Virginia Fontaine Diaries
Synopsis 1951-1952
See Cast of Characters Below
To go directly to the Transcriptions
Background
Virginia and Paul Fontaine have been in Germany since the end of WWII. Paul fought in the Italian campaign and decided to remain in Europe at the war’s end; he asked his new wife of five years with their then three year old daughter to join him. Rather than return to the United States, and struggle in the New York City economy where most contemporary artists were making their mark, he thought the employment and artistic opportunities would be better found in Europe. They had met at Yale University Art School and after marrying in 1940 had already spent a year outside of the US living on the Virgin Island Tortola, where Paul supported them with the Yale Winchester Wirt Scholarship for the entire year. They enjoyed the expatriate lifestyle; an adventure in a new culture.
Virginia came over to Germany in the summer of 1946 and in just a few short months made friends with a prominent art patron in Germany, Hanna Bekker vom Rath. She had been a key art dealer in Berlin, supporting the Expressionist artists throughout their Nazi suppression. Hanna also founded the Alexej Jawlensky foundation to help him during his later years health crises, and opened the first gallery in Frankfurt, the Frankfurter Kunstkabinett following the war. Hanna, also a painter, was trilingual, brought up among royal families, formerly married to a Jew and famous composer Paul Bekker who emigrated to America, and was comfortable in all social circles. She was particularly close to Karl Schmidt-Rottluff for whom she built an apartment to reside in on her own estate in Hofheim, a town outside of Frankfurt. Her home is now an historical monument. She left her collection of Expressionist art to the Wiesbaden museum upon her death. Hardly a week went by when Virginia and Hanna were not together either visiting or entertaining.
Aside from Hanna’s family including, her daughters Maxine and Barbara and Barbara’s husband Jury, the Hagen family members were frequent visitors. Yvonne Hagen met Virginia in the maternity ward at Frankfurt General Hospital in 1948. They were in adjoining rooms. Yvonne’s husband, Karl Hagen, had just died in the Berlin airlift and was happy to find a woman to whom she could talk.Yvonne was an art critic for the Herald Tribune so she and Virginia had plenty in common. She lived in Paris, but her womanizing brother-in-law Peter Hagen frequented the Fontaine’s, while he sang for the Frankfurt Opera.
Synopsis of 1951 Diary
In 1951, Virginia was thirty-five years old, with two children, Carol age nine and Genie (aka Gigi, or Paula) age three. Paul just started working as the new art director for the Stars & Stripes newspaper, after years in other publications departments for the Occupation. They had a full-time housekeeper, cook and nanny-Friedle, a luxury that all the occupation families enjoyed. The Germans were desperate for work and the Americans obliged.
Virginia had been in this worn-torn country for six years and had not wasted a moment making friends. Her generous disposition and intuition for opportunity created one adventure after another. It is hard to imagine how she kept up the pace of their entertaining—the diaries have almost a banter quality much like a Hepburn-Tracy conversation. The activities evolve around three themes. Virginia seemingly had three agendas: find buyers of her husband’s paintings; be prominent, useful and hence respected in the community to both Germans and Americans; and finally to get a job with the leading cultural division of HICOG (the Occupation government)–which, while serving the other two purposes, would help out with her desire for financial independence. Her German language skills were adequate but most Germans were fluent in English. Paul spoke fluent French. She was extremely resourceful, brought up with frugal parents and in the Depression generation, but did not appreciate her husband’s fanatical control on the purse. She had enough funds technically and certainly more than the artists she endeared, but wanted at least some financial independence. Virginia’s mother had been sending packages since Virginia moved there, knowing how difficult the economy was. They contained the latest fashion garments for the family and sometimes friends. Virginia was well dressed; no thanks to her husband.
In the 1951 diary, Virginia describes, in detail, three major trips visiting artists and dealers: Paris, Amsterdam, and Madrid. The descriptions are peppered with mundane details about food and gas costs along side descriptions of unwanted personality tribulations among her traveling companions.
The other underlying story is her love for the dancer Nel Roos. In one of her travels —she became friends with the dance community in the Netherlands. This then led her to become the photographer for the International Dance Congress in Switzerland. Her friendship with the famous modern dancer and choreographer, Mary Wigman and her entourage including Nel, offered a new level of recognition for Virginia. She wrote an article for Dance Magazine about the Congress complete with photos, but her deep feelings for Nel seep throughout the diary. Only on occasion did Paul seem to recognize this distraction on the part of Virginia. Nonetheless, forever, Hanna Bekker was the stable friend.
