CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 9/27/2022

The critically-acclaimed first major biography on Piet Mondrian in 50 years, in English

"Trafalgar Square, Second State" (1939–43) is reproduced from Piet Mondrian: A Life, the definitive biography by the late curator Hans Janssen, reviewed this week by Peter Schjeldahl in the New Yorker and Maxwell Carter in the Wall Street Journal. Both reviewers point out that this audaciously structured, 464-page biography reads as swiftly as fiction. "Throughout the … summer he danced several times a week with 33-year-old Lee Krasner and her friends, combing Manhattan until deep in the night for the best places to dance," one passage reads. "One evening in mid-July they were at Café Society Uptown, where [Harry] Holtzman had organized a party to celebrate Mondrian’s recovery from the flu and from his eye problems, which were connected with his old ailment. Krasner adored the handsome, elegant Mondrian and was never far behind him. At one point she was standing beside the dance floor watching and waiting until Hazel Scott had finished singing. The band struck up an upbeat boogie-woogie tune, and she suddenly heard Mondrian behind her shouting ‘Now!’ in a way that could not be refused. The next moment she felt the 68-year-old sweep her onto the floor. Mondrian was a fantastic dance partner. Later Krasner recalled with great pleasure his fabulous sense of rhythm and his love of complicated steps that challenged her to make complex and stylized responses, even when they danced separately, in a 'vertical dance.' Krasner regarded herself a good dancer, and Mondrian turned out to be an excellent partner who managed to bring out the best in her. They were frequently the center of attention on the dance floor, which Mondrian enjoyed immensely."