Jackson Pollock: A Biography
Deborah Solomon
Simon & Schuster (1987)

A portait of the artist as a genius…and a totally insecure alcoholic

I knew almost nothing about the life and work of Jackson Pollock until I read two superb biographies, this one and another co-authored by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. Now (finally!) I am sharing my thoughts about each in a review.

Solomon offers a sharper focus on the key periods of Pollock’s life and work;  Naifeh and Smith offer a much wider and deeper analysis of the personal as well as professional circumstances of Pollock’s challenges throughout his childhood, adolescence, and adult years. Solomon, Naifeh, and Smith agree that he was among the most important modern painters, while (more often than not) resembling a toddler having a tantrum or a drunken brawler in a waterfront tavern.

Here is a selection of brief excerpts from Solomon’s lively narrative:

o “For Jackson, whose itinerant youth had already deprived him of any semblance of community or continuity, his father’s departure signalled the complete loss of childhood security. Despite his mother’s best efforts to see that he received the same advantages as his [four] older brothers, Stella was incapable of providing Jackson with the attention and affection he needed…The deprivation of Jackson’s youth left him with a weak, uncertain image of himself and an unfathomable sense of loneliness that no amount of acclaim or recognition could ever help him to overcome.” (Page 29)

“But in the spring of 1935 Pollock was devastated by the departure of [his Art Students League instructor and mentor, Thomas Hart] Benton and [wife] Rita. Rita had assured him before leaving that he was welcome to visit them in Kansas City and to continue summering in Chilmark [on Martha’s Vineyard], but that wasn’t much of a comfort. There would be no more spaghetti dinners, no musical jams, no shows at the Ferargil Gallery. No more afternoons with T.P. [their infant son] No more walks down Eighth Street, when he could look up at the Benton’s apartment and know from the blue light that somebody was home.” (76-77)

o “Pollock was drawn into the Surrealist movement through Robert Motherwell…one of the few Americans to be accepted by the Surrealists…For Pollock the magic of Surrealism lay in its freedom from academic convention. He was a great admirer of Miró, whose fantasy creatures and playful calligraphy were to have a definite influence on him. Another Surrealist whom Pollock admired was André Masson, a pioneer of  ‘automatic’ drawing, who was living in Connecticut duringthe war years.

“Unlike Cubism, which was essentially a painting style, Surrealism was an organized movement, with leaders and followers, manifestos and magazines, exhibits and excommunications. It was founded in Paris soon after World War I by André Breton, a tall, magnetic poet with a large head and pronounced features invariably described as leonine.” (121-122)

o Pollock was the first to use the dripping technique as a means of making a major creative statement. The seventeen ‘drip’ paintings that Pollock produced in 1947 generally consist of dense, tangled arrangements of tossed an dflung lines…The key element in the drip paintings is line, as opposed to color or form…For Pollock the ‘drip’ paintings were a vindication…a kind of superhuman calligraphy that brought his sense of drawing in harmony with the scale of his ambitions.” (180-181)

Note: According to Clement Greenberg, Pollock’s staunchest and most influential advocate, the quality of his work began to deteriorate in his last years as his consumption of alcohol increased. For example, he was drunk most of the time during a weekend visit by a young girlfriend from New York City and a friend of hers.  At one point, he slid behind the wheel of his Oldsmobile convertible (top down) and floored the gas pedal, speeding down narrow and winding country roads. He lost control of the car and crashed into two elm trees near his home.

o “The first call came in to the police station [in Springs on Long Island] at 10:15 P.M. Officer Earl Finch was dispatched to Fieplace Road [near Pollock’s home]. “Two dead at scene of accident,” he reported. “Edith Metzger was crushed to death beneath the car. Ruth Kligman was thrown clear and was taken to Southampton Hospital with major injuries; she survived. Pollock was killed instantly when his head hit a tree.” (249)

It seems amazing — if not totally unbelievable — that Jackson Pollock was able to create so many truly unique works of modern art while being so emotionally unstable. He destroyed so much property as well as relationships before eventually ending his own life…and one other.

I congratulate Deborah Solomon on a brilliant achievement.

Bravo!

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading her biography of Jackson Pollock. First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a lined notebook kept near-at-hand,  record your comments, questions, and page references.

Pay special attention to her ongoing explanation of how and why Pollock developed into one of the greatest painters in the 2oth century…and one of the most unhappy human beings you will ever encounter.