Artwork Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Ben Bianchi (1934-1996) |
Title |
Il Messagiore di Maestro Monteverde |
Date |
1965 |
Medium |
Mixed-media assemblage |
Dimensions |
7 1/4 x 9 5/8 x 2 3/4 in. |
Description |
Ben Bianchi was a former student of Lee Krasner's nephew, Ronald Stein, at the art school of the Worcester Art Museum. He first met Krasner in the early 1960s, when he came to Springs as Stein's guest; Stein and his wife lived next door to Krasner. According to a 1993 interview with Bianchi, he became friendly with her, and often visited her in East Hampton and New York City. When visiting her in Springs, he stayed in the former studio in the house, which Krasner had converted as a guest room. He occasionally sized canvases for her, using the same Rivit glue that Pollock preferred. For two summers, 1965 and 1966, Bianchi rented the Parsons blacksmith shop, which then stood diagonally across from the Pollock-Krasner House. He lived and worked in the building, and paid his rent by painting his landlord's house next door. He made this piece during that time, using a cigar box, mylar, broken dolls salvaged from the East Hampton dump, and a bird's wing he got from a friend who was a taxidermist at the American Museum of Natural History. "Lee was taken with this little box," he recalled, "and I gave it to her as a gift." Its title, "Il Messagiore di Maestro Monteverdi," is a sly dig at the art critic Clement Greenberg, whose name means "green mountain" (monte verde in Italian). The winged messenger is carrying two green balls, having apparently emasculated the figure giving chase. Krasner and Greenberg had had a major falling out a few years earlier, and this playful yet slightly macabre assemblage may have appealed to her for that reason. According to Bianchi, they decided on the title together. It is assumed that "messagiore" is a mistaken spelling of "messaggero." Estate of Lee Krasner Pollock |
Catalog Number |
1987.039 |
Object Name |
Assemblage |