cover image Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock

Ellen G. Landau. ABRAMS, $75 (283pp) ISBN 978-0-8109-3702-4

In a remarkably fresh look at Pollock's life (1912-1956) and work, Landau presents this driven artist as a Promethean rebel who exemplified the American traits of brashness, persistence and outward lack of sophistication, combined with inner primitivism and unbridled daring. An intensely self-conscious youth from Cody, Wyo., Pollock went to New York where mentor Thomas Hart Benton taught him rhythmical composition. The symbol-laden drawings Pollock brought to his Jungian therapist pointed him on a quest of psychic regeneration. His friend John Graham, a Polish-born modernist artist, exposed him to the occult, yoga and African, Oceanic and Egyptian art. He drew mental energy from strong-willed painter Lee Krasner, who became his wife. Landau, art history professor at Case Western Reserve University, unearths new material and re-evaluates the old in this stunningly illustrated, engrossing biographical-critical study. (Nov.)