Calvin Tomkins

While this book might be an accurate account of what was happening in the New York art world of the '80s, the "Post- to Neo-" part is misleading--most of the essays deal with figures from earlier eras, including Noguchi, Picasso, Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, and Leo Castelli; maybe three articles deal with young artists that emerged that decade. It's a little like calling a book Punk and New Wave and having it deal mostly with the Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin. That said, Tomkins is a good writer: smart, thorough, and amusing.… (mere)

Monogram by Robert Rauschenberg -- The title of this signature Rauschenberg art alludes to the union of the goat and the tire, which brought to mind for the artist the interweaving letters in a monogram.

Thank you, Calvin Tomkins! Such a clearly written exciting account of the art scene in 1950s and 1960s America where artist Robert Rauschenberg is the focus but certainly not the exclusive focus as many artists are covered including Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning and Mark Rothko, Pop Artists Jasper Johns, Roy Liehtenstein and Claes Oldenberg, avant-garde composer John Cage, dance choreographer Merce Cunningham, along with the big players in the world of galleries and museums - Betty Parsons, Leo Castelli and Peggy Guggenheim. To provide a small taste to whet the appetite for anyone interested in this unique cultural and creative explosion, below are a number of Calvin Tomkins quotes along with my comments. Art lovers of the world unite and read this book!

On Robert Rauschenberg’s childhood: “Nobody ever said much about his drawings. He drew all the time, in the margins of his schoolbooks and on scraps of paper and pieces of wood and any available surface, but, as he said, he thought anybody could do that.” ---------- What I love in this story about a lower middle-class boy growing up in Port Arthur, a small town along the east coast of Texas, is how his ability to draw required little effort, was so easy and natural, he considered it no big deal. Also, his innate talent for drawing and art was not particularly appreciated; actually his father wanted young Rauschenberg to be a hunter but the boy was such a klutz with a rifle his father simply shook his head and let his son take his own path.

On learning from Josef Albers at innovative Black Mountain College in North Carolina: “For Rauschenberg, who had come to the conclusion that discipline was what he needed most – that energy and emotion and an overpowering love of paint could not get him past the dead end of self-indulgence that he saw looming ahead of him – Albers seemed to embody the necessary next step. ----------- Such a telling sign of a true artist – he had raw talent to express himself in art but instinctively knew he needed a teacher to instill skill and craftsmanship as well as a mental rigor to creating visual art.

On Josef Albers on art: “Albers had nothing but scorn for the excesses of self-expression; he believed that art’s real role lay in the “training of consciousness” a process that involved learning to know the true nature of materials and of the relationship between them. Sometimes he had his students draw page after page of straight lines, training the hand to be steady.” ---------- And what did Albers think of having Robert Rauschenberg in his class? Calvin Tomkins writes: “Nothing that year, appeared to have displeased Albers so much as having to teach Rauschenberg.” Yet Rauschenberg reflected back with admiration and gratitude on his time spent in learning from Albers, which speaks volumes about what it takes to be an authentic artist – a teacher can be unappealing as a person but what really counts is what the teacher teaches. Art transcends personalities.


Three Flags by Jasper Johns

Tomkins includes the following famous quote from New York art critic Harold Rosenberg: “At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act – rather than as a space in which to reproduce, redesign, analyze, or ‘express’ an object, actual or imagined.” ---------- Of course, the king of action painting was none other than Jackson Pollack. Calvin Tomkins writes lucidly on the role and impact Abstract Expressionism had on the younger generation of American artists like Rauschenberg and Johns and Warhol.

“Andre Breton, himself a poet, had dragooned his followers into politics by attempting to ally the movement with the Communist Party in France, until it became depressingly clear that the Communists wanted no part of such undisciplined allies.” --------- Calvin Tomkins addresses how the great European art and artists had a decided influence on the American art scene right through the 1950s, 1960s and beyond, most especially those European artists like Andre Breton, Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernst who fled the war in Europe for New York City. And that quote about the Communist reaction to those surrealist artists is laugh-out-loud hilarious – no dandy dreamer artists in our party of comrades, thank you.


John Cage - Merce Cunningham - Robert Rauschenberg in 1960

“Cage was specifically encouraged about Rauschenberg’s work. In the year since his show at Betty Parsons, Rauschenberg had moved in the direction of austerity, toward emptiness.” --------- John Cage had an abiding interest in Zen Buddhism and the experience of emptiness. Influence by Cage, Rauschenberg also produced art in the spirit of Zen-like emptiness which underscores how he was continually creative and innovative, refusing to simply repeat himself no matter how successful his previous creations.

“Collage for Rauschenberg was a perpetual adventure. It was fun to search the beach or the city streets for objects he could use. He was always surprised by what he found, and the objects themselves never failed to suggest new possibilities, combinations he might never have thought of otherwise.” ---------- It’s this sense of wonder and surprise, so much like the fresh eyes of a child, that in large measure accounts for why many critics judge Rauschenberg among the leading late twentieth century American artists. Art as a constantly expanding expression; art as a way of living that’s off the wall and running through all phases of culture and society.


Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns in New York City -- Looks like a 1950s version of Tom Sawyer with Huck Finn.

“Both Cunningham and Taylor (dance choreographer Paul Taylor) could see right away that Rauschenberg had that rare and indefinable quality, a sense of the theater. His costumes and his sets were always active participants in the on-stage drama, sometimes too active.” ----------- Rauschenberg always enjoyed art and creation as a collaborative endeavor. The connection of the visual arts with theater and dance is one of the highlights of the book.

“At an opening at the Museum of Modern Art, a woman charmed by his elegance of manner said to him, “Jasper, you must be from the southern aristocracy.” “No,” he replied. “I’m just trash.” ---------- Jasper Johns was a poor kid from Georgia. Just goes to show how the muse is not picky about an individual’s economic background or lack of culture. In many respects, a disadvantaged childhood and youth can serve to fuel and set fire to the creative juices of an artist all through the adult years.

Calvin Tomkins - art and cultural critic par excellence… (mere)

What is it about Sara and Gerald Murphy? Was it their personalities that made them so attractive? Or was it just the era they were living in at the time? This was back in the day when people gave houses as wedding gifts and didn’t worry about the red tape and mountains of paperwork that went with it. Maybe it was the people they associated with that made their light glow a little brighter. For Sara and Gerald Murphy could call Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Igor Stravinsky, John Dos Passos, and, of course, F. Scott Fitzgerald as their friends. Maybe it was their talents. Gerald, encouraged and inspired by Picasso among others, spent nine years as an artist, creating breathtaking paintings. Sadly, he only produced ten works of art and many are either missing or have been destroyed. Together, Sara and Gerald knew how to throw an intimate, yet memorable party. They had personality and flair. Although this is a tiny book, Tomkins gives a succinct portrait of the captivating couple.… (mere)