Pollock Krasner House

Jackson Pollock and his wife, Lee Krasner, moved to the Springs in Eastern Long Island in November 1945 after marrying two weeks earlier in NYC.  They purchased the house with a $2k loan from Peggy Guggenheim that allowed them to take out a $3k loan from a local bank.  The house had no heating or indoor plumbing but after Pollocks first successful show in 1949, they were able to install heating, plumbing and have the house shingled.

In all the years that I have been out on the East End of Long Island, I have never visited the house.  This summer, considering the house is down the street from where we are renting, we went.  This area of the world has always been filled with an art community.  It is probably the rugged beauty, the proximity to NYC and the incredible light but many artists have made this area their home.

The 2 acres of the Accobanic Creek wetland has been preserved by the Nature Conservatory so this is pretty much what it looked like when Pollock and Krasner lived here.

Although Krasner did live here and paint after Pollock’s death (he drove into a tree and was killed instantly driving intoxicated with his mistress in the summer of August 1956) until she died in 1984.  The house has been preserved.  Here is the kitchen.

Here is the entrance hall.  In the corner of this bookshelf is an old record player that I always love to see.

The stairs are certainly tighter than more stairs built today.

This is the bathroom, the only one upstairs.

This is the guest room that was not finished until 1970 when Krasner lived here alone.

The master bedroom was furnished with twin beds when Pollock and Krasner lived there.

This was the studio that Pollock worked in until 1946.  Krasner used this space from 1946-56 and Pollock used the barn next to the house.  Krasner moved to the barn after Pollock’s death and made this into another room.

This painting sits in the main room.  Painted by Pollock in 1938 with his city address on the back, 46 E 8th Street, Greenwich Village.  In 1950 Pollock approached his friend, a lawyer, who lived across the street from them in the Springs. He asked him to draft a will making Krasner the sole heir to everything.  In return for his services, he was given a choice of Pollock’s work to take for himself.  Keep in mind Pollock lived from hand to mouth as an artist.

This is the floor of the barn where he painted.

The inside of the studio.

Paints in the front room of the barn studio when you walk in.

This magnificent tree sits on the property between the barn and the house.  Walking through the property and the buildings really take you back into a different time.  You can close your eyes and just imagine what life was like back then.

Afterward, we drove around the corner to the Fireplace Project, a contemporary art gallery in the Springs.  The installation is of Justin Adian’s work.

It is really a fantastic space.

Upstairs is the office filled with a mix of artists work that has been left from previous exhibits.  Ceramics

Books galore.

Some hanging pieces.

Two of these pieces, that were shown in the Whitney Biennial, was just sold.

The last gasps of summer is on us.  We went to see the pieces of the Springs we had yet to see.  We really got to know the back roads.  It was really a wonderful summer.