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Eugene McCown

December 15, 2023


Eugene McCown or MacCown[1] (July 27, 1898 – April 23, 1966)[2] was an American pianist, painter of the École de Paris and writer, also remembered for being part of the chic bohemian set of Paris in the roaring twenties.

Early life edit

William Eugene McCown was born in El Dorado Springs (Mo, Cedar county), the son of William Henry McCown (1870-1961)[3] and Inez Boyer (1877-1909).[4] In 1900, the family settled in Deepwater (Henry County) where McCown's father ran a prominent hardware store. After his mother's death, he moved with his sister Laurayne to his maternal uncle's in Kansas City, where he would be given a formal education. He was taught how to sketch[5] and play the piano[6] with great success. At the Central High school of Kansas City, he met Virgil Thomson (the future composer and critic) who was to become a life-long friend.[7] When he had completed two years of journalism[8] at the University of Missouri, McCown went to New York to paint at the Art Students League and at Woodstock, where he studied with Andrew Dasburg and Eugene Speicher. For six months, in 1920, he traveled through the West Indies as a painter.[9] In May 1920, his first productions (landscapes and portraits) were exhibited Caracas.[10] On his return to New York, McCown mingled in the local artistic circles. His fearless temper and homosexuality as well as the rise of puritanism and Prohibition may explain why McCown worked his way to France on a freighter in 1921.

The golden years edit

McCown's ability to play the popular jazz of the age on the piano, his talent as a painter and his unabashed charm soon made him very popular in Paris. After only a couple of months in France, he was engaged as a jazz pianist at Le Boeuf sur le Toit, the most famous nightclub of the roaring twenties in Paris.[11] There he mingled with the most elegant bohemian crowd, such as André Gide, Cole Porter, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Winnaretta Singer, Isadora Duncan. He also met with French poet Jean Cocteau, whom, it was rumored, he had an affair with, and British heiress and political activist Nancy Cunard. Thanks to Cunard's money, he was never penniless and traveled extensively. It is unclear whether McCown and Cunard were lovers, but he was certainly her protégé for many years[12] and painted about seven portraits of her.[13] During the winter of 1923, he began a love affair with the French journalist René Crevel.[14] Along with Cocteau and Raymond Mortimer, Crevel did a lot to help McCown in his new career as a painter. In 1925, McCown's first Parisian show at the Effort moderne, Léonce Rosenberg's gallery, was a success. Within a week all the paintings and drawings were sold and many reviews in French, American and British newspapers praised his “highly poetic work” as well as "the cleanness of line and the delicacy of detail".[15] Clive Bell, Waldemar George and Maurice Raynal[16] would promote his art. In the early 1920s, McCown's paintings depict men in various stages of intimacy. His style is mainly influenced by Picasso, Henri Rousseau and the Quattrocento Italians. After this exhibition, McCown became the toast of the town. He was known for his wit and promiscuity. McCown indulged himself in pleasures such as drugs and alcohol. Crevel would distance himself and write a cruel portrait of his former lover in his novel La Mort difficile,[17] where one can easily recognize McCown in Arthur Bruggle. Several exhibitions were yet to be organized in Paris and New York[18] between 1929 and 1932. But now his name was mostly known for the wild parties he gave in his brand-new Art Deco studio designed by André Lurçat (a student of Robert Mallet-Stevens) and his many lovers (including Glenway Wescott, Hart Crane whom he helped get out of prison in July 1929, Raymond Mortimer, Paul Mooney, Richard Wyndham, Patrick Balfour…). After the 1929 stock market crash, many rich Americans sailed back to the US and McCown lost important supporters. In 1933 he had no choice but to return to New York City.

A dramatic descent into hell edit

On his return to New York, McCown was only 35 years old. However, it appeared that his life was behind him. Alcohol and drugs had already overshadowed his magnetism.[19] Now penniless, he had to beg tirelessly from those who still cared for him. Realizing that his talent for painting and music was not enough, McCown was forced to give up all his artistic ambitions. Literally haunted by the memory of his past glory, he only enjoyed the company of former expatriates (Virgil Thomson, Klaus Mann, E. E. Cummings, Mercedes de Acosta, Janet Flanner, Monroe Wheeler, Eugene Berman…).

