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Customer Reviews (5)

Authentic and sober analysis
I appreciated the authenticity of the author's encounter with Pollock, and the unselfconscious manner of his writing--meaning: he didn't write to elevate his own perception, but to illuminate Pollock and his rich environs and influences. The author's intelligence enriches our understanding of Pollock, and does so in as timely a manner now as in the 70's when the book was originally written.

Good for its time
This may have been one of the better Pollack books when it came out in 1972, but now I think its main use is for die hards who want every detail.And the details are exhausting:galleries, museums, who what where - too much for me.What I was looking for was more process/personal/mindset stuff, and there is some but you have to go through a lot to get to the little of it there is.I recommend "Jackson Pollack" by Ellen G. Landau.Great reproductions and good text.

Connections
I was wowed reading this energetic, straightforward book, mainly by the many connections made--how Pollocks studies with the great Mexican muralist Orosco who used used/taught a dripping splashing underpainting technique can logically link to how Pollock got splashing and painting on large scale canvases---to the influence of other artists, such as Picasso, on the early works of Jackson Pollock, to the revelation of Pollock's love of and use of found natural forms...

still reading it
I am just beginning to explore pollacks work - book is well laid out

Good review of Jackson Pollock's work, but not personal enou
This book is a thorough review of Jackson Pollock's work and his professional life; however I would have enjoyed it more if there had been more indepth reporting of his personal life.HIs relationship with hiswife, parents and brothers would have made for a more insightful view ofthe artist as a man. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Incisive insider's view of the Jackson Pollock nobody knew
This book has everything going for it:fame, excitement, love, historic figures, and it is an engrossing read.You will not find this information anywhere else; it seems that the last months of Jackson Pollock's life(with the author by his side) have been erased from the Official History! This book should be reissued now! ... Read more

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This dual portrait examines the art and lives of these talented artists and their productive, yet tempestuous relationship.

For more than a decade Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner devoted their lives to each other, serving in turn as muse, critic, companion, lover, friend, and alter ego. Their romance was stormy--their raucous arguments are the stuff of legend--and their talents were prodigious. Filling the pages of this book are examples of the contributions both artists made to the world of modern art. Readers will learn how Pollock and Krasner's artistry evolved and how they influenced each other's success. Recent developments, such as a revealing biopic and the art world's designation of Pollock as the most expensive artist in the world, bring their portrait fully up to date. While the author acknowledges history's sensationalization of their lives, it is the paintings themselves--revolutionary, innovative, and daring--that tell the most compelling story. ... Read more

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"On the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk around in it, work from the four sides and be literally 'in' the painting." -- Jackson Pollock, 1947

Jackson Pollock (1912 - 1956) was the commanding figure of American Abstract Expressionism. By the mid-1940s, he was painting in a completely abstract manner, and the "drip and splash" style for which he is best known emerged rather abruptly in 1947. This manner of Action Painting had in common with Surrealist theories of automatism that artists and critics alike supposed it to -result in a direct expression or revelation of the unconscious moods of the artist. Advanced critics strongly supported Pollock, but he was also subject to much abuse and sarcasm; in 1956, Time magazine called him "Jack the Dripper." By the 1960s, however, he was generally recognized as the most important figure in this century's most important movement in American painting. His unhappy personal life and his premature death in a car crash contributed to his legendary status.

This catalogue book was first published on the occasion of a noted exhibition at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf, Germany. It presents important paintings as well as graphic works from the New York Museum of Modern Art and from several European collections, for example, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

Volkmar Essers is curator at the museum Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf. He specializes in and has published on Abstract Expressionism.

