First published 1991
Steven Naifeh reconstructs the life and death of Jackson Pollock through an unprecedented collection of primary sources. The author draws from family correspondence and personal documents, conducting extensive interviews with Pollock's widow Lee Krasner, his psychologists, and his psychoanalysts. Naifeh challenges the popular narratives that have grown around the artist's 1956 death, revealing a more complex truth beneath the surface mythology. The biography presents Pollock not as a romantic figure of artistic legend but as a troubled individual whose psychological struggles shaped both his revolutionary painting technique and his tragic end. Through careful documentation and firsthand accounts, Naifeh offers readers an intimate portrait of the man behind the famous drip paintings, supported by 12 color photographs and 175 black-and-white images that illuminate both his artistic process and personal world.
Genres: biography, art, 20th-century, non-fiction, art-history
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: intimate-portrait, troubled-individual
Period: 1956
952 pages · Paperback · HarperCollins
Content warnings: mental-illness