Twice he tried to escape his wretched circumstances. In 1943, his love for France made him join the American intelligence services.[2] He was assigned a position of translator in London. Unfortunately, his physical and moral condition caused him to be discharged a few months after. In 1950, Doubleday published his roman à clef The Siege of Innocence,[20] in which he describes the path of a young American artist of great beauty victim of the concupiscence of his companions.[21]

At 50, McCown already looked like a destitute old man. However, with the financial help of a few staunch friends, he managed to reach the age of 67. In April 1966, he died at The New York Metropolitan hospital after an attempted suicide.[22]

Works reproductions edit

  • McCown, Eugene and Blomshield, John, "La pintura in Puerto Rico", in Puerto Rico Ilustrado, March 20, 1920.
  • McCown, Eugene, Portrait of Nancy Cunard, 1923, oil on board, 99.1 x 66 cm, in Cunard, Nancy, These Were The Hours, Memories of my Hours Press, Réanville and Paris, 1928-1931, edited with a foreword by Hugh Ford, Southern Illinois University Press, 1969.
  • McCown, Eugene, Le Nu dans les fleurs, 1924, Le Bulletin de l'Effort moderne [Léonce Rosenberg, dir.], January, 1925, n°11, p. 24.
  •  
    Spanish Woman, by Eugene McCown, 1924
    McCown, Eugene, Le Joueur d'accordéon et L'Espagnole, 1924, Le Bulletin de l'Effort moderne [Léonce Rosenberg, dir.], February, 1925, n°12, p. 25.
  • McCown, Eugene, Les Deux Nus à cheval et La Destinée, 1925, Le Bulletin de l'Effort moderne [Léonce Rosenberg, dir.], March, 1925, n°13, p. 25.
  • McCown, Eugene, Les deux nus au lapin, 1925, Le Bulletin de l'Effort moderne [Léonce Rosenberg, dir.], April, 1925, n°14, p. 19.
  • McCown, Eugene, Portrait of Janet Flanner, c.1925, oil on canvas, in Kagan, Jérôme, Eugene McCown, démon des Années folles, Paris, Séguier, p. 78.
  • "Five Interesting New Pictures by Eugene McCown". British Vogue. Early January 1925. p. 57.
  • Crevel, René, "Eugene MacCown [sic], peintre ingénu", in The Little Review, Spring 1925, n° 11, with 3 reproductions of McCown's work.
  • Crevel, René, "Eugene MacCown [sic], peintre ingénu", in Cahiers de Belgique, June 1928, pp. 225–227, with 3 new reproductions of McCown's work.
  • McCown, Eugene, Paintings, drawings, gouaches, Marie Sterner Galleries, Hours Press (ed), New York, 1930, with 4 reproductions of McCown's work.
  • Aronson, Chil, Artistes américains modernes de Paris, Editions "Le Triangle", Paris, 1932, with 3 reproductions of McCown's works, p. 17.
  • Kagan, Jérôme, "The Rogue of the roaring twenties", France-Amérique journal, October 2020, pp 64–73, with 4 reproductions of McCown's work.
  • Kagan, Jérôme, Eugene McCown, démon des Années folles 2021-03-02 at the Wayback Machine, Paris, Séguier, 2019, 480 pages, with 26 reproductions of McCown's work.

Works on display edit

  •  
    Portrait of Nancy Cunard by Eugene McCown, c. 1923.
    McCown, Eugene, Portrait of Nancy Cunard, 1923, oil on board, 99.1 x 66 cm, Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin.
  • McCown, Eugene, The Picador, oil on canvas, 1928, 81.3 x 65.4 cm, The Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester.
  • McCown, Eugene, Three Heads, 1937, gouache on cardboard, 59,1 x 76,2 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts.

