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PARTISAN REVIEW
there for a weekend, I was able , for example , at the breakfast
table , to talk to him and feel there was somewhat of a dialogue.
But it was never what one would call manifestations of a close
friendship , or rapport. You felt it was very difficult for this person
to have an exchange.
DS:
Did you spend any time doing typical weekend activities, such
as swimming, or walking on the beach?
HF:
Yes, it was usually very pleasant. And Lee had made a very
lovely home. Mealtime was nice . There were often others around,
Alfonso [Ossorio] and Ted [Dragon] . ... In those days, the art
world in New York around Tenth Street and Fifty-seventh Stre_et
was a relative capsule compared to what it is now. There was an
early East Hampton-Springs core that was part of that capsule.
Lee and Jackson were quite close to [Wilfrid] Zogbaum and the
[James] Brooks, for example.
DS:
Did Lee do all the cooking on those weekends?
HF:
I think so. Very often the cooking was determined by the kind
of treatment Jackson was in . For a while they were into
homeopathy or certain other related diets and attitudes and
therapies . Not that everyone else had to follow it, but that
permeated the house.... They both were trying everything to
rein in his destructive raging beast.
DS:
Did Jackson see any of your shows, or your work, in the fifties?
HF:
I think he did. He would probably see my shows or the group
shows we all might be in . I vaguely remember him coming to my
studio . I don't remember conversations about my painting with
him . One felt that he registered the painting, but that something
in him prevented him from either showing interest or concern
about what one might have been about. I think he took it seriously
and he looked, but I don't think it meant terribly much to him.
Even though he helped spawn me . Like most great painters , he
was more or less obsessed by his own painting.
DS:
He wasn't very encouraging to younger artists. But it doesn't
sound as if he insulted you, either.
HF:
No. I'd say he was a silent hero.
DS:
What about Greenberg's apartment at 90 Bank Street? Was it a
scene of any sort? Was it a gathering place for the art crowd?
HF:
Yes. From every facet . People would be in town . Painters ,
collectors, critics, students, museum people. They were offered a
drink in the late afternoon and very often there would be a
