Customer Reviews

The Fate of a Gesture: Jackson Pollock and Post-War American Art

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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

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.

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.