References edit

  1. ^ Civil status documents make it clear that the original spelling is "McCown".
  2. ^ a b Kagan, Jérôme (2019). Eugene McCown, démon des Années folles (in French). Paris: Séguier. p. 51. ISBN 9782840497882.
  3. ^ "William Henry McCown". Find a grave.
  4. ^ "Inez Aline McCown, née Boyer". Find a grave.
  5. ^ In his biography, Eugene McCown, démon des Années folles, Paris, Séguier, 2019, Kagan formulates the idea that McCown was given drawing lessons by Hannah W. Cuthbertson, Virgil Thomson's sister's teacher.
  6. ^ "Eugene McCown in piano recital at the Conservatory of Music". The Olathe Mirror. November 20, 1913. p. 5.
  7. ^ "Eugene McCown and Virgil Thomson on a visit to Deepwater". Deepwater World. July 20, 1916. p. 8.
  8. ^ "Eugene McCown to attend the State University". Deepwater World. August 31, 1916. p. 8.
  9. ^ McCown's application form to get his first passport (January 13, 1920)
  10. ^ "MacCowan [sic] gives art exhibit: former student's portrait on display in Venezuela". The Evening Missourian. June 10, 1920. p. 4.
  11. ^ Letter from Virgil Thomson to Leland Poole, April 21, 1922, published in Selected Letters of Virgil Thomson, Tim Page & Vanessa Weeks (ed.), New York, Summit Books, 1988, p. 34, translated into French in Jérôme Kagan, Eugene McCown, démon des Années folles, Paris, Séguier, 2019 [French edition], p. 74.
  12. ^ Edouard Roditi, who met McCown in Paris in 1929, assumed McCown and Cunard were lovers after her liaison with Aragon ended (1928). If they were lovers it is more probable that it all began as soon as 1922.
  13. ^ The 1923 portrait exhibited at The Harry Ransom Center in Austin (TX) is the only one that belongs a public collection.
  14. ^ Teitelbaum, M.O. (2010). "René Crevel and Eugene McCown - a Transatlantic Partnership". The Stylemakers. Minimalism and Classic Modernism 1915-1945. London: Philip Wilson Publishers: 69–70.
  15. ^ "Five Interesting New Pictures by Eugene McCown". British Vogue. January 1925. p. 57. doi:10.1215/10642684-2005-003. S2CID 144492294.
  16. ^ "Exposition Mac Cown [sic]". L'Intransigeant. March 23, 1925.
  17. ^ Crevel, René (1987). Difficult death. Translated by Rattray, David. 160 pages. London: North Point Press.
  18. ^ "The Brooklyn Daily Eagle". Paintings by Eugene McCown at the Marie Sterner Galleries. March 16, 1930. p. 67.
  19. ^ Kagan, Jérôme (2019). Eugene McCown, démon des Années folles (in French). Paris: Séguier. p. 361. ISBN 9782840497882.
  20. ^ MacCown [sic] Eugene, The Siege of innocence, Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, 1950, 279 pages.
  21. ^ « Eugene MacCown: The Siege of innocence, 1950 », in Gunn, Drewey Wayne, Gay American Novels, 1870-1970: A Reader's Guide, Jefferson, McFarland & Company, 2016, p. 70-72.
  22. ^ Kagan, Jérôme (2019). Eugene MacCown, démon des Années folles (in French). Paris: Séguier. p. 412. ISBN 9782840497882.