Customer Reviews (1)

A Look into the Early Years
This book beautifully illuminates the hardships and struggles that stood in the way of Jackson Pollock in his early years. This book tells the true story about his struggle to get the recognition he deserved and his courage in the face of adverse reviews. I think it beautifully illustrates howtrying to make as an artist isn't easy and portrays it through the exampleof Jackson Pollock.This is the most descriptive and best out of all 30books on Jackson Pollock I have read. ... Read more

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Designed to help students and interested general readers to interpret the abstract expressionist paintings of Jackson Pollock, this survey of Pollock's life and art provides insight into the origins and meanings of individual works and analyzes the influences upon Pollock. Also included are discussions of the many issues raised by Pollock's work above and beyond his intentions, and how they intersected with the work of his contemporaries as well as other intellectual currents of the time. ... Read more

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A subtle study of Jackson Pollock's influence on a half century of postwar American art. In addition to providing an intimate biography of Pollock and the history and development of his ideas, Carter Ratcliff explores the lives and consciousness of the other major American artists of the day. 4 color and 93 b&w illustrations.Amazon.com Review
Jackson Pollock's paintings capture the essence of movementand challenge typical notions of representation.The Fate of aGesture argues that Pollock's work overshadowed and directed thecourse of postwar American Painting. Not to be confused with a surveyof this era in art history, Ratcliff deals specifically with theboundless and infinite quality of the influential gesture as a symbolof America itself. Avoiding a common aggrandizement of the artist,Ratcliff's thought-provoking text allows readers to drawconclusions of their own. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very insightful book
If you have any interest in Abstract Expressionism and New York school of painting, pick up this highly readable and well written book. The book traces the origins ofAmerican modern art to the expressive gestures of Jackson Pollack in his drip paintings.In some ways this gesture is replicated in the book, as chapters seem to jump/ mergefrom one subject or painter to another without reason, yet, in fact, is building up a glorious picture of the New York artists world at a particular point of time. Highly recommended.

Please...
Give me a break. This mish-mash of secondhand information is little more than easily readable. With little regard to chronology, Ratcliff separates the various artistic trends of postwar America using representative artists. All of the stories in this book have been told before, and better, by the artists and critics themselves. This kind of 'art journalism' (not unlike Calvin Tomkins' work) is informative, to be sure, but in quite a superficial and unsatisfying way. I suggest reading Irving Sandler's 'American art of the 1960s' for something as informative and enjoyable but with some opinions and insight.

Follows post-world war two american art after Jackson Polloc
Jackson Pollock is seen as the greatest American artist ever, because of his poured paintings of the late 40's and early 50's. Dying in a drunken car crash in 1956, he left behind a legacy of American artists who weren't driven by European art tastes. The Abstract Expressionist movement, large canvases, and Pop Art are all traced back to Pollock.

Also includes chapters about Rauschenberg, Johns, de Koonig, and Warhol, among others ... Read more

Product Description
This epic biographical poem chronicles the life of the dynamic and controversial American painter Jackson Pollock. The magnificent narrative chronicles Pollock's reckless, adventurous, and often desperate life, from his beginnings in the American northwest through his pioneering of a revolutionary new painting technique that came to be known as Abstract Expressionism to his death behind the wheel of a car on Long Island when he was only 44 years old. Written entirely in iambic trimeter, the poem captures the essence of the brilliant yet tortured artist in language that is as breathtaking as a Pollock painting: spontaneous, beautiful, and haunting, with bursts of energy that touch the soul and make it soar. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent overview of Jackson Pollock's life
I enjoyed the iambic trimeter of the book. The prose feels spare but got me in sideways into Pollock's consciousness. Well worth reading for anyone who wants to understand modern art. Pollock would have benefited from a more religious upbringing. Who knows what he might have accomplished had he not been so internally tortured?

Blazing comet burning out!
This book was a revelation to me! I've always loved the strength
and delicacy of Pollock's works, without ever being able to place the undercurrent of violence and black rage in it. Now I understand. What a fascinating picture of how an artist can turn
what to others would be crippling limitations into lasting beauty!
Thank you, Martin Gray, for opening my eyes. ... Read more

Product Description
Gabriele Di Matteo's artist's book takes over 70 photographs of Jackson Pollock from a 1982 Paris Musee national d'art moderne catalogue on the artist, and subjects them to a reproduction process that translates them into painted portraits. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

profound, beautiful, fascinating writing--lags at the end
Must admit that when I received this tome in the mail, it took me weeks even to pick it up and look at it, as it seemed just well over-the-top in length and weight for the story of this one man or for a summer read. But as soon as I began, I was off.The writers carry you along like the best fiction writers, and in the meantime you get an inside peak at an entire era -- the times, the mood, the other people around and active in the American modern art movement. It almost seems impossible that the authors were able to gather so much detail to make this so vivid!I became attached to it like a favored novel.Only one criticism--the last multiple chapters are all about his post-production, post-return to drinking, destructive downhill spiral.After a while, this portion became repetitive as in "enough already, I don't need to hear about his destroying yet another set of lawn furniture."At some point well before the end, I the reader wanted to jump in the book and put him out of his misery.Still -- what an American tragedy and must read. ... Read more

