3 comments about The Fate Of A Gesture: Jackson Pollock And Postwar American Art.

1. 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




2. 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.



3. 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 of American 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/ merge from 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.

No comments about Jackson Pollock: The Irascibles and the New York School.

1 comments about Jackson Pollock (Artists in Their Time).

1. American artist Jackson Pollock lived a sometimes troubled and ultimately tragic life, despite his success in popularizing revolutionary methods of creating art. Clare Oliver's contribution to Scholastic's "Artists In Their Time" series does not sugar-coat or contradict the reality of that life, one of frequent reclusion and alcohol addiction but also containing periods of both failure and success. It also does its best to make the abstract expressionist movement understandable and accessible to young readers without passing any sort of judgment on its merit. Instead, the reader is given a clear picture of the place Pollock's innovations held in the history of art. Background information on the era in which Pollock lived and worked is helpful, but not intrusive. Illustrations are excellent.

No comments about Jackson Pollock : a biography / Deborah Solomon.

No comments about Pollock Painting.

No comments about Pollock's Britannia Toy Theatre.

1 comments about Jackson Pollock: Psychoanalytic Drawings.

1. Any one who has the faintest idea of who Jackson Pollock was in the art world should not pass up the oppertunity to read this book. The authors explore the scaffolding of the artists ideas by opening his sketch books to viewers and revealing his bare-bone sketching style. I have yet to obtain a copy of the book, but have browsed through it's contents on numerous occaisons, each time seeing something different in every piece. An excellent book to conger up inspiration for all aspiring artist.

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No comments about The Prime Minister's Christmas Card : Blue Poles and Cultural Politics in the Whitlam Era.

No comments about Exceptional Spaces: Essays in Performance and History.