Night blue by Angela O'Keeffe

Spread across the inside of this book cover, front and back, is the image of the ‘Blue Poles’ painting by Jackson Pollock. And it is the painting that tells us the story. You might think that is bizarre, but it works. The narrator opening Part One is the painting itself, telling of its creation by the artist, the view from the barn-studio, the people it was sold to, the places it was hung, and then ultimately its purchase by Gough Whitlam, then Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam stood for a policy of social reform, free medical care, no-fault divorce, end to the Vietnam War, free university education, Aboriginal land rights, and . . . funding for the Arts. His purchase of ‘Blue Poles’ ignited conflicting views around the country.

But the painting also has other memories, of Pollock drunk, with a knife, pressing against his wife, the artist Lee Krasner. At this point the narrative is taken up by Alyssa, an art conservator, who does not admire Pollock, who researches the neglected women artists of the era, and who struggles herself with the societal expectations of woman as wife and mother. She researches the women artists who painted in Pollock’s shadow.

This is such an intriguing book! It reminds us of the amazing achievements of Whitlam, the visionary politician, but at the same time, interrogates the world of art that failed to give due recognition to the women artists of the time, and makes us consider again the imbalance of power and status between men and women, still relevant today.

I would recommend this book for students of both art and politics.

Themes: Blue Poles, Art, Politics, Feminism.

Helen Eddy