Dear M: Jack Pollock

Or, Letters from a Gentleman of Excess. Until 1983, Jack Pollock was the owner of the Pollock Gallery of Toronto, where he exhibited new Canadian artists. Then, abruptly, he lost both his business and his health. Twenty years of flashy flamboyancy had led to drug addiction, open heart surgery, bankruptcy - and a profound spiritual and psychological malaise. Broken, he retreated to the south of France, expecting to die. Instead, he began to come to terms with himself and his life, confiding his deepest feelings in a torrent of letters to M., a psychiatrist he had consulted briefly before his departure. The letters tell of his everyday life in France, his encounters with David Hockney and other artists, of religion and the power of sexuality: a courageously honest assessment of his life.