Born On This Day- May 15th... American Artist Jasper Johns

I have a passion for 20th century American art, & I have always been fascinated with the 1950s, when these geniuses produced their astonishing works while closeted, but whose gayness was really an open secret: Montgomery Clift & James Dean, Paul Cadmus, George Platt Lynes, Andy Warhol, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Christopher Isherwood, W.H. Auden, James Merrill, Frank O’Hara, Allen Ginsberg, Lincoln Kirstein, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Langston Hughes, Philip Johnson.

Jasper Johns was a Southern Gentleman from South Carolina. In 1953, after a stint in the army, he moved to NYC with the notion of becoming of an artist or writer. Within just a few years he had created the iconic- Flag, & White Flag & within a half a decade he would have 4 paintings in the permanent collection of MOMA. Within a decade, he would be considered the greatest living American artist.


Jasper Johns fell in love with fellow artist-Robert Rauschenberg, who became an inspiration to the younger man. Rauschenberg: “We gave each other permission.” Spurring each other on creatively, Johns painted many works of familiar objects: numerals, letters, maps, flags, letters, that captivated the art world, when NYC was the center of all things art. Johns & Robert Rauschenberg were lovers from 1955-1961, the era of their best & most important work. They had living/working lofts on the same building & went freely between their spaces. Although the  men lived & worked together, it was Johns who received the most acclaim.

Jasper Johns: “I don’t want my work to be an exposure of my feelings,” He painted conventional subjects, which left the critics to ponder the explanation of his rough brushstrokes & saturnine surfaces. Johns’s work is about tension between knowing & not knowing, the explained & the unexplained. His paintings carry a secret.

His 1955 work-Target With Plaster Casts consisted of 9 wooden boxes with hinged doors, each box held of a body part. One of them was a detailed penis. A representative of the Museum of Modern Art, asked I if it would be acceptable if that particular box stayed closed? Johns: “It would be all right to keep the lid closed some of the time but not all of the time.”

In NYC, Johns met musical composer John Cage & his partner choreographer Merce Cunningham,a significant contributor to the modern dance world concert stages. Johns collaborated with Cunnigham’s work by designing sets & costumes, & became an artistic advisor to his company. Johns, Cage & Cunningham collaborated in 1973 on Cunningham’s piece- Un Jour ou Deux. These 4 gay men, never displayed explicit homosexual content in any of their works.


Johns & Rauschenberg split up because of the discomfort of being recognized as a couple outside of their circle. Rauscheberg: “What had been sensitive & tender became gossip” . Johns recalled the time he was reading Gertrude Stein’s The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas,& Rauschenberg stated: “One day they’ll be writing about us like that.” Johns was not pleased by Rauschenberg’s comparison to the lesbian couple.


Their breakup was so bitter that they both left NYC, & they both returned to the south for an extended period. They didn't speak for more than a decade. In 1961, as the relationship was ending, Johns produced a painting- In Memory of My Feelings, Frank O’Hara, taking the name from a poem by O’Hara about gay love & the price paid for suppressing it. The poem's first line: “My quietness has a man in it.”. Johns became reclusive, & moved to an estate in  Connecticut. He almost never gives interviews. Johns’ & Rauschenberg’s relationship was the deepest & most important of their entire lives. Rauschenberg died 2 years ago this week

Robert Rauschenberg: “Jasper was soft, beautiful, lean, & poetic. I have photos of him then that would break your heart.”

The Wonderful Life Of Mercier Philip Cunningham, Born On This Day- April 16th

Walter Kenndy is a University Professor of Dance, & he was a principal dancer with the internationally acclaimed Lewitzky Dance Company for 20 years. Because of him, I know more about dance than most civilians, yet I always feel a bit awkward when I do posts on dancers & choreographers. He may wish to weigh in.

With his partner in life & art- John Cage, Merce Cunningham, born on this day in 1919,  created some of the most memorable dance pieces of the 20th century & beyond. He is considered to be one of the world’s greatest choreographers. Cunningham ranks with Isadora Duncan, Serge Diaghilev, Martha Graham & George Balanchine in giving the public the chance to rethink the essence of dance & choreography.

Cunningham met Cage soon after he moved to New York from Washington State, where he was discovered by Martha Graham. His first solo concert, in 1944, was in collaboration with Cage, & the couple remained together until Cage’s death in 1992.

Cage on the left with Cunningham in the late 1950s

Cunningham formed his own dance company in 1953. The company quickly became known for innovation & established itself as an important contributor to the post-war New York dance scene.

Robert Rauschenberg worked as the company’s stage manager, & collaboration with artists-Richard Serra, Jasper Johns & Sol LeWitt continued into the new century. As late as 2007, Cunningham & Rauschenberg continued topremiere new pieces.

Cage was as influential in the world of serious music as Cunningham was in dance. The couple were an artistic punch that slammed through the conventions of post-war America. They experimented with chance encounters of dance, music, & structures.

