Jackson Pollock

The almost mythic Jackson Pollock--a roughshod, ill-mannered, prodigiously ambitious, aggressive, alcoholic, tormented artist--is alive and unwell in this book. But Kirk Varnedoe and Pepe Karmel, the chief curator and adjunct assistant curator, respectively, of the Museum of Modern Art s Department of Painting and Sculpture, also go deeply into Pollock s art in eye-opening ways. This book is the catalog for the retrospective of Pollock s art-shattering oeuvre at the Museum of Modern Art in the fall of 1998 and includes many biographical pictures as well as color plates of Pollock s paintings, from the awkward but earnest early works to the late, great, famous canvasses. Varnedoe s essay, aptly titled Comet: Jackson Pollock s Life and Work, deftly invites the reader into Pollock s world, starting with his country studio: The structure, often called a barn, is in fact more like a glorified tool shed. Karmel s essay, Pollock at Work: The Films and Photographs of Hans Namuth, is a truly groundbreaking exploration of Pollock s technique. Karmel has scrutinized every frame of every piece of film, still or moving, ever taken of Pollock painting. He arrives at absolutely original conclusions: Pollock s all-over swirls of dripped and flung paint often began as figurative works and clearly relate to such all-American stalwarts as Thomas Hart Benton. Karmel makes countless other sharp observations, noting the difference, for example, between fast-looking marks and the slow, deliberate movements with which they were made (and vice versa). His essay is a work of brilliant scholarship, written thrillingly, and it will forever change the way any serious viewer looks at Pollock s paintings. It makes this volume absolutely essential for understanding the work of this great, sad artist. --Peggy Moorman