These diaries offer are a variety of perspectives on life in those times. They provide a roster of every modern German artist either exhibiting or that came through the Fontaine household; a view into a intensely concentrated experience of energized artists and dealers working their way back into normalcy after years of suppression or deprivation; an influx of American art dealers eager to find bargains;and an overabundance of socializing, especially by the Americans to keep from being bored. Virginia grew tiresome of military family politics and rarely attended the standard officer club events, but nevertheless, Virginia did her part keeping the wives happy. She was most fond of anyone interested in modern art and barely tolerated the rest. In between all this, Mimi, her French-Canadian-American provincial and eighth- grade educated mother-in-law from Worcester, Massachusetts, came to visit for three months. It all made for entertaining dynamics.
They also offer an insight into the current American culture. Virginia attended almost every movie offered by the Occupation and read the available best sellers.
Virginia also traveled with Hexi, her Dandie-Dinmond terrier.
Cast of Characters
Below is a more extended list of historical figures mentioned in the diaries. The page numbers are to Diary 1951 pages (1952 is under construction)and the Wikipedia or other Web references are there to learn more about the persons:
Acronyms:
HICOG: High Commission for Occupied Germany—Established in 1949 in the State Department to replace the Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.) [OMGUS] (Oct. 1945-Sept. 1949) HICOG was headed by John McCloy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HICOG
ECA: –The Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) was a United States government agency set up in 1948 to administer the Marshall Plan. It reported to both the State Department and the Department of Commerce. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_Cooperation_Administration
OEC—Organization for Economic Cooperation
H or Hanna–Hanna Bekker vom Rath
Names
(Note: This is not an exhaustive list of every person mentioned in the Diary. Please go to the Transcription and search directly to search further)
Ajemian, Anahid and Maro, 100, 103, musicians, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maro_Ajemian
Alsberg, Henry and Francis, 48, classmates from Yale
Arp, Hans, 48, (aka Jean Arp), artist, sculptor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Arp
Bauer, Gustav, 30, 49, 50, 53, 59, 62, 122, 124,Stars & Stripes?, or HICOG? a frequent visitor in their home but not sure of connection.
Baumeister, Willi, 6, 7, 96, 117, 118, artist,painter good friends with Virginia and Paul http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willi_Baumeister
Bekker vom Rath, Hanna, 2, See almost every page in the diary, art dealer and painter and founder of Frankfurter Kunstkabinett gallery and Virginia’s best friend http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanna_Bekker_vom_Rath
Bluhm, Ursula, 7, 101, 120, artist married to painter Bernard Schultze http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Schultze
Brodda, Bernard, 3, 11, 12, 20, 49, artist
Buchheim, Lothar Gunther, 56, art dealer,painter, founder of Galerie Buchheim-Militon in Frankfurt and later author of “Das Boot”
Buchheister, Carl, 54, 55, 84, artist, painter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Buchheister
Callado, Louis, 81, artist
Cavael, Rolf, 61, 95, 128, artist, painter http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf_Cavael
Chamberlain, Gladys, 2,Virginia’s third cousin worked as student counselor in Frankfurt for boys high school
Constant, Anton, 15, 19,artist, painter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constant_Nieuwenhuys
Darcé, Virginia (Gini), 69, 75, 101worked for HICOG as head decorator
Davis, Melton, 123worked for ECA, in radio in Paris
Davring, Henri, 56, 58, (aka Heinrich Maria Davringhausen)artist, painter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Maria_Davringhausen
Dayton, Ken, 86,US State Dept official
Dayton, Sylvia, 2, 3, 5, 6, 21, 22, 25, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48, 91, 94, 101, 102, 111, 112, wife to Ken Dayton, good friend to Virginia-travelled to Spain together
de Bary, Erica, 84, writer http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erica_de_Bary
DeLuce, Alma, 94, 98, 99, 103, 106, 109, 111, 122, 124, 126, AP journalist, collector and friend to Virginia, wife of Dan deLuce
DeLuce, Dan, 38, journalist, AP director, Pulitzer prize in journalism,http://www.ap.org/cleartime/d.html
Devendorf, Nina and Rolli, 127, Rollie worked for AG publications. 1975 published “In defense of Richard Nixon”
Dix, Otto, 96, artist, painter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Dix
Domnick, Ottomar, 6, 7, 27, 96, medical doctor of psychiatry, art collector, movie producer and publisher. Published a book in 1949 on Hans Hartung for which Virginia did the English translation. (Madeleine Rousseau et Ottamar Domnick, Hans Hartung, préface de James Johnson Sweeney, Stuttgart, Domnick Verlag, 1949.)