Cunningham never stopped challenging himself. That he also challenged the rest of us is our enduring good fortune. Cunningham continued to dance into old age. At 80, he danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Cunningham gradually relinquished day to day management of his dance company. On July 26, 2009, he died peacefully in his sleep in his Manhattan home.

The Wonderful Life Of Mercier Philip Cunningham, Born On This Day- April 16th

Walter Keendy is a University Professor of Dance, & he was a principal dancer with the internationally acclaimed Lewitzky Dance Company for 20 years. Because of him, I know more about dance than most civilians, yet I always feel a bit awkward when I do posts on dancers & choreographers. He may wish to weigh in.

With his partner in life & art- John Cage, Merce Cunningham created some of the most memorable dance pieces of the 20th century & beyond. He is considered to be one of the world’s greatest choreographers. Cunningham ranks with Isadora Duncan, Serge Diaghilev, Martha Graham & George Balanchine in giving the public the chance to rethink the essence of dance & choreography.

Cunningham met Cage soon after he moved to New York from Washington State, where he was discovered by Martha Graham. His first solo concert, in 1944, was in collaboration with Cage, & the couple remained together until Cage’s death in 1992.

Cage on the left with Cunningham in the late 1950s

Cunningham formed his own dance company in 1953. The company quickly became known for innovation & established itself as an important contributor to the post-war New York dance scene.

Robert Rauschenberg worked as the company’s stage manager, & collaboration with artists-Richard Serra, Jasper Johns & Sol LeWitt continued into the new century. As late as 2007, Cunningham & Rauschenberg continued topremiere new pieces.

Cage was as influential in the world of serious music as Cunningham was in dance. The couple were an artistic punch that slammed through the conventions of post-war America. They experimented with chance encounters of dance, music, & structures.

Cunningham never stopped challenging himself. That he also challenged the rest of us is our enduring good fortune. Cunningham continued to dance into old age. At 80, he danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Cunningham gradually relinquished day to day management of his dance company. On July 26, 2009, he died peacefully in his sleep in his Manhattan home.

Born On This Day- October 22nd... Robert Rauschenberg

"The artist's job is to be a witness to his time in history."

He is one of the Husband’s favorite figures of the 20th century & a major inspiration for his own work. Unfortunetley…or maybe fortunatley, I am no Jasper Johns. But as we watched the documentry- Robert Rauschenberg: Man At Work, I was amazed at the similarity in Rauschenberg & my husband’s demeanor & artistic process.



Robert Rauschenberg was an irrepressibly prolific American artist who reshaped art in the 20th century. His work gave new meaning to sculpture. A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer &, in later years, even a composer, Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist would stick to one medium or style. He pushed, prodded & pndered all the mediums in which he worked.


Following after Marcel Duchamp, & Joseph Cornell he obscured the lines between painting & sculpture, painting & photography, photography & printmaking, sculpture & photography, sculpture & dance, sculpture & technology, technology & performance art, art & life.

John Cage: “Beauty is now underfoot wherever we take the trouble to look.” Through Rauschenberg’s work, people could see that anything, including junk off the street, could be the stuff of art, & that it could be the stuff of art as a kind of poetry in the consumer glut, which Rauschenberg celebrated. Before Andy Warhol, there was Robert Rauschenberg.


Rauschenberg: “I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they’re surrounded by things like that all day long, & it must make them miserable.”


He had generosity of spirit, uninhibited & mostly good-natured. When he became rich, he gave millions of dollars to charities for women, children, medical research, other artists & Democratic politicians.

In the mid-1950s, Rauscheberg began a passionate affair with the artists- Cy Twombly, They traveled together to Africa & Europe. Rauschenberg began to collect & assemble objects: bits of rope, stones, sticks, bones, which he showed to a dealer in Rome who exhibited them under the title “scatole contemplative,” or Thought Boxes. They were shown in Florence, where an outraged critic suggested that Mr. Rauschenberg toss them in the river. He thought that sounded like a good idea. After saving a few pieces for himself & friends, he found a secluded spot on the River Arno. Rauschenberg wrote to the critic: “I took your advice.”


Around that time Rauschenberg met Jasper Johns, then unknown, who had a studio in the same building in Lower Manhattan where Mr. Rauschenberg had a loft. Their love affair over the next years went hand in hand with the creation, by both artists, of some of the most groundbreaking works of postwar art.

Rauschenberg: “We gave each other permission to do what we wanted.” Living together in a series of lofts in Lower Manhattan until the 1960s, they exchanged ideas & supported themselves designing window displays for Tiffany & Company & Bonwit Teller.


His association with theater & dance had already begun by the 1950s, when he began designing sets & costumes for Merce Cunningham & composer John Cage. In 1963 he choreographed “Pelican,” which he performed on roller skates while wearing a parachute & helmet of his design to the accompaniment of a taped collage of sound.


