celebrating Charlotte

2/3/18

Good afternoon Friends & Family,

Thank you for supporting us in celebrating Charlotte’s life and for being here for us in our hour of grief.

My mother was the embodiment of kindness- consistent little kindnesses. My sister still delights in early childhood gleeful memories of animal crackers at just the right time. We have a picture of Amy as a glowingly happy toddler- must have been taken after one of these animal cracker moments. 

I still recall mom reading books to me, patiently, lovingly as I tried to learn the words -of course I was in grad school at the time.

Cousin Barbara mentions Charlotte’s Zen-like attitude.

Charlotte was gentle, I don’t recall a single harsh word from her- about anyone... I hear that skips a generation.

Beth mentions Charlotte’s extraordinary brisket- comparing its addictive quality to crack. Is there something about Beth I don’t know?

The first-time mom met my dad, she was on vacation with her family in Long Beach. She came home breathless telling them she had just met the man she wanted to marry. Her parents had told her they wanted her to meet the son of some new friends. It turned out, they were one and the same person, my dad Martin. Love at first sight and when he passed, Mom said “62 years weren’t enough.”

The first time Mom met my wife to be, they were by chance sitting next to each other at a concert in which I played. She turned to the young woman next to her and said proudly “That’s my son!” Beth said, “That’s my friend!”

The first time my folks met Beth’s folks we were so nervous we went for a drink before meeting them. When we got to the restaurant, Irving & Ellen and Martin & Charlotte had found each other. They were chatting up a storm as though they were long-lost cousins.

The first time I remember meeting my mother, she was carrying me around explaining one of her paintings to me - between the front door and the dining room.

Now is the first time we will go to Charlotte’s apartment of 60 plus years and not have it warmed by Charlotte’s presence.

We will also miss Charlotte’s museum. She never tired of showing off her entire life’s work which adorned just about every available space in 4L.... Frequently after a thorough tour and visitors were about to leave, she would ask in all earnestness, “When will I see you? I’d like to show you my artwork sometime.”

Mom was not only a good person she was also stunningly beautiful. People used to call her “Myrna” after the resemblance she bore to the famous film star Myrna Loy.

It’s true, Mom could be distracted -off in her own world. Once when I was a kid, we were driving with my cousins and aunt Jayne... I asked Mom what we were going to have for dinner. She started telling me about a new mop she had bought.

I assume she was lost in her own world and not planning a Charlie Chaplin-esque spaghetti dinner.

My parents communicated most directly about art. Dad was mom’s most dedicated supporter and informed critic.

In high school Mom majored in art. She had a few small art-related jobs until she married Martin.

Mom’s mother, sister and grandfather were artists. Charlotte loved her brother Mark and sister Elaine, and Elaine’s children In the last few years she was particularly close to Andrea and Michael.

Charlotte loved giving mini art classes to Tobi and Eugene when they were little.

My mother had a charmed life. There was a 1930’s New Yorker cartoon which could have been about her. Two elderly gentleman- about my age- one asks the other “How did she take the news about the Crash?” The other replies, “I didn’t tell Charlotte. It might have upset her.”

I will miss my mother for her calm, her infinite patience, her eye for beauty and a gratitude one only reads about.

Charlotte found joy and meaning through people, her appreciation of whatever good came her way and through her art. Her work transformed itself from early still-life oil paintings, through Jackson Pollack- inspired floor paintings, to environmentally - found object projects to furiously personal larger than life portraits of persimmon and pineapple. In her last years, Charlotte created what she called “scribbles.” Over a 1,000. My favorites of all her works were her “piano pieces,” whimsical creations built out of discarded pieces of pianos interlaced with feathers and other fanciful objects. Charlotte had a joyful sense of humor and depth of feeling expressed largely through her work.

As a person Charlotte was not only grateful, friendly and cheerful. She was also hidden. She was overly eager to please. She was hurt as a result. Mom never complained, never argued and asked for nothing but love.

Mom suffered from depression in the years before it was fashionable. More than half a century ago she had ECT. I shudder at the thought.

Charlotte Shirley Levine grew up on the lower east side- a part of it which is now considered The East Village. She had fond memories of her father Will’s drug store... Block’s Drugs is still there in the building where Charlotte spent her childhood with her sister Elayne, brother Mark and her parents, Adeline and Will. She was proud of her dad for being a pharmacist- a Doctor of pharmacy!

Charlotte Lieberson, an artist for most of her 95 years passed away early yesterday morning. My mom was eternally grateful for all the people in her life. She was consistently optimistic and cheerful to all. If you want to honor her, smile at someone.