Mitchell Joan - Joan Mitchell: lady painter: a life

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright 2011 by Patricia Albers
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

All to reprint previously published material may be found immediately following the index.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Albers, Patricia.
Joan Mitchell : lady painter / by Patricia Albers.1st ed.
p. cm.
A Borzoi book.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978-0-307-59598-0
1. Mitchell, Joan, 19261992. 2. PaintersUnited StatesBiography. 3. Abstract expressionismUnited States. I. Title.
ND 237. M 58 A 85 2011
759.13dc22
[B]
2011000457

Front-of-jacket image: Untitled (detail) by Joan Mitchell, 195354. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation; Photograph of Joan Mitchell courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Cheim & Read Gallery, New York.

Jacket design by Carol Devine Carson

v3.1

To my parents,
Marjorie and Henry H. Albers,
and France Bequette

Joan and the yellow satin curtains, c. 1933. Photograph: James Herbert Mitchell. Collection Sally Perry.

Joans grandfather, Charles Louis Strobel, c. 1890. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

Joans grandmother Henrietta Moore Baxter Strobel with her young daughter Marion Strobel (Joans mother), c. 1898. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

Six-year-old Joan (right) and seven-year-old Sally, 1931. Chicago Daily Tribune photograph. Collection Sally Perry.

Joan training at the Saddle and Cycle Club pool, c. 1936. Photograph: James Herbert Mitchell. Collection Sally Perry.

Jimmie Mitchell and his adoring daughters, Joan (left) and Sally (right), summering in Lake Forest, 1933. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

Poet George Dillon, 1930. Photographer unknown. George Dillon Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library.

Marion Strobel Mitchell, c. 1931. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

Joan Mitchell (right) at Parkers Mezzanine Gallery, c. 1938. Photographer unknown. Courtesy Parker Archives, Francis W. Parker School, Chicago, Illinois.

Carol Blossom, Barbara McNulty, Sally Mitchell, Mary Cornelia Aldis, and Joan at the Saddle and Cycle Club, c 1938. Chicago Herald and Examiner photograph. Collection Sally Perry.

Pairs champions Joan Mitchell and Bobby Specht on the ice, c. 1940. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

Tim Osato, 1940s. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Joan, c. 1946. Photograph: Barney Rosset. Collection Sally Perry.

Joan and Dan Sparling at Ox-Bow, 1943 or 1944. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

Dick Bowman, 1942 or 1943. Photographer unknown. Courtesy Sonja Marck.

A portrait by Dick Bowman, 1945. Lithograph. Photograph: Douglas Sandberg. Collection Norman J. Pahls.

Self-portrait, c. 1944. Graphite on paper. Courtesy Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York.

Joans Mexican oils, University of Illinois gallery, 1947. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

La Bufa, 1944. Collection Sally Perry.

Joan, I. Newton Perry III, Sarah, 1946. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

At the apartment, Brooklyns Old Fulton Street, c. 1948. Photograph: Barney Rosset. Courtesy of Barney Rosset and the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Joan and Barney, under the Brooklyn Bridge, c. 1948. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

Joan and Barney, rue Galande, 1948 or 1949. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Barney Rosset and the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Joan and Jimmie with Figure and the City, c. 1951. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

Franz Kline in his studio, 1954. Photograph: Fritz Goro/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images.

Willem de Kooning, 1952. Photograph: Kay Bell Reynal. Courtesy of the Photographs of Artists, Kay Bell Reynal Collection, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Evans Herman, 1955. Photographer unknown. Courtesy Evans Herman.

Joan, c. 1950. Photographer unknown. Collection Joyce Pensato.

Joan and Michael Goldberg, c. 1954. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Michael Goldberg Papers, 19421981, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Joan and George, Springs, 1954. Photograph: Barney Rosset. Courtesy of Barney Rosset, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and Cheim & Read Gallery, New York.

Joan, Paris, 1955. Photograph: Sam Francis. Courtesy Sam Francis Foundation, California.

Joan and Paul Jenkins, East Tenth Street, c. 1958. Photographer unknown. Courtesy Suzanne and Paul Jenkins.

Joan, Helen Frankenthaler, and Grace Hartigan at Helens 1957 opening at Tibor de Nagy. Photograph: Burt Glinn, Magnum. Courtesy Magnum.

Life magazines shot of Joan, Paris studio, 1957. Photograph: Loomis Dean, Life. Courtesy Joyce Pensato.

Mitchell Paints a Picture for ArtNews, 1957. Photograph: Rudy Burckhardt. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Cheim & Read Gallery, New York. 2011 Estate of Rudy Burckhardt/Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York.

Edrita Fried and her daughter Jaqui, 1960. Photographer unknown. Courtesy Jaqueline Fried.

Riopelle, unknown woman, Giacometti, Joan, and painter Louis le Brocquy, c. 196062. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Cheim & Read Gallery, New York.

Joan and Jean-Paul Riopelle, c. 1960. Photograph: James Herbert Mitchell. Collection Sally Perry.

Joan with her Skye terriers, in her Frmicourt studio, c. 1960. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Cheim & Read Gallery, New York.

With poet John Ashbery, 1963. Photograph: Walt Silver. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Joan and Rip, c. 1963. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Cheim & Read Gallery, New York.

Barney Rosset and Samuel Beckett, early 1960s. Courtesy of Barney Rosset and the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

With Frank OHara, Frmicourt, c. 1960. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Cheim & Read Gallery, New York.

Joan and her mother, Chicago, c. 1965. Photographer unknown. Collection Sally Perry.

Joan and Jean-Paul, Frmicourt, c. 1963. Photograph: Heidi Meister. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Cheim & Read Gallery, New York.

Joan, Patricia Matisse, Chan May Kan, Jean-Paul, and Zao Wou-ki, c. 1963. Photograph: Matt Flynn. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Joan, 1972. Photograph: Nancy Crampton. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Cheim & Read Gallery, New York. Nancy Crampton. All rights reserved.

Joan, Whitney Museum, 1974. Photograph: Nancy Crampton. Courtesy of Cheim & Read Gallery, New York. Nancy Crampton. All rights reserved.

Joan and Xavier Fourcade, 1980s. Photograph: Jill Weinberg Adams. Courtesy Jill Weinberg Adams.

With Elaine de Kooning, 1975. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Phyllis Hailey, 1977. Photographer unknown. Courtesy Anne Hailey and Kay Harvey.

Hollis Jeffcoat, 1978. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation.