John Jonas Gruen
John Jonas Gruen | |
---|---|
Born | Jonas Grunberg September 12, 1926 Enghien-les-Bains, France |
Died | July 12, 2016 New York City, U.S. | (aged 89)
Other names | John Gruen |
Spouse |
John Jonas Gruen (born Jonas Grunberg; September 12, 1926 – July 12, 2016) was an American
Early life and education
Jonas Grunberg was born
Grunberg chose the name "John Jonas Gruen" in an attempt to Americanize himself. He learned how to speak English from Hollywood films. Gruen graduated from the
Career
After graduation from college, Gruen moved back to New York City where he settled in Greenwich Village.[2]
He took jobs as a book buyer at Brentano's, a publicity director at Grove Press and a photographers' agent.[2] Throughout his early years in New York, he aspired to be a composer and composed songs including settings of poetry by E. E. Cummings, Wallace Stevens and Rainer Maria Rilke.[2] The songs were ultimately performed by Eleanor Steber and Patricia Neway. New Songs, a compilation of Gruen's work, was released in 1950 and was the first record issued by Elektra Records.[2]
He became friends with composer Virgil Thomson which inspired Gruen to contribute music reviews to the New York Herald Tribune, later becoming part of its staff in addition to acting as the paper's art critic. Using his shortened name John Gruen, he later went on to write for The New York Times, as well as being appointed as the first chief art critic of the magazine New York.[2] Later in his career with the paper, he became a dance critic as well.[2]
As a photographer, Gruen used his full name to distinguish himself from another New York photographer named John Gruen. Gruen captured images of the creative icons in his social and professional circles including
Personal life and death
In 1948, Gruen married painter Jane Wilson, whom he met while studying at the University of Iowa.[2] Together they had one daughter, Julia Gruen, who became the executive director of the Keith Haring Foundation.[2] Gruen and Wilson remained together until her death in 2015.[2]
Death
Gruen died at the age of 89 from natural causes at his home in New York City in 2016.[2]
Bibliography
Among Gruen's books are The Private World of Leonard Bernstein (1968), The Private World of Ballet (1975), Menotti: A Biography (1978),[2] Erik Bruhn: Danseur Noble (1979), The World's Great Ballets: La Fille Mal Gardee to Davidsbundlertanze (1981), People Who Dance: 22 Dancers Tell Their Own Stories (1988), The New Bohemia: The Combine Generation (1990), and Keith Haring: The Authorized Biography (1992) (translated into Italian). He published his autobiography, Callas Kissed Me...Lenny Too!: A Critic's Memoir, in 2008.[4]
Discography
- New Songs (1951)
- Contemporary Christmas Carols (1952)
- Song Cycles Woodwind Quartets
- Songs to Texts by James Joyce
References
- ^ Mark Segal, "John Jonas Gruen", The East Hampton Star, August 4, 2016
- ^ New York Times. Archived from the originalon February 18, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
- Whitney Museum of American Art(2010)
- ^ "Review: Callas Kissed Me...Lenny Too!, The New Yorker, August 11, 2008
External links
- "John Gruen" by James Gavin, Time Out New York, May 1–7, 2008, issue 657
- John Jonas Gruen papers at the New York Public Library