Katherine Porter Drawing
Lost and Found
By: Charles Giuliano - Dec 20, 2024
The artist Katherine Porter (1941-2024) was a friend of many years. We met in the late 1960s when I was the art critic for Boston After Dark. I wrote about her as arguably the most interesting of the emerging generation that exhibited as The Studio Coalition.
Following that seminal event, the nation’s first Open Studios, she found support from Phyllis Rosen of the Obelisk Gallery. The gallerist connected her with New York’s McKee Gallery. She was selected for the Whitney Biennial. That ushered in national recognition and launched a successful career.
Typically, Kathy did not stay put for very long. That peripatetic lifestyle was a matter of either greener pastures or burned bridges depending upon who you asked. She embraced new environments with enthusiasm but then shut down and moved on.
It’s a thread of emotional intensity that is a signifier of her work which was abstract and expressionist but with unique concerns that defy an easy definition as an abstract expressionist. Unlike their pursuit of pure aesthetics her images were created through a lens of social justice. Signifiers like barbed wire emerge is what most people relate to as essays in form, gesture and color. Whether intentional or serendipitous that conflates with discussion of Wasilly Kandinsky’s “Number 13,” 1913, in the Art Institute of Chicago. Based on evocative forms in the painting it is known as “Canons.”
Porter’s work exists on its own terms and has to be approached as such. At the peak of her career it was admired for its originality and intensity. But going her own way denied enduring attention given to groups and schools of artists. When tidal waves of taste regularly occur eccentric and unclassified artists tend to get stranded on the beach.
When an artist dies after, at best, a flurry of obituaries the dust settles. When the art historical wheels turn perhaps there is interest in researching and exhibiting the work. Status in the secondary market plays a role in this. Collectors and curators like to see a return on their investments. Currently there appears to be no interest in a Porter retrospective.
Several years ago, out of the blue, Kathy pulled into our Adams driveway accompanied by the artist Richard Harrington. She had recently relocated to Southern Vermont. There was a dinner party during which with artist friends we visited the studio.
After years of dealing with Lupus she was in poor heath. She explained that she had become allergic to her materials. That meant a transition to using oil sticks. There were mostly easel scaled abstract works that we viewed. She was working on a show to send to Germany. It’s in that nation’s cultural DNA to respond to her emotionally and socially charged expressionism. She later told me that the work was well received.
After a lapse of decades I wanted to catch up with her life and career. We met for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. She was surprised when I produced a tape recorder. She had assumed that it was just a social occasion. It was interesting but complex as she was not willing to discuss the reasons behind leaving Boston and the many moves since then.
We kept in touch by e mail as she often commented on articles I posted. She was very engaged and loved classical music and reading. Her strong political and social views evoked strong responses when discussing them. She felt too deeply to engage in dinner party conversations. When we invited her for dinner she brought a small whimsical print. It’s one of Astrid’s favorite works in our collection. Over a couple of years we dined several times.
It’s not clear why she left our area for the South West. She had loved Maine but found winters dreary. Approaching a summer move I kept her up to date with record breaking temperatures in Phoenix. Santa Fe proved to be the final destination where she connected with the prestigious LewAllen Gallery. That’s where Jaune Quick to See Smith viewed the work which she later wrote to me about.
In 2023 I received a letter from her post marked 8 February with a return address of S. Thomaston, Maine. It contained a small drawing created with colored pencil on black matte paper. There was an interesting note saying that she had a pile of these spontaneously produced works. She also expressed a longing to live in France as well as reasons why not.
At the time I didn’t know what to make of it. I muddled over it but the envelope got buried in the detritus of the studio. There was a sense of loss that I had not been more attentive and responsive when she passed.
Recently, when Astrid was trying to get some order in anticipation of the holidays it resurfaced. Given a second chance I am now being more diligent.
Why she decided to mail it to me with an accompanying note is a mystery. It was sent in the last year of her life and as such is both image and message/clue to her art and state of mind.
The small drawing is loose as well as tightly composed and specific. The entire area has light, seemingly random markings. On the lower left side is a vertical row of eight dashes. They define the edge. The upper right corner has a crown like glyph that evokes those in works by Jean Michel Basquiat. Below that are four, short horizontal lines evenly spaced and stacked above each other. The right end of the top three have yellow dots like periods. The center right continues with three vertical red dashes then off kilter continues with six more that meander out of line as compared to the exacting formation of parallel marks on the lower left.
The center of the composition has a mélange of markings of semiotic forms and automatic drawing in the manner of Andre Masson. In the upper right area is an anthropomorphic, somewhat anguished figure of disparate elements. The “face” is a yellow circle with angry black markings as “eyes.”
Porter defined the importance of the central area by surrounding it with an irregular line drawn in orange with intensity. The marking indicates the force used to create this defining border. The top is left open suggesting the space as a vessel containing those angst evoking forms and markings. Less emphatic marking randomly fills the upper left area. They lay truly “outside the lines” of the central defining area.
The best approach to understanding this emotionally charged drawing is through automatic surrealism. The artist is free and spontaneous as well as consciously composed. It recalls Picasso’s statement that it takes a lifetime to make work like a child.
Consider that this small piece was created during the 100th anniversary of Surrealism. In an e mail she told me that she was “scribbling.” Of which this is an example. It was a way of getting out from under the weight of making art. That may be but I will treasure this small piece as a glimpse into the psyche of a brilliant, troubled, and complex artist.
Interview with Katherine Porter.
Jaune Quick to See Smith on Katherine Porter.