Saint Phalle was a childhood friend: they eloped, got married, divorced. Mathews joined Ashbery, Schuyler and Koch in founding and editing an influential literary magazine, ‘Locus Solus.’ Perec, Queneau and Arnaud were met through Mathews’ membership of Oulipo. Leiris was a living connection with one of Mathews’ literary heroes, Raymond Roussel. Clemente did illustrations for a book Mathews wrote about masturbation.