Pollock’s Last Lover

Jackson Pollock’s philandering ways are no secret to those who study art history. Notoriously promiscuous throughout his life, particularly and especially during his marriage to fellow artist Lee Krasner, Stephen P. Kiernan’s Pollock’s Last Lover focuses on Pollock’s relationship with model and artist Ruth Kligman, the woman Pollock was having an affair with at the end of his life. He died in a drunken car accident, along with another passenger, Edith Metzger. Kligman survived the crash.

The novel tells the fictional story of a painting Kligman attempts to sell in 2007 that she claims is an unseen, authentic Pollock work. The book moves back and forth between that timeline and Ruth’s young life when she first moved to New York, became a model, and began seeing Pollock. As a young woman, she was overwhelmed by his passion and his talent. And, at 44 to her 26, he consumed her. She thought she could save him from his alcoholism and depression, but of course, no one can ever do that.

The other half of the novel, told in alternating sections, focuses on Gwen, a young art buyer trying to make a name for herself by authenticating Kilgman’s claim. Gwen is ambitious to the point of isolation from anything in her life besides her work, and she’s generally unlikable, as is Kligman. That fact, and an excess of sixty or so pages that are simply unnecessary, keep this from being a home run.

Still, if you like stories set in the art world, or want to revel in stunning descriptions of 1950s New York, Pollock’s Last Lover is for you.