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"In the beginning, the canvas is white, void; then the cautious start, then the running of the paint from the pot onto the white of the surface..." Hans Namuth.Born in 1912, in a small town in Wyoming, Jackson Pollock embodied the American dream as the country found itself confronted with the realities of a modern era which began to replace the fading nineteenth century. Just like in a novel, Pollock left home in search of fame and fortune in New York City. Thanks to the Federal Art Project, he quickly won acclaim, and after the Second World War became the biggest art celebrity in America. For De Kooning, Pollock was the "icebreaker." For Max Ernst and Masson, Pollock was a fellow member of the European surrealist movement. And for Motherwell, Pollock was a legitimate candidate for the status of the Master of the American School. During the many upheavals in his life in New York in the 1950s and 60s, Pollock lost his bearings - success had simply come too fast and too easily. It was during this period that he turned to alcohol and destroyed his marriage to Lee Krasner. Eventually, he achieved truly legendary status, ending his life! like that other great star of the period, James Dean, killing himself after a night of drinking, behind the wheel of his Oldsmobile. This book throws light on a new era in art and on the personality of Pollock through the work which made him the undisputed master of Abstract American Expressionism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Pollock Unveiled
I must confess to having litle appreciation of the work of Jackson Pollock before reading Donald Wigal's "Pollock: Veiling the Image."This was surely due in large part to my bias in favor of representational art--a bias that endures.But this book has brought me to a genuine appreciation of a major artist.A light went on when I read: "Several artists stress the theme about Abstract Expressionism in theory, but some acted it out less convincingly in their work.Likewise, other artists observe the effect paint has when dripped on to a surface, but none before Pollock developed it into the brilliant visual polyphony he made happen" (94).That phrase, "brilliant visual polyphony," was the light switch.I suddenly realized the kinship between abstract impressionism and music.I would never have demanded that a concerto have an identifiable subject.Thanks to Donald Wigal and to the marvelous reproductions in this book, I now recognize that Pollock is at his best when he is least representational, and that Pollock at his best is brilliant.
It occurs to me that there is a polyphonic quality to Wigal's text that mirrors the subject:There is, within a clear organization, a polyphonic overlay of cultural history, biographical fact, psychological observations, and critical insights, that is ingeniously suited to the complexity of the subject.Here art criticism reaches a high artistic level in its own right, and I find myself personally enriched.
If "Jackson Pollock: Veiling the Image" can do for others what it has done for me, it should be a valuable and enduring contribution to art criticism.

Joseph H. Wessling

Overarching new vision of Pollock for today
Wigal's "Veiling the Image" is a new vision of Pollock -- something completely grand & overarching as nothing else I've read & reinvigorates things for today's minds. It's complex, incredibly interesting, imaginative & makes one desire to re-engage with it's sense of contemporary relevancy & beauty. The text is fascinating & compelling -- actually awesome & totally readable. It examines Harris's film & moves forward to 2005 including interviews about my own yet to be released www.Pollocksquared.com indie feature.

Wigal's incredibly researched all of this not only philosophically but poured it all out in more fresh ways than one can imagine with wonderful fresh vignettes not only about Pollock in great detail but his milieux including Ruth Kligman, DeKooning, Agnes Martin, Frank O'Hara, Larry Rivers, includes references to many artists & critics of today including fractal scientist Richard Taylor. It even explores the market as related to Pollock's prices. The perfect unified one in all book for any Pollock lover or for people who never got it before -- because they will now. Does what other books can't. It looks like publisher Parkstone spared no expense in every aspect of quality control with this wonderful & beautiful production. It makes sense for today's modern audience.

