Summary
Jackson Pollock: An American Saga is a 1989 biography of abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock, by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. It was awarded the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.
Reception edit
It was considered "well-researched" by Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. The book's reception inspired Ed Harris to adapt it to film as Pollock in 2000. Marcia Gay Harden received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role of Lee Krasner.
In the New York Times Book Review, author and critic Elizabeth Frank said the work was especially strong on Krasner: "The Pollock-Krasner relationship becomes the center of the book, as indeed it should in any biography of Pollock, and to a certain extent the book even becomes Krasner's story more than Pollack's."[1]
Composition edit
The book was the first to explore the artist with psychological depth, based on interviews with over 850 people. The authors researched for eight years, had insight into various unpublished documents, medical and psychiatric reports, conversations with the artist's friends and widow Lee Krasner.
See also edit
First edition edit
- C. N. Potter, 1989, ISBN 0-517-56084-4
References edit
- ^ Frank, Elizabeth (January 28, 1990). "A Spattered Life". New York Times. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
External links edit
- New York Times Book Review on Jackson Pollock: An American Saga