Jackson Pollock

by Steven Naifeh

  Wandering on beach: Ibram Lassaw. Walking by roadside: Joe Liss. Parked in front of houses: Carone. Calling Wilcox: Wilcox. Calling the Smiths: Jane Smith. Dog incident; “like the walking dead”: Carone. “The dog died”: Q. by Carone. “Disillusioned with Ruth”: Carone. Lee’s week in the Midi; spurned by Peggy: LK to JP, from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, n.d. “Everything I had done”: PG, p. 288. Guggenheim’s gifts: She gave away Galaxy (OC&T 169, I, pp. 166–67) in 1949; Watery Paths (OC&T 171, I, pp. 168–69) in 1950; Magic Lantern (OC&T 172, I, p. 170) in 1954; The Nest (OC&T 174, I, p. 172); Reflections of the Big Dipper (OC&T 175, I, pp. 172–73) in 1950; Prism (OC&T 176, I, p. 174) in 1954; Full Fathom Five (OC&T 180, I, p. 178) in 1952; and Phosphorescence (OC&T 183, I, pp. 182–83) in 1950. She retained only Enchanted Forest (OC&T 173, I, p. 171), Sea Change (OC&T 177, I, pp. 174–75), and Alchemy (OC&T 179, I, p. 177) at the time of JP’s death. Refused to find a room: Weld, p. 387. Staying with Jenkins: Jenkins.

  Calling Lee’s friends: Zogbaum; Cile Lord; Southgate. Not too late or drunk: Zogbaum. Fingernail incident: Nancy Smith. Never calling Kligman: Kligman; Wagstaff; see Kligman, p. 185: Although she compresses the time to two days, Kligman says only that she called JP. Carone remembers specifically that he visited JP on a Sunday before his death and Ruth was in New York. That would have to have been Sunday, August 5. In her account, Kligman does not acknowledge being in New York except on the Thursday and Friday immediately before Saturday, August 11. Walking property: James Brooks. “My God”: Q. in DP&G, “Who Was JP?” p. 52. Potter fence: Potter, p. 215. Pile of boulders: Potter, p. 233. “You know I’m a painter”: Q. in Kligman, p. 127. “I’m no good”: Q. in Kligman, p. 129.

  “Your case”; “the thing to do”; “I sometimes feel”: LRP to JP, Dec. 11, 1927. Urinating on rocks: Potter, p. 233. “In this life”: LRP to JP, Dec. 11, 1927. Letter in kitchen drawer; Jackson sobbing: Carone. “Is it that”: Still to JP, Dec. 1955. August 9 call: Kligman; Jane Smith; see also Tony Smith, q. in DP&G, “Who Was JP?” p. 54. “Sullen”; “lost”: Kligman, p. 185. Canceling visit with Smith: Smith, q. in DP&G, ”Who Was JP?” p. 54. Smith’s return: Jane Smith. “We talked”: Q. in DP&G, “Who Was JP?” p. 54. “Get into portraits”; “do a lot”: Jane Smith, recalling Tony. Visit to Stony Hill Farm: Penny Potter, q. in Potter, p. 237. Four cases of beer: Harris, int. by Shorthall, Nov. 9, 1959. “Drunk and babbling”: Cile Lord. Trying to sleep: Friedman, p. 233. Not seeing Marca-Relli for weeks: Marca-Relli. “Now that Jackson”: Marca-Relli; see also Friedman, p. 234. “God, that’s a great”; “life is beautiful”: Q. by Marca-Relli; see similar account in Friedman, p. 233.

  Fight over building jack: Potter, p. 238. “I hated the impression”: Kligman, p. 189. “Eye-opener”: Cavagnaro, q. in Potter, p. 239. Kligman crushed by cat’s disappearance: Kligman, p. 190. “Maybe Blanche”: Kligman, p. 199. “Don’t count”: Q. in Kligman, p. 199. Edith twenty-five: “Toll of Ten Lives in Motor Crashes.” Description of Metzger: Kligman, p. 65. German Jew who fled Nazis: Iris Lord. Manicurist: Terry Liss. Receptionist: Kligman. Ended relationship; “let your fantasy”: Kligman, p. 187. “Meeting” Goering: Kligman, p. 193. Jackson not interested in Metzger: Kligman, p. 189. Dishes in sink: Cile Lord. Looking for kitten; Jackson interrogating dogs: Kligman, p. 190. Photograph: In possession of Kligman. Jackson driving by beach: Kligman. Ruth and Edith left alone: Kligman, p. 192. Refusing coffee: Kligman, p. 196. Kligman wanting to go to party: Kligman. Three dollars per person: CG. “Maybe it would be fun”: Kligman, p. 197. “Didn’t want to face”: Ossorio, int. by Shorthall, Nov. 9, 1959. “Lovely scoop neckline”: Kligman, p. 199. Edith’s and Jackson’s attire: Memo from Harry M. Steele, chief, East Hampton Town Police, to John H. Nugent, coroner, Suffolk County, N.Y., Aug. 12, 1956. Still bickering in car: Kligman.

