Page 55 - Studio International - February 1965

The Grossman Collection

3
jutting just a little. are atypical devices. It is a master­
piece. but, for all that. a masterpiece that shatters
preconceptions.
Of the Pollocks. one is early-a churning, expres­
sionist oil that revels in the strength of its conception
and the skill of its execution. In it Pollock confirmed
his knowledge of formal relationships and defied the
world to complain of his colour-sense. Its solidity is
formidable and the powerful right arm of Jackson
Pollock has wrought earthy magic. But it is the black
and white 'Polyptych · with its taut, contained grace.
that shimmers in one's memory. Like 'King Oliver' it is
off centre. like 'King Oliver· it is a masterpiece.
Robert Motherwell is in the curious position of a man
who has created too well: nothing satisfies his admirers
but repetition. His 'Spanish Elegies· are among the
most forceful and moving pictures of the past two
decades. Would they were less! The Grossmans have
what is possibly the best of them and no collector with
aspirations can fail to envy their taste. But the 'Je
(aime' series which followed is subtler. more hauntingly
poignant. It is also more daring. Few of the major
collectors were alive to the fact when the paintings
were first shown. Most of them were astonished to
discover that the 'Je t'aime' paintings ranked with
anything Motherwell had ever painted. Perhaps they
were even more surprised to discover that the Gross­
mans already owned a major one.
It is almost superfluous at this point in history to
mention Willem deKooning. He has been copied
unto the third generation ... odd in view of the fact
that of all the Abstract Expressionists he is the most
difficult to copy. Even Still. with his astonishing range.
has a technique. a mode. sufficiently evident to be
imitated. DeKooning has not. What has been copied
in deKooning is his matter rather than his manner.
'Attic,' 'Time of the Fire,' and ·woman 1· are archetypes
and they represent extremes of his virtuosity, and his
imitators have failed in direct ratio to their inability to
assume his matter. 'Attic' is in the Chicago Art Institute.
'Time of the Fire· is in the Rosen Collection. and
·woman' belongs to the Modern. The Grossman
Collection has three and they are peers.
Philip Guston arrived at his artistic maturity com­
paratively late. but with his first one-man show at the
Sidney Janis Gallery he arrived with a resounding bang.
While museums were still puzzling their deficiencies
and collectors were asking themselves where they had
missed. the Grossmans had installed the largest of their
three near the notable Rothko 'Tan. Black. and Red'
in the living room.
While Abstract Expressionism must not be discussed
in the past tense. it has nonetheless suffered severe
casualties. The death of Gorky at the peak of his
achievement was the first; that of the too little
appreciated Bradley Walker Tomlin was another. The
car crash that robbed us of Pollock was a de.\lastatiAg
blow, and the more recent loss of the tough, gentle.
wryly witty man who was Franz Kline is still deeply
felt by all who knew him. Still. Gottlieb. Rothko.
Hofmann. Mothe1well, Newman. Stamos. and a few
others remain magnificently, but the second generation
has proved timid. With obvious exceptions it has
preferred stylishness to style. eclecticism to originality,
elegance to power. Almost nowhere does one find
the soaring excitement of the great days. Almost
nowhere, that is. but in the spacious. Central Park
West apartment of Donald and Isabelle Grossman. ■
87"