Page 28 - Studio International - December1996

was that he was only in London en route to the U.S. He line. Instead of saying 'neo-plasticism', he wrote 'con-
dreamt about Broadway almost like a child. We all structivist'. 'All right', he said, 'I am really a construc-
looked for a place for him, but Ben Nicholson found the tivist artist.'
room. He used to complain about the room. 'Too many I have never met such a lonesome and unhappy man,
trees.' He didn't like trees much. And he used to com- even though he liked jazz and dancing; a man so con-
plain about Holland : 'Too many cows and too many centrating on himself, very calm, not a man of words. He
meadows.' was intrinsically warm, but outwardly cold, but he was
The same discussions went on in London as in Paris. I not a man with whom you could have personal relation-
was always against '-isms', and we tried to bring out our ships. I don't know whether he had close friends. I don't
differences. He was against space. Once he was showing know what relationship he had with the man who was
me a painting. 'My goodness !' I said, 'Are you still his heir. Of course, he had been totally neglected in Paris.
painting that one ?' I had seen it much earlier. 'The white He had only one man, in Holland, who supported him
is not flat enough,' he said. He thought there was still and bought his work.
too much space in the white, and he denied any varia- He couldn't look after himself properly. He was terribly
tions of colour. His ideas were very clear. He thought a thin, and seemed to live mostly on currants and veget-
painting must be flat, and that colour should not show able stew, because he followed the Haye diet. He rarely
any indication of space. This was a main principle of touched meat. Once I called on him in the morning
neo-plasticism. My argument was, 'You can go on for early, and he was wearing an old coat. I found that he
ever, but you will never succeed'. Though I must say didn't have any warm pyjamas. So I took him a pair of
that, to an extent, when the paintings were only black my own, and a woollen dressing gown. When I took them
and white, that could be pretty flat. But even the distri- in I saw a smile on his face for the first time.
bution of light does change the colour into something He was also absolutely uninterested in money. He once
spatial, with space in it. offered me one of his best paintings for £10. I said, 'I just
When we were in London we all organized an exhibi- cannot buy it, it's one of your best works, you've been
tion—Ben, Barbara, Mondrian, Cecil Stephenson (he working on it for so long.' But he was very stubborn. He
was badly neglected), and others. Mesens was one of the didn't want me to refuse. But I couldn't buy it, because
chief organizers, and he asked every artist to say what he just didn't know the value of his paintings.
school he belonged to. So when the proofs of the cata- He was really terribly neglected. When I found out
logue were sent to us we looked through them—Ben was how he died, I was horrified. It was unforgivable of the
with us—and the question of what Mondrian should say whole artistic community in New York to let him die
came up. Mondrian said, `Constructivist'. I looked at that way—in bed for three days with lung inflammation,
him and he smiled. It was a great victory for me, because and when people eventually found him it was too late.
at that time he apparently agreed with me. I always
insisted that his works were really in the constructivist Naum Gabo

Mondrian's studio in the Rue
de Depart, Paris-' One tulip
in a vase, an artificial one,
its leaves painted white.'
Far right
60 Parkhill Road, Hampstead,
where Mondrian had a studio
on the hall floor, overlooking
the garden. In the foreground
is the studio used at the time
by Ben Nicholson.