This Fantastic Struggle: The Life and Art of Esther Phillips
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Rarely if ever does the creative artist receive either the recognition or the recompense he deserves and needs. Lisa A. Miles brings this truism to vibrant life in This Fantastic Struggle, the biography of Ester Phillips. Woven together with letters, interviews, scholarly source material, institution documents and art work, this unique cultural essay presents an absorbing glimpse at what it means to be an artist. Born in Russia, raised in Pittsburgh by a family that couldn't appreciate her artistic identity, Esther left for Greenwich Village in the 1930s and never looked back. And an artist Esther was, though it cost her deeply. Despite early critical success, she was not able to make a living during the Depression and was institutionalized for over six years, likely for the results of starvation and stress. After her release, she returned to her art and to the Village, where her struggle continued. Eventually she lapsed into obscurity, but not before saying she had lived a wonderful life. This Fantastic Struggle is also the story of friendship - the kind that keeps alive both friends and art work that would otherwise have been lost the the world.Western Pennsylvania History Magazine - Brian ButkoInterviews with aging bohemians and bountiful reproduced documents ... Miles immerses the reader in the world of Esther Phillips with an intensity that matches her subject. I couldn't stop reading!
AcknowledgmentsixIntroductionxiii(frontispiece)xxiInitial Correspondence: Harold J. Winters, New York, NY, to Merle Hoyleman, Pittsburgh, PA, November 12, 19371PittsburghChapter 1"She Needed To Paint"5Chapter 2"The Whole Town Was on a Party"15Chapter 3The Reviews29Chapter 4"Flippy"47New York: Early YearsChapter 5"She Was an Artist & She Starved"65Chapter 6"The A.M. After the Night Before"81Chapter 7"Having Drifted"96The InstitutionChapter 8"In a Hell of a Mess"113Chapter 9Greetings from Wingdale, N.Y.126Chapter 10Diagnosis139Chapter 11The View from Behind Bars156Chapter 12The Librarian192Chapter 13"About Esther Phillips"204Chapter 14"That Mad Scampering About"224New York: Later YearsChapter 15"Looking Forward ... with Much Enthusiasm"245Chapter 16"The Flight of Esther Phillips' Fingertips"267Chapter 17"Every Inch of Strength & Strategy to Call Forth Aid"286Chapter 18"That Situation ... Indelibly in Our Memory"302Chapter 19"A Little Tired of It All"318Chapter 20"Her Energy Mysteriously Sourced"335Chapter 21"The Inner Life of the Artist"360AppendixA.Phantom's Dance, a play in one act for three characters390Afterword403Notes416Bibliography445Index453
