Jackson Pollock's hi-fi: A work of art?

The Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center.

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

I visited the Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center last week in East Hampton, New York. While I was there learned the abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock and his wife, artist Lee Krasner had a pretty cool hi-fi.

Yes, I was there for the art but then I noticed the horn speaker under the stairwell to the second floor of the house. Helen Harrison, the Pollock-Krasner House's Director allowed me to open the door and examine the speaker system in greater detail. She told me the hi-fi was purchased by Pollock in 1954. In the room behind the staircase I spotted a Bogen DB-20 tube amplifier and a Crown (?) turntable I've never seen before. Ms. Harrison assured me the hi-fi still works, but the records that were on hand weren't playable. Oh well.

Left, inside the speaker/door; right, outside view.

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

Ms. Harrison explained that Pollock loved to play his hi-fi really loud, especially when Krasner was out of the house. Some things never change.

It's also interesting that the inside of the door that supports the horn and woofer originally came from Pollock's studio, which is a separate building from the house. The inside of the door is covered with Pollock's trademark paint splatters, drips, and blobs, probably made while making some of his more famous paintings. That discovery stopped me in my tracks.

When I returned home I immediately rented Ed Harris' Pollock biopic DVD, where he played the tortured master. There's no reference to the hi-fi per-se, other than when in a fit of anger he stops a 78 RPM record from playing. The film's exterior shots were filmed at the Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center.

The Audiophiliac ogles Pollock's hi-fi.

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

Pollock's paintings now hang in museums, but it wasn't until a 1949 article in Life magazine made him famous that his career took off (he had been painting since the 1930s). According to Google, "In November 2006 Pollock's 'No. 5, 1948' became the world's most expensive painting, when it was sold privately to an undisclosed buyer for the sum of $140,000,000. The previous owner was film and music-producer David Geffen." While Pollock was alive he never sold a painting for more than $8,000.

Pollock's studio is well preserved and you can see more of his dribbles and splatters all over the floor. If you're interested in visiting the Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center check the website for more info.

[Eudonym]

The turntable appears to be a Garrard RC98 changer, the drives look like Altec Lansing. I don't see a crossover network in the photos.

[4schler]

very cool to see that sort of mingling of art. i'd be interested to see what he was listening to. you didn't check through his vinyl library at all, did you?

on a side note, are you still planning on putting together those sub-$3,000 stereo systems? i was really interested to see what you ended up with there.

[Dperek]

For the full version of the story you should read the Pollack biography by Stevens and Swan. The short version is as follows:

In the early 1930's when the country was in the middle of the (first) great depression, de Kooning got an advance from his job at A.S. Beck for the amount of $700 and bought a record player by the name of the Capehart high-fidelity system (one of the first to change records automatically). He is described as being nourished by music and would regularly blast Stravinsky and Louis Armstrong in his studio. Makes you take another look at those paintings eh?

[Dperek]

I do realize the article is about pollack, but it's hard to ignore the similarities to pollack considering they both had houses out in the Hamptons and were somewhat bitter (envious?) artistic rivals in the 1950's. anyhoo...