MARITAL MILESTONES #5 1939

The art work did not go well. Stephen didn’t speak English – I new nothing about art, except that I had married an artist, so I couldn’t help him. The WPA project had ended and now the only prospect would be to paint for art dealers (as some of Stephen’s colleagues were doing) who paid very little and the order was for 6 still-lifes, 6 landscapes, etc.

Not wanting to do that, Stephen asked my father, who was a house painter, whether he could work with him. He had not done this type of hard physical labor and this was the day of the calcimine ceilings which had to be washed before they could be repainted. After a day of standing on a ladder, Stephen was exhausted. After dinner he soaked in a hot tub for a half hour and then often painted until midnight. At the end of the week he would get his salary and our livelihood was assured and he was spared from having to paint “saleable” pictures. He did this work for seven years.