ABSTRACT
Is there anything left to say about Stevens and painting? Admittedly, it is well-covered, if disputed, ground. But there has been surprisingly little atten-tion to Stevens’ gallery going in the early years, especially before his “awak-ening,” as he called it, and his connection (however tentative and broken) to the Arensberg circle. It is worth remembering that Walter Arensberg, while sometimes in the city, did not live in Manhattan until 1914, whereas Stevens lived in the New York City area from 1900 until 1916—if we include the period he commuted from the suburb of East Orange, New Jersey, where he worried about becoming a “New Jersey Epicurean” (L87). Gallery going was one of his favorite bachelor activities, as Joan Richardson has noted (375). What motivated him, and how did he respond to what he saw?
