Such Desperate Joy: Imagining Jackson Pollack

by Helen A. Harrison

No modern artist is more controversial than Jackson Pollock, whose life is the subject of a new feature film starring Ed Harris. With an intense, troubled personality that many see reflected in his radical "drip" paintings, Pollock was the first American painter to be hailed internationally as an innovator. Even before his death in a drunken car crash in 1956, he was mythologized as Abstract Expressionism's quintessential bad boy. But he was also respected for his sincerity, loved for his sweet nature, and envied for his brilliance. Today Pollock's legend looms larger than ever, inspiring poets, playwrights, composers, and choreographers, as well as visual artists. The film Pollock starring Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock, Marcia Gay Harden, Val Kilmer, and Jennifer Connelly is set to be released late Fall 2000. His art, never popular in the conventional sense, has a growing cadre of dedicated enthusiasts. Why is Pollock such an enduring touchstone of American culture? This collection of writings, interviews, creative responses, and personal revelations - many never before published or long out of print - examines the multiple dimensions of his impact and influence, and proves that the real Pollock is even more fascinating than the myth. The book includes never before published art, photos, letters and interviews from the Pollock-Krasner House archives, new contributions by actor/director Ed Harris and musician Patti Smith, and interviews with Patsy Southgate and Willem de Kooning, as well as Clement Greenberg, Peggy Guggenheim, Hans Namuth, Frank O'Hara, Jeffrey Potter, Norman Rockwell, and Barney Rossett.

Genres: Art

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Helen A. Harrison is an art historian, museum director and journalist who specializes in modern American art. From 1978-2006, she wrote art reviews and feature articles for the Long Island section of The New York Times. She is currently the director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton, New York. The museum, a National Historic Landmark, is the former home and studio of Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
and Lee Krasner (1908-1984), two of the foremost Abstract Expressionist painters.

Reviews

[Ed Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this once before, but this time I reread it on its own terms, as a series of reminiscences, reactions to and against, or parallel creations "in the spirit of".

In some sense this is a multidimensional view of this misunderstood artist, somewhat like Citizen Kane vignettes.
Pollock was absolutely allergic to BS (except for truly acknowledging his alcoholism) especially about the one thing he really cared about, which was his painting. As a consequence he was very reticent to talk about it with other people, which gave him an unwarranted reputation as an inarticulate yahoo.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, like the glib and iconoclastic de Kooning, or and the studiously verbose Rothko, there are very few actual statements by Pollack about his art, and what there were are bare and pure and intend to leave the speaking to the painting. Therefore the inferential and indirect means in this collection are strangely suited to the painter who brought himself "inside" the painting and "veiled the image."

[Gary McDowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Pollock and this book helped me understand him better... plus the structure of the book is great, too.