For myself as an artist the vast number of large Pollock reproductions & their clarity of color & sharpness surpass by far the best I've seen of any Pollock's before. They're in a class by themselves. Many images were also completely new to me & very appreciated. Wigal's made it all happen, every aspect, coming totally alive in fresh imaginative ways in dimensions I've never remotely seen explored before.
I'll be exploring it for a long while.

Bill Rabinovitch
rabinart@aol.com
www.Pollocksquared.com

Dazzling unveiling
The author does with words what Pollock did with paint. Don Wigal hurls and drips facts around simple organizational concepts. Comments about an actress' Brooklyn accent sit within a larger skein of Pollock the rebel cowboy. Besides being enjoyable, these slipping-in-from-the-side factoids, they present a continually changing perspective on Pollock. These fresh viewpoints make it easier to understand Pollock as a real person.
It would have been better if the illustrations of Pollock's work were more related to the text. They are very well done, however. You can see the texture of the paint.
Wigal places Pollock, his genius and his personal failings, in the fabric of both his own time and larger questions of science, philosophy, and history. The book sent my head spinning after several pages; it is best read a bit at a time, then savored.

A looking and reading pleasure
What a delight this book is. Pollock's paintings are presented in their historical and cultural context. The text drew me more and more into Pollock's world, making me eager to look, really look, more and more at the spectacular paintings. In the reading and the looking I felt like I was traveling the path of this unique American artist in his process of self-discovery and artistic expression. This book is a real pleasure! I'm going back to read and look again! ... Read more

Product Description
In a thousand dazzling images conjured by his immediatefamily and closest friends, Jackson Pollock, the spectacularlyself-destructive and gifted American painter, comes to life in thisfascinating oral biography assembled and written by his friend andEast Hampton neighbor, Jeffrey Potter.The dramatic narrative ofPollock's violent death, told by those who were on the scene, fromfarmers and policemen to coroners and lovers, is gripping in itsimmediacy.To a Violent Grave reveals a man living a life thatmirrored his art.Jackson Pollock--powerful, colorful, contradictory,brilliant--was an explosion that rocked and changed forever all hetouched. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

MOVE OVER TOLSTOY!
Amazing book! Wonderful writer!The only book ever written with a honest and intimate account of Jackson Pollock's life. Jeffrey Potter displays yet again his mastery of talents to create a unique work of literature.I look forward to reading more of his writings.

Three & a half stars... a bit too brief
It could be argued that this format (what people who knew Pollack say about him later) is the laziest form of biography.But it is quite interesting to read exactly what tales his friends and colleagues can tell us.It was light reading, lacking the kind of sequential factual details a meticulous biographer strings together.

Title implies sensationalism rather than a sober study of the man's life; indeed, the book leans a bit too much on gossipy bits of scandal, drinking, violence, and angst.Does nothing to dispel all the galmourization and star attraction of Pollack, which is unfortunate.The book's lack of art criticism does a disservice to the artist, and places Pollack under an unfortunate spotlight of personality.Reader can leave this book erroneously imagining Pollack was a fake, or at least pathetic.

Worth reading to augment exhaustive research, but not the full story...

Three & a half stars... a bit too brief
It could be argued that this format (what people who knew Pollack say about him later) is the laziest form of biography.But it is quite interesting to read exactly what tales his friends and colleagues can tell us.It was light reading, lacking the kind of sequential factual details a meticulous biographer strings together.

Title implies sensationalism rather than a sober study of the man's life; indeed, the book leans a bit too much on gossipy bits of scandal, drinking, violence, and angst.Does nothing to dispel all the galmourization and star attraction of Pollack, which is unfortunate.The book's lack of art criticism does a disservice to the artist, and places Pollack under an unfortunate spotlight of personality.Reader can leave this book erroneously imagining Pollack was a fake, or at least pathetic.

Worth reading to augment exhaustive research, but not the full story. There is a better biography available.

I wondered when the biography would begin.
I felt that the format of this biography took too much away from thecontent. I will never buy another " oral biography ". The bookwill make a nice coaster or bathroom reader.

The true Pollock
I bought this book for researching a college term paper and ended up being enthralled with it. I never realized all these things about this great painter. From the mouths of his family and friends, one feels as if he/sheis peering into the true life of Jackson Pollock If you want to understandhis art, this is the place to start. ... Read more