  “Ruth, he’s drunk”: Q. in Kligman, p. 200. “Good evening”: Policeman, q. in Kligman, p. 200. “Nothing’s wrong”: Q. in Kligman, p. 200. “Pasty”; “Hey, Jackson”: Wilcox. “I don’t feel”: Q. by Wilcox. Driving to bar: In her book, Kligman identifies the bar as the Cottage Inn, although she says they did not go inside; Wilcox believes it was Cavagnaro’s, because of its convenient location, but Cavagnaro doesn’t remember JP coming in that night with Ruth and Edith. If JP fell asleep in the car, however, Cavagnaro might not have recognized the two women alone.

  Ossorio introducing Hambro: Ossorio; Ossorio, int. by Shorthall, Nov. 9, 1959. Maid taking message: Ossorio. “Call for help”: Q. in Kligman, p. 200. “Get her back”: Q. by Kligman. “He’s drunk”: Q. in Kligman, p. 201. “No, he’s not”: Kligman: “She didn’t want to get back in the car. I made her.” Edith in back seat: Kligman. “Stop the car”: Q. in Kligman, p. 201. “Edith, stop”; “please, Jackson”: Kligman, p. 201. Jackson leaning forward: Joan Ward. “Expected to lift off”: Kligman. “Let me out”: Metzger, q. in Kligman, p. 201. Description of road; Jackson slowing down there: Wilcox. High crown in road: Richard and Allene Talmage, int. by Shorthall, Nov. 9, 1959. Description of accident: Official Police Accident Report, East Hampton Town Police, #914, Aug. 11, 1956; Kligman; on-scene witness recollections, q. in Potter, pp. 240–46. “This is it”: Kligman.

  Trajectory: Earl Finch, q. in Potter, p. 244. Finch bases his estimate on the place where JP hit the tree that killed him. “He might have survived if he’d missed it.” There is some discrepancy between witnesses on the scene, including Finch, and the official report, which says that JP’s body was found only nine feet west of the car. Other witnesses say that the body was far back in the woods and took some time to find. Even Finch, who prepared the official report, says that JP flew fifty feet before hitting the tree; see Potter, p. 244. Lee hearing about Jackson’s death: Jenkins.

  EPILOGUE: GLACIAL ERRATIC

  SOURCES

  See Chapter 44.

  NOTES

  Funeral service: “Toll of Ten Lives,” Aug. 16, 1956. Namuth trying to take photo: Frederick Williams, q. in Potter, pp. 249–50. Lee refusing to sit with Pollocks: FLP. “Where were you”: Q. by Ruth Stein. “It made me think”: Gina Knee, q. in Potter, p. 258. Greenberg asked to give eulogy; “the girl Jackson killed”: CG, q. in Potter, p. 253. Reverend George Nicholson: Potter, p. 254. Irrelevant: Brach; Heller; Resnick. Kadish wailing: FLP. Grave site: Superintendent Jarvis Wood, q. in Potter, pp. 254–55: LK paid $300 for the plots. Pallbearers: Potter, p. 256. Sande and Kadish near dogs: Feldman. Weeping: FLP. De Kooning and others lingering: Resnick. Potter hauling stone from backyard: Potter, p. 269. Little finding new stone: Little, q. in Potter, p. 269. Forty-ton rock: Harry Cullum, q. in Potter, p. 269. Potter digging rock out of ground: Potter, pp. 269–70.

  Stella’s return to Tingley: She left on October 18, 1956 (SMP to Irene Crippen, Jan. 6, 1957) for a trip to see her brother Cameron in Pittsburgh. “I just had to do”: SMP to Irene Crippen, Jan. 6, 1957. “Circulatory problems”: Mary Kreuzer to MLP and FLP, Mar. 22, 1958. Sande dying: Les McClure to Irene and Harold Crippen, Mar. 4, 1964. For leukemia, see Kadish. Charles says it was lymphoma—cancer of the lymph glands. Arloie after Sande’s death: SWP. Lee painting out of Easter and the Totem: CG: “Krasner spent the rest of her career painting out of that picture.” Lee dying; “natural causes”: Ruth Stein.

  CREDITS

  See Notes for key to abbreviations.

