Creatives Frolic: “Artists Unframed” Serves Up the Ultimate Snapshot

By Catherine D. Anspon // May 22, 2015

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A defining trio: Yoko Ono, John Lennon and Andy Warhol, June 5, 1971. Photograph by art critic/Warhol biographer David Bourdon, David Bourdon papers.

Not the classic Thanksgiving dinner: Lee Krasner, Stella Pollock and Jackson Pollock carving a turkey, in the Pollock/Krasner home in the Springs, East Hampton, New York, 1950. Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner papers.

American illustrator/father of Andrew Wyeth, N. C. Wyeth in his Delaware studio with Allen Tupper True modeling as a cowboy, circa 1905. Allen Tupper True and True Family papers.

Master of the mobile Alexander Calder with Vassar professor of art Agnes Rindge Claflin in Calder’s studio, circa 1942. Agnes Rindge Claflin papers concerning Alexander Calder.

The inimitable and infinitely fascinating Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Coyoacán, Mexico, circa 1940s. Photograph by patron Chester Dale, Chester Dale papers.

A tender moment: Pablo Picasso and his daughter Maya (born to mom/the painter's mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter), circa 1944. William and Ethel Baziotes papers.

A modernist classic: Breuer House, Lincoln, Massachusetts, 1940. Marcel Breuer papers.

Before he was famous: Andy Warhol and Pittsburgh pal/modern dance Corinne ("Corky") Kessler on Fire Island beach, circa 1949. Photograph by Carnegie Tech classmate/painter Philip Pearlstein. Philip Pearlstein papers.

Jazzy pals: Chicago bohemian painter Gertrude Abercrombie and Dizzy Gillespie on his birthday, October 21, 1964. Gertrude Abercrombie papers.

The father of American landscape photography, Ansel Adams, 1936. Katharine Kuh papers.

West coast painter of the cool geometric abstractions Helen Lundeberg at Mount Baldy, San Bernardino County, California, October 1943. Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg papers.

Princeton Architectural Press' new release "Artists Unframed: Snapshots from the Archives of American Art" by Merry A. Foresta reveals the personalities and hints at the inspirations and foibles of iconic 20th-century creatives.

Hot off the press this month is Merry A. Foresta‘s scintillating art tome/photo album Artists Unframed (Princeton Architectural Press, May 20150, $24.95). Foresta, former photo curator at the Smithsonian Institution, raided the venerable institution’s Archives of American Art to select more than 100 largely unknown images that reveal candid moments in the lives of our country’s top creatives. The images encompass Warhol from pre-Factory to Superstar days, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo (in languid repose), the enigmatic Marcel Duchamp, edgy John Waters, and even Ab-Ex titan Jackson Pollock, who graces this volume’s cover, side-by-side with painter/wife Lee Krasner, captured in casual threads one afternoon in the country. Order a copy of the book here.