Eichhorn, Alfred, 27, artist, printmaker
Falcon, Bruni, 50, 52, 53, 86, 108, 122, opera singer, sang with Peter Hagen
Fauser, Arthur, 8, 55, 124, artist, painter, lithographer http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Fauser
Fietz, Gerhard, 7, 26, artist, painter, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Fietz
Fietz, Helga, 21, 22, 49 wife to Gerhard Fietz
Franck, Klaus, 15 art dealer, founder of Zimmergalerie Franck, Frankfurt gallery
Geiger, Rupprecht, 27 artist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupprecht_Geiger
Georgi, Yvonne, 104, dancer, choreographer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_Georgi
Gomez-Sicre, Jose, 64, 65, Cuban art critic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Gomez-Sicre
Götz, Karl Otto, 8, 15, 19, 81, artist, printmaker, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Otto_G%C3%B6tz
Graverius, Hildegard, 3 friend to artist Bernard Brodda
Grieshaber, HAP, 124, artist http://www.hap-grieshaber.com/
Hagen, Louis (Budi), 2, 47, writer wrote “Follow My Leader” (1951), brother-in-law to Yvonne Hagen
Hagen, Peter, 48, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 91, 94, 100, 105, 106, 108, 111, 122,opera singer, worked with Bruni Falcon, later banker and art collector, brother-in-law to Yvonne Hagen
Hagen, Yvonne, 2, 3, 13, 47, 55, 89, 90, journalist, art critic for Paris Herald Tribune. Met Virginia in hospital maternity ward, Frankfurt in 1948. Husband, Karl, died in Berlin airlift. Wrote an autobiography of her life in Paris: Hagen, Yvonne. From Art to Life and Back: N.Y.-Berlin-Paris 1925-1962. [S.l.]: Xlibris Corp, 2006.
Haller,Chichio, 2, Swiss art dealer, founder Chichio Haller Galerie, Zurich
Hartung, Hans, 48, artist, painter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Hartung
Hartung, Karl, 75, artist, sculptor http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Hartung
Hauser, Jack, 23, 25, 26, Stars & Stripes art department colleague
Hay, Florence, 2, 6, 12, 16, 20, 23, 51, 52, 74, educator, when returned to US in 1955 Ph.D in education
Heckel, Erich, 15, 51, artist, painter, printmaker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Heckel
Hewetson, Bob & Joan, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 23, 31, 54, 59, 60, 67, 70, 75, 76, 87, 97, 100, 110, 112, 124, US State Dept. OEC
Hildebrandt, Hans, 27, 55, 96, art historian http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Hildebrandt
Hofer, Carl, 75 artist, painter, printmaker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hofer
Jaenisch, Hans, 27, 75 artist, painter http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Jaenisch
Jaguer, Edouard, 81 French poet http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edouard_Jaguer
Kerkovius, Ida, 7, 30, 73, 96 artist, painter, weaver, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Kerkovius
Kiep, Claus, 4family member of Kiep and vom Rath family, cousin to Hanna Bekker
Kiep, Louis, 13, 122, 123, 126 married to Hanna Bekker’s sister Eugenie–Have a hamburg shipping company
Knorr, Betty, 2, 51, 53, 54, 78, 88, 89, 90, 110,worked for Stars & Stripes weekend edition-husband Maj Knorr thrown in jail for a week by German govt for tax evasion
Krenek, Ernst, 99, 100, 114,composer and conductor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Krenek
Kricke, Norbert, 101, artist, sculptor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Kricke
Kunz, Karl, 27, artist, painter http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Lorenz_Kunz
Kunz, Rosemary, 3, 11, 14, US State Dept. Worked in Madrid embassy–unsure of how they met
Linck Daepp, Margrit, 120, artist, ceramacist-married to Walter Linck
Linck, Walter, 20, 78, 79, artist, sculptor http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Linck
Lutzeier, Paul, 7, 52, 70, 85Chief Employee Relations HICOG. Papers are in Detroit Wayne State University Reuther library
Mataré, Ewald, 104, artist, sculptor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewald_Matare
Maywald, Willy, 88, 89, photographer http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Maywald
McCloy, Mrs. John, wife to US High Commissioner of Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._McCloy