December 15, 2023
eugene, mccown, maccown, july, 1898, april, 1966, american, pianist, painter, École, paris, writer, also, remembered, being, part, chic, bohemian, paris, roaring, twenties, contents, early, life, golden, years, dramatic, descent, into, hell, works, reproductio. Eugene McCown or MacCown 1 July 27 1898 April 23 1966 2 was an American pianist painter of the Ecole de Paris and writer also remembered for being part of the chic bohemian set of Paris in the roaring twenties Contents 1 Early life 2 The golden years 3 A dramatic descent into hell 4 Works reproductions 5 Works on display 6 ReferencesEarly life editWilliam Eugene McCown was born in El Dorado Springs Mo Cedar county the son of William Henry McCown 1870 1961 3 and Inez Boyer 1877 1909 4 In 1900 the family settled in Deepwater Henry County where McCown s father ran a prominent hardware store After his mother s death he moved with his sister Laurayne to his maternal uncle s in Kansas City where he would be given a formal education He was taught how to sketch 5 and play the piano 6 with great success At the Central High school of Kansas City he met Virgil Thomson the future composer and critic who was to become a life long friend 7 When he had completed two years of journalism 8 at the University of Missouri McCown went to New York to paint at the Art Students League and at Woodstock where he studied with Andrew Dasburg and Eugene Speicher For six months in 1920 he traveled through the West Indies as a painter 9 In May 1920 his first productions landscapes and portraits were exhibited Caracas 10 On his return to New York McCown mingled in the local artistic circles His fearless temper and homosexuality as well as the rise of puritanism and Prohibition may explain why McCown worked his way to France on a freighter in 1921 The golden years editMcCown s ability to play the popular jazz of the age on the piano his talent as a painter and his unabashed charm soon made him very popular in Paris After only a couple of months in France he was engaged as a jazz pianist at Le Boeuf sur le Toit the most famous nightclub of the roaring twenties in Paris 11 There he mingled with the most elegant bohemian crowd such as Andre Gide Cole Porter F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Gertrude Stein Winnaretta Singer Isadora Duncan He also met with French poet Jean Cocteau whom it was rumored he had an affair with and British heiress and political activist Nancy Cunard Thanks to Cunard s money he was never penniless and traveled extensively It is unclear whether McCown and Cunard were lovers but he was certainly her protege for many years 12 and painted about seven portraits of her 13 During the winter of 1923 he began a love affair with the French journalist Rene Crevel 14 Along with Cocteau and Raymond Mortimer Crevel did a lot to help McCown in his new career as a painter In 1925 McCown s first Parisian show at the Effort moderne Leonce Rosenberg s gallery was a success Within a week all the paintings and drawings were sold and many reviews in French American and British newspapers praised his highly poetic work as well as the cleanness of line and the delicacy of detail 15 Clive Bell Waldemar George and Maurice Raynal 16 would promote his art In the early 1920s McCown s paintings depict men in various stages of intimacy His style is mainly influenced by Picasso Henri Rousseau and the Quattrocento Italians After this exhibition McCown became the toast of the town He was known for his wit and promiscuity McCown indulged himself in pleasures such as drugs and alcohol Crevel would distance himself and write a cruel portrait of his former lover in his novel La Mort difficile 17 where one can easily recognize McCown in Arthur Bruggle Several exhibitions were yet to be organized in Paris and New York 18 between 1929 and 1932 But now his name was mostly known for the wild parties he gave in his brand new Art Deco studio designed by Andre Lurcat a student of Robert Mallet Stevens and his many lovers including Glenway Wescott Hart Crane whom he helped get out of prison in July 1929 Raymond Mortimer Paul Mooney Richard Wyndham Patrick Balfour After the 1929 stock market crash many rich Americans sailed back to the US and McCown lost important supporters In 1933 he had no choice but to return to New York City A dramatic descent into hell editOn his return to New York McCown was only 35 years old However it appeared that his life was behind him Alcohol and drugs had already overshadowed his magnetism 19 Now penniless he had to beg tirelessly from those who still cared for him Realizing that his talent for painting and music was not enough McCown was forced to give up all his artistic ambitions Literally haunted by the memory of his past glory he only enjoyed the company of former expatriates Virgil Thomson Klaus Mann E E Cummings Mercedes de Acosta Janet Flanner Monroe Wheeler Eugene Berman Twice he tried to escape his wretched circumstances In 1943 his love for France made him join the American intelligence services 2 He was assigned a position of translator in London Unfortunately his physical and moral condition caused him to be discharged a few months after In 1950 Doubleday published his roman a clef The Siege of Innocence 20 in which he describes the path of a young American artist of great beauty victim of the