“Studying both astrological birth- and death charts can offer insight into what has been achieved, what remains, and how the soul is moving onward” (Maurice Fernandez).
This walk in Manhattan marks the death of Piet Mondrian on February 1, 1944. It is a ten-minute walk that will guide participants from the site of Mondrian’s death to a nearby piano bar, where boogie-woogie music, Mondrian’s favourite genre, will be performed in his honour.
The walk continues a collaboration first initiated with Defne Ayas in 2015: the publication of a facsimile of Mondrian’s birth horoscope. Commissioned as he left the Netherlands for Paris in 1911, this horoscope marked a pivotal turning point in his life as a migrant artist. Remarkably, he kept the fragile pamphlets with
him through his years in Paris, London, and finally New York, where he passed away in 1944. While that project focused on his beginnings, this walk turns to Mondrian’s final moments. A so-called death horoscope will be written especially for this purpose, interpreted and lovingly reflected on at the start of the walk. Together, these two horoscopes frame a life’s journey, both personal and cosmic, across geographies, forms, and philosophies.
1. Murray Hill Hospital, 30 East 40th Street
On January 23, 1944, Fritz Glarner visited Piet Mondrian at his studio and noticed that the Dutchman was suffering from a bad cold. Mondrian continued to work on Victory Boogie Woogie, making numerous changes. Three days later, Glarner dropped by again and found Mondrian dangerously ill in his flat.
An alarmed Harry Holtzman contacted Mondrian’s doctor Max Trubek, who diagnosed severe pneumonia. Holtzman and Glarner took Mondrian to Murray Hill Hospital, where his condition worsened over the next few days. According to accounts, Mondrian had a room on an upper floor with a view over Manhattan, as he had on his first night in New York. On the evening of January 31, Mondrian began declining quickly. He passed away early the next morning, on 1 February. Harry and Eileen Holtzman, Fritz and Lucy Glarner, James Johnson Sweeney, Hans Richter, Alexander Calder, and Charmion von Wiegand were present at the hospital. A funeral took place at the Universal Chapel two days later, and Mondrian was buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery.
2. Uncle Charlie’s, 139 East 45th Street
Piet Mondrian loved music and dancing. As a student in Amsterdam, he had often attended performances at the Concertgebouw and socialized with musicians. He had danced to the latest ragtime in the Dutch town of Laren, and loved going to avant-garde concerts in Paris. Once he arrived in New York, his close friend, the artist Harry Holtzman (who was 40 years younger than Mondrian) took him to Cafe Society nightclub, an iconic music hall.
Cafe Society had two locations. Cafe Society Downtown had opened in the Greenwich Village neighborhood in 1938, and a second branch opened in October 1940, the same month Mondrian arrived in New York. The brand-new Cafe Society Uptown was just around the corner from his studio. The club was a meeting spot for artists, intellectuals, and society figures. Mondrian went there to listen to the latest boogie-woogie music, played by combos like the Boogie Woogie Trio (Albert Ammons, Meade Lux, and Pete Johnson). The rhythm of this music inspired Mondrian. He was working on his last painting when he fell ill with the severe pneumonia that led to his death. It would remain unfinished, but he had already titled it Victory Boogie Woogie.
The Boogie Woogie Trio – Broadcast Recordings From 1939 Never Issued Before on Records (Storyville Records, 1960).
Tracklist:
Pinetop Blues
G Flat Blues
Whistling Blues
Jesse James
Has Anyone Seen Corrine St. Louis Blues
Woo Woo
Saturday Night Struggle Hersal Blues
Bear Cat Crawl
Pete’s Blues
Try Again
Mama’s Blues
Shout For Joy
Boogie Woogie Prayer
Written by Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, and Albert Ammons.
