I want to declare my immense debt to Ted Bloecher, for both his steady, principled example and his invaluable personal support throughout - and preceding - the birth of this book. The encouragement and stylistic advice I received from writers Paul Brodeur and B.H. Friedman were particularly helpful to me, coming as they did at the very beginning of this undertaking. The precise, critical scientific readings this manuscript received from Anthony Wolff and David Webb steered me around a number of technical sandtraps, and for their efforts I am deeply grateful. Sideo Fromboluti, my friend and fellow painter, provided a spirited, yet carefully neutral overview, and his valuable suggestions have made this a stronger book. Coral and Jim Lorenzen - upon whose pioneering work I have depended - have kindly allowed me the use of some illustrations, as have Ted Jacobs, Betty Andreasson, and Wayne Laporte. Nancy Munro, who typed most of the manuscript, also transcribed hours of emotionally difficult tape recordings, and I deeply appreciate her patient work. Above all I want to thank April Kingsley, my wife, for having put up with this digression from the painter she married. It was, as she understood, a labor of intellectual necessity, and her nourishing support has been crucial to its making.