concupiscence of his companions 21 At 50 McCown already looked like a destitute old man However with the financial help of a few staunch friends he managed to reach the age of 67 In April 1966 he died at The New York Metropolitan hospital after an attempted suicide 22 Works reproductions editMcCown Eugene and Blomshield John La pintura in Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico Ilustrado March 20 1920 McCown Eugene Portrait of Nancy Cunard 1923 oil on board 99 1 x 66 cm in Cunard Nancy These Were The Hours Memories of my Hours Press Reanville and Paris 1928 1931 edited with a foreword by Hugh Ford Southern Illinois University Press 1969 McCown Eugene Le Nu dans les fleurs 1924 Le Bulletin de l Effort moderne Leonce Rosenberg dir January 1925 n 11 p 24 nbsp Spanish Woman by Eugene McCown 1924McCown Eugene Le Joueur d accordeon et L Espagnole 1924 Le Bulletin de l Effort moderne Leonce Rosenberg dir February 1925 n 12 p 25 McCown Eugene Les Deux Nus a cheval et La Destinee 1925 Le Bulletin de l Effort moderne Leonce Rosenberg dir March 1925 n 13 p 25 McCown Eugene Les deux nus au lapin 1925 Le Bulletin de l Effort moderne Leonce Rosenberg dir April 1925 n 14 p 19 McCown Eugene Portrait of Janet Flanner c 1925 oil on canvas in Kagan Jerome Eugene McCown demon des Annees folles Paris Seguier p 78 Five Interesting New Pictures by Eugene McCown British Vogue Early January 1925 p 57 Crevel Rene Eugene MacCown sic peintre ingenu in The Little Review Spring 1925 n 11 with 3 reproductions of McCown s work Crevel Rene Eugene MacCown sic peintre ingenu in Cahiers de Belgique June 1928 pp 225 227 with 3 new reproductions of McCown s work McCown Eugene Paintings drawings gouaches Marie Sterner Galleries Hours Press ed New York 1930 with 4 reproductions of McCown s work Aronson Chil Artistes americains modernes de Paris Editions Le Triangle Paris 1932 with 3 reproductions of McCown s works p 17 Kagan Jerome The Rogue of the roaring twenties France Amerique journal October 2020 pp 64 73 with 4 reproductions of McCown s work Kagan Jerome Eugene McCown demon des Annees folles Archived 2021 03 02 at the Wayback Machine Paris Seguier 2019 480 pages with 26 reproductions of McCown s work Works on display edit nbsp Portrait of Nancy Cunard by Eugene McCown c 1923 McCown Eugene Portrait of Nancy Cunard 1923 oil on board 99 1 x 66 cm Harry Ransom Center The University of Texas at Austin McCown Eugene The Picador oil on canvas 1928 81 3 x 65 4 cm The Memorial Art Gallery University of Rochester McCown Eugene Three Heads 1937 gouache on cardboard 59 1 x 76 2 cm Detroit Institute of Arts References edit Civil status documents make it clear that the original spelling is McCown a b Kagan Jerome 2019 Eugene McCown demon des Annees folles in French Paris Seguier p 51 ISBN 9782840497882 William Henry McCown Find a grave Inez Aline McCown nee Boyer Find a grave In his biography Eugene McCown demon des Annees folles Paris Seguier 2019 Kagan formulates the idea that McCown was given drawing lessons by Hannah W Cuthbertson Virgil Thomson s sister s teacher Eugene McCown in piano recital at the Conservatory of Music The Olathe Mirror November 20 1913 p 5 Eugene McCown and Virgil Thomson on a visit to Deepwater Deepwater World July 20 1916 p 8 Eugene McCown to attend the State University Deepwater World August 31 1916 p 8 McCown s application form to get his first passport January 13 1920 MacCowan sic gives art exhibit former student s portrait on display in Venezuela The Evening Missourian June 10 1920 p 4 Letter from Virgil Thomson to Leland Poole April 21 1922 published in Selected Letters of Virgil Thomson Tim Page amp Vanessa Weeks ed New York Summit Books 1988 p 34 translated into French in Jerome Kagan Eugene McCown demon des Annees folles Paris Seguier 2019 French edition p 74 Edouard Roditi who met McCown in Paris in 1929 assumed McCown and Cunard were lovers after her liaison with Aragon ended 1928 If they were lovers it is more probable that it all began as soon as 1922 The 1923 portrait exhibited at The Harry Ransom Center in Austin TX is the only one that belongs a public collection Teitelbaum M O 2010 Rene Crevel and Eugene McCown a Transatlantic Partnership The Stylemakers Minimalism and Classic Modernism 1915 1945 London Philip Wilson Publishers 69 70 Five Interesting New Pictures by Eugene McCown British Vogue January 1925 p 57 doi 10 1215 10642684 2005 003 S2CID 144492294 Exposition Mac Cown sic L Intransigeant March 23 1925 Crevel Rene 1987 Difficult death Translated by Rattray David 160 pages London North Point Press The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Paintings by Eugene McCown at the Marie Sterner Galleries March 16 1930 p 67 Kagan Jerome 2019 Eugene McCown demon des Annees folles in French Paris Seguier p 361 ISBN 9782840497882 MacCown sic Eugene The Siege of innocence Garden City N Y Doubleday 1950 279 pages Eugene MacCown The Siege of innocence 1950 in Gunn Drewey Wayne Gay American Novels 1870 1970 A Reader s Guide Jefferson McFarland amp Company 2016 p 70 72 Kagan Jerome 2019 Eugene MacCown demon des Annees folles in French Paris Seguier p 412 ISBN 9782840497882 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Eugene McCown amp oldid 1183159339, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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