Artists in love

August 23, 2011 6:39 PM

Lewin was Parrish's constant companion for 55 years.

"He and Lewin must have had a magical life together out in the country. When Parrish was 90 years old and Lewin was 71, Parrish's wife finally died, leaving him free to marry Lewin. However, he declined so she packed her bags, left the estate and went back to her village where she married someone else."

Part one in an occasional series on artists and their love life. [some NSFW]

Ralph Barton
Eugene von Bruenchenhein
Ivor Hele
Albert Dorne
Rockwell Kent
Sarah Goodridge
Edward Galinski
Charlie Russell
Gaston Lachaise
James Montgomery Flagg
Pierre Bonnard
Gustav Klimt
Henry Darger
Rodin
Albert Bierstadt
Frank Frazetta
Augustus John

posted by unliteral (21 comments total)

This is fantastically fantastic. Really great find.
posted by barnacles at 6:56 PM on August 23, 2011

Indeed. I'm particularly fascinated by the Sarah Goodridge entry, which suggests that the trend of teenagers sending naked pics of each other on their cellphones has a longer history than I would have guessed.
posted by Rangeboy at 7:00 PM on August 23, 2011

*Prepares to dive in, headfirst*

Thank you for this post.
posted by infini at 7:08 PM on August 23, 2011

Carl Andre?
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:58 PM on August 23, 2011

I'll see your Carl Andre and raise you an Egon Schiele.
posted by joannemullen at 7:59 PM on August 23, 2011

The case of Augustus John provides particularly interesting commentary on the ultimate paths of the muses in question.
posted by Alice Russel-Wallace at 8:06 PM on August 23, 2011

Also, this is a brilliant post! Many thanks!
posted by Alice Russel-Wallace at 8:18 PM on August 23, 2011

This is quite fascinating, and -- I think, an insight into many more pedestrian lives, and the varieties of human experience.
posted by LucretiusJones at 9:23 PM on August 23, 2011

Totally read it as Lenin.
posted by Apocryphon at 10:55 PM on August 23, 2011

Warhol, Cornell.... starts list of "Artists Who Lived With Their Mom."
posted by R. Mutt at 3:32 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Fascinating. Thank you.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:47 AM on August 24, 2011

I'm just disappointed it wasn't Robert Parrish.
posted by pracowity at 5:03 AM on August 24, 2011

I enjoy the spare, direct, descriptions of their relationships, though there are surprising observations, like this in the context of the Rodin piece, which took the view that Rodin had to dump his passionate love before getting down to brass (bronze?) tacks:

If one thing is certain from the long history of art, it's that you can't make art and make love at the same time (or, in the words of Robert Coane, "you can't drool and draw.") Every artist who has tried to combine the two (and which artist over 18 has not?) ends up with artistic mush. Love requires acceptance and commitment while art requires discrimination and challenge. As much as we yearn to merge art and love, it seems that the price of great art remains detachment.

What?

Also, has occasional bits of artistic insights, like the revelation about Klimt's . . . well, I had best say, symbols.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 5:59 AM on August 24, 2011

The comments for that Rodin post discuss this aspect a bit, though I must say I did chew over the paragraph you've quoted.
posted by infini at 6:17 AM on August 24, 2011

These are wonderful. Great post.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:53 AM on August 24, 2011

Went to the Frazetta entry for the anticipated NSFW, stayed for the woobie:

Outsiders can't always appreciate the fact that marriage provides its own magic spells and alien planets. Marriage can introduce you to the true meaning of life-or-death stakes. You think facing a lizard with a ray gun is daunting? Try bringing new life trembling into the world, and taking permanent responsibility for it.

[snip]

After [Frazetta's wife] Ellie died, Frazetta's publisher J. David Spurlock visited him alone in his home studio. Spurlock discovered that Frazetta had taken down his world famous illustrations from the walls and replaced them with pictures he had painted of Ellie over the years.

*the battle-hardened warrior pauses against a blood-red sky and sheds a single tear*
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:01 AM on August 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

That "angry sculpture about abandonment" in the Rodin post is bad-ass. They weren't kidding; she was a damn good artist.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:04 AM on August 24, 2011

Excellent post. Incredible insights into complicated lives.
posted by h00py at 7:12 AM on August 24, 2011

...you can't make art and make love at the same time...

Well not simultaneously. But you remind me of my favorite line from the old movie "The Moderns." Hemingway has a couple of whores sitting on his lap, and is yelling across from his window into the painter's studio. He says one of the girls wants the painter, "First she wants you to fuck her, then she wants you to love her, then she wants you to paint her."

He declines. He's busy painting.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:29 AM on August 24, 2011

Wow! you people seem to be loving this. As I said in a previous incarnation many years ago in the Barton post, this is so poignant and moving:

I'm loving this series. I came upon it while doing some research on New York apartments. Here's the text of Barton's suicide note [scroll down].

"I have run from wife to wife, from house to house and from country to country in a ridiculous effort to escape from myself. In particular my remorse is bitter over my failure to appreciate my beautiful lost angel - Carlotta - the only woman I ever loved and whom I respect and admire most of all the human race."
[He was] "fed up inventing new devices (such as a new gal) for getting through 24 hours every day. I present the remains with my compliments to any medical school that fancies them, or soap can be made of them."

Just make soap of me.

posted by unliteral at 9:05 AM on August 24, 2011

So to condense this down...pretty much whenever an artist is waxing poetic about his relationships, he's justifying being an asshole.
posted by happyroach at 10:31 AM on August 24, 2011