  Pages viii, 554, 620, 622, 650, 666, 668, 709: Hans Namuth; 9, 42, 52, 61, 66, 101, 106, 111, 116, 117, 140 (right), 159, 193, 289, 522, 618, 775: Courtesy JP Papers, AAA, Smithsonian Institution; 11, 16: Courtesy Irene Crippen; 17, 23, 51, 94, 230: Courtesy FLP; 19, 30: Courtesy Clair B. Heyer; 35, 37, 133, 307: Courtesy ACM; 38, 39, 78, 643, 725: Courtesy MJP; 48, 77, 153, 292: Courtesy CCP Papers, AAA, Smithsonian Institution; 56: Courtesy Allan Mori; 60: Authors’ collection; 70: Courtesy Evelyn Porter Trowbridge; 74, 76, 98, 569: Courtesy CCP; 75, 84: Gregory White Smith; 82: Courtesy Tim Purdy; 95: Courtesy Evelyn Minsch McGinn; 113: Courtesy Robert Cooter; 115: Courtesy Riverside Polytechnic High School; 124: Courtesy Elizabeth Duncan; 130, 138, 1
40 (left): Courtesy Krishnamurti Foundation of America; 137: Philip Goldstein (Guston) Courtesy Karleen Marienthal, Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles; 148: Courtesy Berthe Laxineta; 151: Courtesy Harold Lehman; 154: Courtesy Pomona College, Claremont, CA; 157, 496: Herbert Matter Courtesy Mercedes Matter and JP Papers, AAA, Smithsonian Institution; 165, 221, 301: Courtesy Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc., and Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; 171, 285, 383, 423: Courtesy Peter A. Juley and Son Collection, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; 174, 181 (left): Courtesy Larry A. James; 174, 184: Courtesy Polly Burroughs; 173: Courtesy Kansas City Art Institute and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; 187 (left), 282 (right): Courtesy Lyman Field and United Missouri Bank of Kansas City, N.A., Co-Trustees of the Thomas Hart and Rita P. Benton Testamentary Trusts; 187 (right), 191: Courtesy Mr. and Mrs. John W. Mecom, Jr. photo: Norlene Tips; 189, 190: Courtesy Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S.; 208: Courtesy private collection, New York; 209: Courtesy Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Elizabeth M. Watkins Fund; 210: Alfred Eisenstaedt, Life magazine, © Time, Inc.; 221 (right), 252: Courtesy Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc. photo: Zindman/Fremont; 244: Courtesy Jason McCoy; 245: Courtesy Sculptors’ Guild Papers, AAA, Smithsonian Institution; 248: Courtesy Alexandra Cromwell; 249: Courtesy Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; 250: Courtesy Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery, Canajoharie, NY; 251: Courtesy National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; 253, 751: Courtesy Robert Miller Gallery, New York; 261: Courtesy Reuben Kadish; 280: Courtesy Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, Martha Jackson Collection, 1974; 282 (left): Courtesy Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, gift of Rita P. Benton; 283: Courtesy Robert P. Miller; 299, 300: Copyright © 1986, Courtesy Trustees of Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; 304: Courtesy Rebecca Hicks; 316: Courtesy Medical Archives of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center; 323: Courtesy R. A. Ellison photo: R. A. Ellison; 328: Courtesy Joseph Henderson; 332, 351: Courtesy Maxwell Galleries, Ltd., San Francisco; 335: Courtesy Phyllis and David Adelson, Brookline, MA photo courtesy Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA; 338: Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art. Purchase, with funds from the Drawing Committee and the Julia B. Engel Purchase Fund. 85.18; 343: Courtesy Hedda Sterne; 352 (left): Courtesy University Museum, University of Pennsylvania (neg. # 134052); 352 (right): Courtesy Tate Gallery, London; 353: Courtesy Musée Picasso, Paris © Photo R.M.N.—SPADEM; 362: Courtesy Violet de Laszlo; 368, 369, 370, 549: Courtesy Ruth Stein; 376, 387, 640: Courtesy LK; 378: Courtesy Bettmann Archive; 380: Courtesy Ronald Stein; 392: Ronald Stein Courtesy Ruth Stein; 394: Courtesy Menil Collection, Houston, TX photo: Hickey & Robertson, Houston; 419: George Platt Lynes Courtesy MOMA, New York; 436: Gisele Freund Courtesy PhotoResearchers, Inc., and Jacqueline Bograd Weld; 440: Berenice Abbott Courtesy Commerce Graphics Ltd., Inc., and Jacqueline Bograd Weld; 453, 729: Courtesy Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris; 457 (left): Reuben Kadish; and 457 (right): Jackson Pollock Courtesy Reuben Kadish; 456: Courtesy San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Albert M. Bender Collection, Albert M. Bender Bequest Fund Purchase, 45.1308; 458: Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Rogers, Fletcher and Harris Brisbane Dick Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1982 (1982.20); 487: Courtesy Photography Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin; 493: Courtesy Merle Hubbard; 495: Courtesy Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Anderson, Atherton, CA; 505, 626: Martha Holmes Courtesy Life magazine, © 1949 Time, Inc.; 513: Courtesy Jason McCoy, Inc.; 517: Ronald Stein Courtesy JP Papers, AAA, Smithsonian Institution; 518: Courtesy Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Morris through Exchange, 1987.261, copyright © 1989 The Art Institute of Chicago; 519: Rudolph Burckhardt; 525: Courtesy MOMA, New York, bequest of LK; 526: Lost photo courtesy Maxwell Galleries, Ltd., San Francisco; 527: Courtesy Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG Zurich; 530, 544, 582: Courtesy Roger Wilcox; 537: Courtesy Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE, gift of Peggy Guggenheim; 538: Courtesy Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod, Washington, DC; 546: Jon Naar, copyright © 1963, 1989; 554: Courtesy Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard J. Reis; 563: Courtesy Harry Jackson Copyright Wyoming Foundry Studios, Inc., 1980; 567: Courtesy Nationalmuseum, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; 589: Ben Schultz Courtesy Peter Blake; 590 (left): Courtesy Peter Getty, New York; 590 (right): Collection of Wellesley College Museum, bequest of Merrill Miller Lake. Class of 1936; 595: © Arnold Newman Courtesy Life magazine, © 1949, 1977 Time, Inc., and Betty Parsons Gallery; 598: © Studio ARAx Courtesy Ted Dragon: 603: Nina Leen Courtesy Life magazine. © 1951 Time. Inc.: 614: Lawrence Larkin Courtesy JP Papers, AAA. Smithsonian Institution; 616: Courtesy Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf; 617: Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, George A. Hearn Fund, 1957 (57.92); 641: Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Funds and museum purchase; 651: Courtesy National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; 665: Courtesy Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, West Germany; 669: Courtesy MOMA, New York, acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest and the Mr. and Mrs. David Rockefeller Fund; 671: Hans Namuth Courtesy Alfonso Ossorio; 685: Courtesy Sidney Janis; 697: Paul Feeley Courtesy Helen Wheelwright; 702, 711: Courtesy May Rosenberg and Patia Rosenberg-Yasin; 717: Courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; 718: Selden Rodman; 726: Courtesy Mr. and Mrs. Robert Meyerhoff, Baltimore; 730: Courtesy Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation Incorporated; 734: © Arnold Newman; 757: John Reed Courtesy Phyllis Reed and JP Papers, AAA, Smithsonian Institution; 760: Ted Yamashira Courtesy Adele Callaway; 767: Courtesy B. H. Friedman; 790: Edith Metzger / Courtesy Ruth Kligman: 795: Susan Wood. © 1984.

