Jackson Pollock the artist needs no introduction—but lesser known is Jackson Pollock the gardener, baker, and dinner-party host. Food preparation for Jackson and his wife, artist Lee Krasner, was not a tiresome daily chore but an extension of their creative outlook that blossomed into a shared passion. Planting, gathering, fishing, and clamming for fresh seasonal ingredients connected Jackson to nature, which fed his inner creative terrain and in turn inspired many of his greatest works.

Featuring recipes collected from handwritten pages scrawled by Lee, Jackson, his mother, Stella, traded among their many friends in the town of Springs on Long Island, and gleaned from well-worn newspaper clippings tucked into their cookbooks and recipe files, Dinner with Jackson Pollock is a seamless blend of the fresh local ingredients Jackson and Lee grew and cooked, and the nature that in uenced their art. Robyn Lea weaves together tales from interviews with Jackson and Lee’s family and local friends, and her photographs perfectly complement these culinary records, including still lives inside the Pollock-Krasner home, Pollock’s studio, and beautiful portraits of each delectable recipe.

From starters and entrees to side dishes, breads, and desserts, more than 50 tried-and-true favorites include Stella’s Potato Pancakes, Perle Fine’s Bouillabaisse, Jackson’s Classic Rye Bread, Jackson’s Famous Spaghetti Sauce, Jackson’s Prize-Winning Apple Pie, Elaine de Kooning’s Fruit & Grain Salad, and Rita Benton’s Pecan Torte with Mocha Frosting.

Interspersed with Jackson’s masterworks and family photo album snapshots, this deeply researched volume also includes a preface by Jackson’s niece Francesca Pollock, and a foreword by Helen Harrison, director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center. Dinner with Jackson Pollock is truly a unique and insightful portrait of Pollock and a delightful taste of Springs.

Australian-born Robyn Lea moved to Milan, Italy, in her late teenage years to work as a photographer’s assistant. Over the last two decades, Lea has cultivated an extraordinary career as an internationally renowned photographer, TV commercial director, and writer. She has worked around the globe for clients such as Peroni, Kodak, Time, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar, and her work spans the worlds of art, fashion, food, travel, design, and portraiture. Lea also has an extensive exhibition history, with ten solo shows and many group shows worldwide. Today she lives with her family in New York, where she continues writing, photography, and directing lm and TV commercials.

Drew La La deals from Rue La La, The Drew Show (USA), October 2020