Such Desperate Joy: Imagining Jackson Pollack

No modern artist is more controversial than Jackson Pollock, whose life is the subject of a new feature film starring Ed Harris. With an intense, troubled personality that many see reflected in his radical “drip” paintings, Pollock was the first American painter to be hailed internationally as an innovator. Even before his death in a drunken car crash in 1956, he was mythologized as Abstract Expressionism’s quintessential bad boy. But he was also respected for his sincerity, loved for his sweet nature, and envied for his brilliance. Today Pollock’s legend looms larger than ever, inspiring poets, playwrights, composers, and choreographers, as well as visual artists. The film Pollock starring Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock, Marcia Gay Harden, Val Kilmer, and Jennifer Connelly is set to be released late Fall 2000. His art, never popular in the conventional sense, has a growing cadre of dedicated enthusiasts. Why is Pollock such an enduring touchstone of American culture? This collection of writings, interviews, creative responses, and personal revelations – many never before published or long out of print – examines the multiple dimensions of his impact and influence, and proves that the real Pollock is even more fascinating than the myth. The book includes never before published art, photos, letters and interviews from the Pollock-Krasner House archives, new contributions by actor/director Ed Harris and musician Patti Smith, and interviews with Patsy Southgate and Willem de Kooning, as well as Clement Greenberg, Peggy Guggenheim, Hans Namuth, Frank O’Hara, Jeffrey Potter, Norman Rockwell, and Barney Rossett.