Chapter eight: in a state of utter delight

“Who the hell knows”: ST to HS, January 18, 1944, AAA.

He trained his European eye: R & S, pp. 56–57.

“in a state of utter delight”: HS, interview, April 18, 2007.

The “Cubist elements” that became his lifelong totems: Some of these are referred to in Jacques Dupin’s essay, Derrière le Miroir, no. 192, June 1971.

“a flying Indian”: In R & S, p. 57, ST confuses the Pontiac with the DeSoto, which had a stylized head of the explorer Hernando DeSoto as its hood ornament.

“the sort of red”: Diary 1991, n.d. but following May 30, YCAL, Box 75. Internal evidence suggests that some of the undated pages may have been written at a later time and inserted; very few (if any) seem to be a continuation of the dated page.

In later years, he regretted: ST to AB, December 15, 1984. The rest of the sentence said that photographers “like Walker Evans were already making the rounds.”

America was “disarming”: These observations about what he thought of American architecture and culture were made in notes at the end of a 1953 calendar/diary, YCAL, Box 3.

“Speaking primitive English”: Diary, n.d. but following entry for June 4, 1991, YCAL, Box 75.

“Who the hell knows”: ST to HS, January 18, 1944, AAA.

the first street he knew in the United States: He gave his address as 412 6th Avenue on his application for a commission in the navy, BNP953, Revised 1942, YCAL, Box 20.

“Sixth Avenue was very luminous”: Diary, n.d., entry following Friday, May 31, 1991, YCAL, Box 75.

Tino was filled with a zest for life: ST to HS, May 25, 1944, AAA.

“everybody brought something”: Ruth Nivola, interview, September 22, 2007.

“no curiosity about the USA”: HS, interview, March 29, 2007; Ruth Nivola, interview, September 22, 2007.

“true friendship”: ST to AB, January 26, 1946.

“one beautiful room with big windows”: Ruth Nivola, interview, September 22, 2007. In a prior interview on July 24, 2007, she expressed regret at having to leave the mural on the wall, but she still had the initial sketch for it, made by ST on the back of another painting.

It was signed by Ik Schuman: Contract letter from Ik Schuman to Cesar Civita, “attorney or agent” for ST, May 15, 1942, YCAL, Box 1.

It gave them power of attorney: Contractual letter from ST to Cesar Civita, July 1, 1942, YCAL, Box 1. This document continued an earlier agreement, “Statement Account Steinberg up to March 1, 1942,” also in YCAL, Box 1, Folder “1942 Correspondence.” ST to H & H Danson, May 16, 1942: “Maybe you know the good news that Miss Einstein is negotiating an agreement with the New Yorker. That would be wonderful.”

More work soon followed: George H. Lyon, OWI, to ST via Cesar Civita, July 11, 1942, YCAL, Box 1, “Correspondence 1942.”

By November he was a consultant: ST from OWI Overseas Operations Bureau, Overseas Publications Graphic Arts Division, Art Section, NY; YCAL, Box 1, “Correspondence 1942.”

He also responded: “To Our Artists” from the New Yorker editors, July 2, 1942, YCAL, Box 1, “Correspondence 1942.”

Several weeks later a second memo arrived: “To Our Artists” from the New Yorker editors, August 4, 1942, YCAL, Box 1, “Correspondence 1942.”

he wanted to see the Pacific Ocean: HS, interview, March 29, 2007: “He was a natural-born traveler. When he came to the U.S. from Santo Domingo he was totally broke … but the kind of man he was, he got on a bus.”

He took advances: HS, interview, May 8, 2007.

here he was helped by Harold Ross: Ross and Cook letters are January 7, 1942; Ross to McGuiness is January 6, 1942, as are general delivery to ST; YCAL, Box 1.

Steinberg took the southern route: Information that follows is from diary, undated entry following June 4, 1991, YCAL, Box 75.

From his earliest days: HS, interview, May 8, 2007.

“the back side of cities”: R & S, pp. 52–53.

“character … with a lot of influence”: Dupin, interview, Derrière le Miroir.

“Damn!”: ST, January 1, 1943, YCAL, Box 20, Folder “Tortoreto, 1940–42.”

“invited him to lunch”: Throughout 2007 I conducted interviews and had many conversations with Hedda Sterne. As stated earlier, she allowed me to read her restricted letters from ST in the Archives of American Art, and she showed me many other documents, letters, paintings, and drawings in her house on 71st Street in New York. HS made four recordings to answer questions asked by Claire Nivola in 2005, on May 21, June 4 (two tapes), and September 26, which Claire Nivola generously made available to me. These sources provide much of the account that follows.

“all energetic [over]achievers”: Joseph M. Stafford, e‑mail to DB, August 1, 2008. I am grateful to Mr. Stafford, a nephew of Fred Stern, who (along with HS) provided much of the information about his uncle that follows.

“learned how to deal”: Joan Simon, “Hedda Sterne: Patterns of Thought,” Art in America, February 2007, p. 161; hereafter Joan Simon interview.

As one example among many: Quotations are from Stacy Schiff, Saint-Exupéry: A Biography (New York: Holt, 2006), p. 370. Also personal communication with Stacy Schiff, May 17, 2009; HS interviews with DB, 2007; Joan Simon interview.

“You explained to me by phone”: ST to HS, January 18. 1944, AAA.

“a big house, a happy home”: HS, interview by Phyllis Tuchman, December 17, 1981, p. 11, AAA; hereafter Tuchman interview.

She enrolled in the University of Bucharest: HS told Tuchman that she completed two years, and Sarah Eckhardt, p. 117, only one. In interviews and conversations with DB, she said she “attended but did not graduate.”

“to this day, it was”: Tuchman interview, p. 10; HS on Claire Nivola tapes, May 21, 2005.

“advocating a synthesis”: Sarah Eckhardt, Uninterupted Flux: Hedda Sterne, A Retrospective (Urbana-Champaign: Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, 2006), p. 117 and p. 3, fig. 3; Victor Brauner: Surrealist Hieroglyphs, catalogue for the exhibition, October, 2001–January, 2002, Menil Collection, Houston (Ostfilden: Hatje Cantz, 2001), p. 151, fig. 87.

“world of the comic press”: HS, interview with DB, April 18, 2007; HS on Claire Nivola tapes, May 21 and June 4, 2005.

When she was seventeen: After she married ST, he and HS became friendly with Léger, but during her time in Paris, Léger never came to the studio and she never saw or met him.

“it was the place of strangers”: Joan Simon interview; HS on Claire Nivola tapes, May 21 and June 4, 2005.

“I was like a real good little Jewish girl”: Tuchman interview, p. 13.

“super-primitive”: Tuchman interview, p. 18; HS interviews with DB; HS on Claire Nivola tapes, May 21, June 4, and September 21, 2005.

“as a girl, a woman”: ST to HS, January 18, 1944, AAA.

“the products of refusals”: HS, interview, March 29, 2007.

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