Caretaking and Cave Paintings

In late 1975, Elaine bought a house in East Hampton, giving up her New York studio. She had come to rescue Bill from alcohol addiction. But she also traveled abroad, including trips to the Paleolithic caves in France and Spain, which provided subject matter for her last major painting series and a suite of prints. At home, she looked after Bill, worked in her studio, and roamed the beach with artist Connie Fox. Courtney Ross produced a documentary about Bill with commentary by Elaine, who served as his spokesperson as his dementia worsened. A partial lobectomy failed to stop the recurrence of Elaine’s lung cancer, yet she remained in high spirits, trying to work on her memoir. But immediately after the opening of her cave painting show at Fischbach Gallery, she was hospitalized. Elaine died on February 1, 1989; tributes at her New York memorial service lasted nearly three hours.