support. Steve Harvey deserves special thanks for generously sending me his research on Thelma Johnson Streat and putting me in touch with her sisters, as does Jonathan Hay for his discerning advice about the introduction. Harry Henderson was not only gracious; he also sent me a transcript of his interview with Norman Lewis. Robert Herbert contributed more than he realized by suggesting I look at Edward Rothschild’s The Meaning of Unintelligibility in Modern Art; Sanford Hirsch always helped me with Adolph Gottlieb; Steven Jones obtained for me information and reproductions of Hale Woodruff’s paintings; E. Ann Kaplan brainstormed with me to produce this title; and Ellen Landau shared insights and advice on Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner. Brooke Kamin Rappaport of the Brooklyn Museum gave me material about Leon Polk Smith (transcribed by one of my students, Erika Smatana) before it was published. Susan Klein Landauer provided a West Coast perspective and valuable leads to material on Harlan Jackson; Theresa Leininger led me (in person!) to the Harmon Foundation papers at the Library of Congress and sent me copies of Rose Piper’s applications from the Julius Rosenwald Fund collection at Fisk University; Elba Lightfoot shared with me her memories about painting in Harlem in the 1940s; and Thomas Livesay provided copies of his and Beth Gersch’s interviews with Ruth Abrams. Denise McColgan guided me to many works in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim collection that I might never have had the opportunity to see otherwise; Joan Marter led me to new insights about Dorothy Dehner; Chris McNamara gave me timely access to new material on Michael West; and Lisa Peyton located a crucial letter by Anne Ryan that I thought I would never find again. Stephen Polcari generously encouraged me in the early stages of this project, as did Sur Rodney Sur later. Richard Powell shared his insights on William H. Johnson and on Harold Rosenberg and “race”; Paul Rogers called my attention to the useful term “racialization.” Christopher Reed told me about Patsy Southgate’s remarks in London Weekend Television’s Jackson Pollock, and Temma Kaplan introduced me to James C. Scott. Jules Prown supported this project at a crucial point. Rona Roob, archivist of the Museum of Modern Art, helped me to find valuable material. So did Deirdre Bibbey and Julia Hotten, then at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, as well as Judy Thromm at the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art. Maurice Berger, Helen Cooper, Barbara Frank, Paul Rogers, W. Jackson Rushing, Lowery Sims (who early on opened her Norman Lewis files to me), and Robert Thompson all gave me valuable advice at various stages of the project, reading early drafts and making important suggestions. William E. Taylor gave me information on the Herron Art School and its history in Indianapolis. My thanks to Jeffrey Wechsler for discussing with me his work on Asian American Abstract Expressionists and for helping me to obtain reproductions. Jonathan Weinberg suggested sources for the history of the psychoanalytic treatment of gay identity. Judith Wilson introduced me to the idea that questions of “race” have a place in considerations of Abstract Expressionism, helped me to locate the sources of “lost” quotations, and generously brought the work of Rose Piper to my attention. Beryl Wright alerted me to the importance of the Harmon Foundation papers in the Library of Congress.

I have been fortunate to work with excellent editors: Brian Wallis, who urged me to write what I thought as well as what I knew; Judy Metro at Yale University Press, who saw this manuscript through its seemingly interminable stages with patience, perseverance, and tact; and Noreen O’Connor, for whose precise and perceptive editing I am grateful.

I want to thank especially the following artists, their families, and friends and collectors who believed in them, without whose gathering, stewardship, and sharing of information I could never have written this book: Romare Bearden, Mrs. Nanette Bearden and The Romare Howard Bearden Foundation; John Biggers; Vivian Browne; Ernest Critchlow; Mrs. Frances and Shelby Curlee, Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Friedman; Robert Gist; Oliver Harrington; Suzanne Hueguenin; Jaki Jackson; Lois and Juanita Johnson for conversations about Thelma Johnson Streat and for sending me photographs of her work and copies of material about her. The late Ronald Joseph and his wife Claire Joseph have been unfailingly helpful; Lauri Kemp sent me carefully annotated material on her aunt, Thelma Johnson Streat; Mrs. Ouida Lewis and her daughter Tarin Fuller went far beyond the bounds of simple cooperation in making Norman Lewis’s works and library accessible to me. Marjorie Luyckx aided me with photographic materials and her insights on her sister, Elaine de Kooning. Michael Solomon has provided me with important material regarding the late Alfonso Ossorio. Elba Lightfoot, Samuel Middleton, Alfonso Ossorio, Edward Dragon, Herbert Gentry and Mary Anne Rose, Bill Rivers, and Miani Johnson all talked to me about not only their own experiences during this period, but also those of other artists in this book. Jean Lagunoff loaned me her correspondence with Norman Lewis. I thank Cheryl Pflanzer for giving me access to information on Ernest Crichlow and Charles White in the files of the ACA Galleries in New York; Doug Berman and Peter Daferner of Berman/Daferner gave me material from their files, as did June Kelly of June Kelly Gallery, Gary Snyder of Snyder Fine Art, and Joan Washburn of the Joan T. Washburn Gallery. Leon Polk Smith shared his memories of these years with me, as did Theodoros Stamos, Rose Piper, and Dr. Theresa Woodruff and Roy Woodruff.

I also thank these institutions: The Romare Bearden Foundation; the DIA Foundation; the Herstory Archive in New York; the Annalee Newman and Barnett Newman Foundation; the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center; the Smithsonian Institution and particularly curator Phyllis Rosenzweig of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, which furthered this project with a postdoctoral grant. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., supported it with a summer CASVA grant; Yale University generously came forward with both a Morse Fellowship and a Senior Faculty Fellowship; and the State University of New York has shown its support for this project in many ways. In the last stages, a grant from the Judith Rothschild Foundation helped greatly to defray the costs of photographs, permission fees, and reproduction costs. Finally, I want to thank my colleagues at Stony Brook who have provided an atmosphere in which this work could be finished.

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