McKnight, Eline, 25, 27, 28, 29, 64, artist, printmaker, art promoter, married to Maxwell McKnight. Resided in Berlin wrote about Berlin artists for the Information Bulletin, December 1950″Free Artists in Free Berlin”
McKnight, Maxwell, 26, US State Department, prosectuted war criminals
Möller, Ferdinand, 112, 120, art dealer, founder of Galerie Ferdinand Möller
Müller-Landau, Rolf, 63, artist, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCller-Landau
Nay, Ernst Wilhelm, 73, 120, artist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Wilhelm_Nay
Neumann, J.B., 94, 95, 96, 97, 100, 101, 109, 113, 117, 120, art dealer http://www.moma.org/learn/resources/archives/EAD/Neumannb.html
Nieuwenhuys. See Constant, Anton,
Noonan, Tom and Vicki, 11, 59, 108, 109, 113, 117, 118, 121, 124, 131, US HICOG-Cultural Affairs advisor for OLCH-Office of Public Affairs
Oberhoff, Ernst, 8, 117, artist, painter http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Oberhoff
Proelss, Maria, 62, 72,artist, musician
Rebay, Hilla von, 53, 55, artist, painter, art collector friend to Solomon Guggenheim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilla_von_Rebay
Reich an der Stolpe, Siegfried, 46, 120 artist, painter,
Rieth, Alf (Adolf), 54,124, 125, professor of archeology. Helped protect artwork during WWII in Tübingen. Art minister for Wiesbaden-1951.Noted work: (Rieth, Adolf. Archaeological Fakes. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970.)Frequent guests from 1950′s-to late 1960′s http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Rieth
Ritschl, Otto, 59, 100, 113, artist, painter http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Ritschl
Roeder, Emy, 2, 3, 4, 5, 17, 21, 48, 52, 60, 63, 70, 124, artist, sculptor -sculpted a head of Virginia which was ruined before cast. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emy_Roeder
Roh, Juliane, 27art historian http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Roh
Rohlfs, Christian, 115, artist, painter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Rohlfs
Roos, Nel, 68, 130, 132, 133 dancer, choreographer founded Nel Roos Dance Academy, Amsterdam http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Theaterschool_%28Amsterdam%29
Rüdlinger, Noldi, 20, 48, 78, arthistorian, museum director Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_R%C3%BCdlinger
Schmidt-Rottluff, Karl, 50, 59, 62, 63, 65, 68, 70, 73, 76, 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 84, 123, artist, painter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Schmidt-Rottluff
Schultze, Bernard, 7, artist, painter http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Schultze
Solms, Marylou (Marie Luise), 3, 58, 61, 78, 131, princess and poet–distant cousin to Hanna Bekker von Rath http://www.royaltyguide.nl/families/solms/solmsbraunfels4.htm
Solms- Oppersdorff, Pucky (Marie Gabrielle), 2, 3, 101, 102, 125 princess distant cousin to Hanna Bekker von Rath http://www.royaltyguide.nl/families/solms/solmsbraunfels4.htm
Spiller, Jurg, 2, 10, artist, painter
Ströher, Karl, 7, 96, 100, industrialist, art collector, founder of Wella, donated modern art collection to Darmstadt museum. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Str%C3%B6her
Tajiri, Shinkitchi, 13, 25, 26, artist, sculptor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkichi_Tajiri
Tashko, Artur, 77artist, http://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur_Tashko
Ubac, Raoul, 84 , artist, sculptor, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Ubac
Uhlmann, Hans, 62, artist, painter, sculptor , http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Uhlmann_%28Bildhauer%29
Valentiner, Dr. Wilhelm R., 11, art historian, museum director-Los Angeles County Museum http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/valentinerw.htm
Vietta, Egon, 20, 101, 117, 118, 120, journalist, art critic, very fond of Fontaine’s work–intended to write a book on Paul Fontaine, but died of a heart attack –http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egon_Vietta
Vondenhoth, Eleanore, 15, Wife of Director of Frankfurt Symphony and theater. Friends with Hanna
Werner, Theodor and Woty, 48,114 artist, weaver http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Werner
Winter, Fritz, 27, artist, painter, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Winter