  COLOR INSERT

  Page 1 (top): Courtesy Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc., and Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; 1 (bottom): Courtesy Mr. and Mrs. Gerald P. Peters, Santa Fe, NM; 2 (top): Courtesy Tate Gallery, London; 2 (bottom): Courtesy MOMA, New York, bequest of LK; 3 (top), 4 (bottom), 6 (top and bottom), 7 (top), 8 (bottom): Courtesy MOMA, New York; 3 (bottom): Courtesy Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York / photo: David Heald; 4 (top): Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art, partial gift of Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd, no. 215, Accession Number 174–232.1; 5 (top): Courtesy University of Iowa Museum of Art, gift of Peggy Guggenheim, 195.9.6 / photo: Randall Tosh; 5 (bottom): Collection Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, West Germany; 7 (bottom): Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund; 8 (top): Courtesy Australian National Gallery, Canberra.

  Grateful acknowledgment is made to all those who granted permission to use previously unpublished materials: James Brooks; Jeanne Bultman; Stephen J. Campbell of the United Missouri Bank of Kansas City, n.a., for the Trustees of the Thomas Hart and Rita P. Benton Testamentary Trusts; Donnelly Lee Casto; Irene Crippen; Whitney Darrow, Jr.; Michael de Laszlo for Violet de Laszlo; Ted Dragon; Elizabeth Duncan; Clement Greenberg; Ben Heller; Clair B. Heyer; Rebecca Hicks; Merle Hubbard; Reuben Kadish; Jacob Kainen; Lillian Kiesler; Carolyn Knute; Lee Krasner; Melvin P. Lader; Berthe Laxineta; Harold Lehman; Karleen Marienthal for Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles; Arloie McCoy; William McNaught, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; Daniel T. Miller, Jr.: Robert Motherwell; John Bernard Myers; Sophia Mumford; Annalee Newman; Alfonso A. Ossorio; Charles Pollock; Frank Pollock for himself and for the Estates of Roy and Stella Pollock; Jay Pollock; William P. Raynor for the Betty Parsons Estate; Patia M. Rosenberg-Yasin for May Tabak Rosenberg; Patricia Still; Eugene Victor Thaw for the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Inc.; Irving Sandler; Dorothy Seiberling; Jane L. Smith; Ronald Stein; Araks V. Tolegian; Aram Tolegian.

 

 

 
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