I was sad to learn of his passing in the spring of 2008. He is one of my favorite figures of the 20th century, & I loved reading about his circle. Every famous gay man comes out eventually, even if it only happens when he dies. His obituary may be the first chance to know the truth about a gay man's life, but sadly this is not always the case. Even people who were out & proud can find themselves pushed back in the closet after they die. Lovers are suddenly out of the picture, & longtime relationships are refered to as “companions”, in a way that would never happen straight people. Some publications still use the euphemism: “never married."

When Rauschenberg died 2 years ago there was little mention of his long time same sex realtionships. He did marry, but was divorced more than 50 years ago.There is a Portland connection; his son from that marriage- Christopher is a talented photographer who lives & exhibits here. Rauschenberg had relationships with Cy Twombly & Jasper Johns among others, & he was part of a group of gay men working in different disciplines, but all bouncing off ideas & inspiring each other: John Cage, Merce Cunningham & Jasper Johns. “He is survived... by his longtime companion- Darryl Pottorf” claimed the NY Times.” Nice. Maybe when I go, my obit will state: “He lived with his roomate of 50 years”.


I feel an artist’s sexuality is almost always instrumental to their work. Art Critic- Robert Hughes: “Rauscheberg’s art contained some of the few great icons of male homosexual love in modern culture". Other critics have argued that his earlier work was about the artist not revealing himself, how could a gay man in the 1950s? But ignoring Rauschenberg's gayness at the time of his passing was just offensive. How an artist's sexuality has influenced their work & shaped their life should not be a secret that they take to their graves.

Born On This Day- May 15th... American Artist Jasper Johns

I have a passion for 20th century American art, & I have always been fascinated with the 1950s, when these geniuses produced their astonishing works while closeted, but whose gayness was really an open secret: Montgomery Clift & James Dean, Paul Cadmus, George Platt Lynes, Andy Warhol, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Christopher Isherwood, W.H. Auden, James Merrill, Frank O’Hara, Allen Ginsberg, Lincoln Kirstein, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Langston Hughes, Philip Johnson.

Jasper Johns was a Southern Gentleman from South Carolina. In 1953, after a stint in the army, he moved to NYC with the notion of becoming of an artist or writer. Within just a few years he had created the iconic- Flag, & White Flag & within a half a decade he would have 4 paintings in the permanent collection of MOMA. Within a decade, he would be considered the greatest living American artist.


Jasper Johns fell in love with fellow artist-Robert Rauschenberg, who became an inspiration to the younger man. Rauschenberg: “We gave each other permission.” Spurring each other on creatively, Johns painted many works of familiar objects: numerals, letters, maps, flags, letters, that captivated the art world, when NYC was the center of all things art. Johns & Robert Rauschenberg were lovers from 1955-1961, the era of their best & most important work. They had living/working lofts on the same building & went freely between their spaces. Although the  men lived & worked together, it was Johns who received the most acclaim.

Jasper Johns: “I don’t want my work to be an exposure of my feelings,” He painted conventional subjects, which left the critics to ponder the explanation of his rough brushstrokes & saturnine surfaces. Johns’s work is about tension between knowing & not knowing, the explained & the unexplained. His paintings carry a secret.

His 1955 work-Target With Plaster Casts consisted of 9 wooden boxes with hinged doors, each box held of a body part. One of them was a detailed penis. A representative of the Museum of Modern Art, asked I if it would be acceptable if that particular box stayed closed? Johns: “It would be all right to keep the lid closed some of the time but not all of the time.”

In NYC, Johns met musical composer John Cage & his partner choreographer Merce Cunningham,a significant contributor to the modern dance world concert stages. Johns collaborated with Cunnigham’s work by designing sets & costumes, & became an artistic advisor to his company. Johns, Cage & Cunningham collaborated in 1973 on Cunningham’s piece- Un Jour ou Deux. These 4 gay men, never displayed explicit homosexual content in any of their works.

Johns & Rauschenberg split up because of the discomfort of being recognized as a couple outside of their circle. Rauscheberg: “What had been sensitive & tender became gossip” . Johns recalled the time he was reading Gertrude Stein’s The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas,& Rauschenberg stated: “One day they’ll be writing about us like that.” Johns was not pleased by Rauschenberg’s comparison to the lesbian couple.


Their breakup was so bitter that they both left NYC, & they both returned to the south for an extended period. They didn't speak for more than a decade. In 1961, as the relationship was ending, Johns produced a painting- In Memory of My Feelings, Frank O’Hara, taking the name from a poem by O’Hara about gay love & the price paid for suppressing it. The poem's first line: “My quietness has a man in it.”. Johns became reclusive, & moved to an estate in  Connecticut. He almost never gives interviews. Johns’ & Rauschenberg’s relationship was the deepest & most important of their entire lives. Rauschenberg died 2 years ago this week

Robert Rauschenberg: “Jasper was soft, beautiful, lean, & poetic. I have photos of him then that would break your heart.”