Season 1 Summary: Prominent Artist, accused of killing his wife, is acquitted because…sexism. Host thinks he did it. No proof, evidence or investigation is provided. Also, art curators are “so important and powerful” Don’t waste your time.

Season 1 was phenomenal and I was so excited to see that there was a season 2 especially seen as it was dedicated to the influence of Lee Krasner. I’m at the last episode I just have to say that it really is disappointing. The production is not great, it all feels very generic and does not do Lee much justice. The episodes are so short, the music feels like it came out of a list of stock tracks, and the narrator sounds very AI-esque. Robotic almost. I feel bad about leaving such a harsh review but I suppose it’s because I care so deeply about the story and potential of this show… You’re better off just listening to Ninth Street Women on Audible.

disappointing story for season 2, of course we know who Lee Krasner is…This felt like a remedial history-explainer lesson without any substance.

Enjoying the podcast, with its personal take on the downfall of J Pollack. How sad, therefore, that Malcom Gladwell is present shilling for a credit union and his own industry sponsored conference. Reminiscent of the ‘50’s, when watching late night television, besides offering you bargains bargains bargains on used cars, showed Salvador Dali enjoining us to buy I don’t remember what, a lesson in where inauthentic art or philosophy will take you. Is having Gladwell, a widely discredited social analyst, speak for advertisers, a subtle argument about the many ways the mighty can fall?

A good story but NOT done well: repetitive between episodes; overly dramatized; jumps around; too many ads!!

The ads make this wonderful story very hard to listen to.

Interesting topic, learned things I didn’t know before but feels hypocritical at times. I understand the points the host is trying to make but you can find smarter arguments. Too much publicity, 50:50. Also on season 1 episode 6 two smart women who live or work in NYC don’t know how doorman buildings work? You just ring a bell?!?? And they are offended by how tall a building in Manhattan is?! Cmon now, don’t insult your listeners intelligence.

Emotionally manipulative. I may agree with some of the host’s conclusions but hated the way they were presented. Heavy music, voice actors. Why is true crime entertainment? Is this art? If so, pretentious as all the rest.

Interesting, memorable core story (Pollock's career is thanks to the infinitely more talented Lee Krasner, overlooked by the art world even to this day-as many women artists were and still are- and thank you Katy Hessel for focusing on them!) but these 6 episodes are weighed down by over telling, a few bits have terrible writing, overly long previews, recapping and generally over extended fake drama. Addition of ads is understandable if you want financial backing but that also adds more dross to wade through. Would like to hear tight, edited down versions, whittled down to 4 max, making it easier to share with young family members and friends who'd benefit from great art/artist history lessons.

I like this series but gosh there are a lot of ads.

Season 2 is disappointing. I was excited to see a 2nd season after the wonderful 1st season on Ana Mendieta. It’s very superficial surface level, which I guess is to be expected when the time of each episode is about 30% shorter than those of the 1st season.

This podcast is significantly more ad than content. I know a lot of people who tried to listen, and I don’t know anyone who subscribed to Pushkin. I wonder if there are zillions and it justifies the format.

Meh, it’s ok, interesting subject but terribly told. I find the host of season 1 to be absolutely self-obsessed and tedious. Gets much better w season 2

Brings her life and times and places alive. I’m captivated. A gem to share 💎

What a garbage approach to telling a story. A third of the running time is advertising, then add in the preview bits of what you’re about to hear later, and the recapping of where you left off last episode. The actual content of this entire season could have been cut into a single 45min standalone episode. I’ve never heard this high of a ratio of advertising to content in any podcast in the entire history of the medium. I was excited to hear about Lee Krasner but disappointed with the experience at hand.

This is good stuff (Jackson Pollock episodes) but come on Pushkin, this is an advertisment generator. This only exists to push ads not a story. And don't give me "we need to make money" this is greed. Example epidsode 4 of Jackson Pollock, in the first 8 minutes there is 2 minutes of ads then 3 minutes 30 seconds of content then 2 minutes 30 seconds of ads!

Wow, there are a lot.

She is arrogant and I had to hate listen to this. She had to put politics into a story that should have been a story about what happened the night she died. She wanted to be the story. What a selfish person to make her the story.

A murder mystery set within a substantive analysis of art world dynamics. Be prepared to go for a paid subscription because the frequent, loud, and intrusive ads will annoy the heck out if you and detract from an otherwise high quality experience.

This podcast is so great ESPECIALLY the ep where Helen goes deep into her feelings about cancel culture. So thoughtful. Long live Ana Mendieta and her work!❤️

I had not known about Ana Mendieta. The podcast is compelling and important for bringing to light millennia-old universal violence against women by men. I object, however, to obsessively racializing this violence throughout the piece. The narrator comes off as a penitent and self-flagellating ‘white’ woman who believes she is not the target of similar or more extensive violence against her based on identity. ‘White’ is not a monolith, is fluid and historically manipulated for whatever group benefits from the definition— Greeks and Italians and French-Canadians etc. were not considered ‘white’ until recently in history: the group ‘white’ is comprised of diverse ethnic minorities. To be Ukrainian is different than to be Québécois than to be Italian, than to be Greek, than to be Polish, than to be Irish, etc.— all groups, which have experienced colonization or genocide or systemic bigotry, or have been the victims of eugenics, etc. etc. By perpetuating this monolith myth, we divide women and societies and steamroll over unique and vulnerable ethnic minorities, who still struggle with legacies of great violence perpetrated against them. Furthermore, this podcast completely glosses over the fact that women who fall into this category ‘white’ are the greatest victims, numbers-wise, in the US and Canada, of the kind of violence this podcast explores. Laken Riley; Linda Frickey; Jen Angel; Madison Brooks; Eliza Fletcher; Karen Baker; Christi Spicuzza— just a few ‘white’ women recently murdered by men who are not white. The refusal of this podcast to give voice to this inconvenient reality makes the silence surrounding these victims’ murders that much more menacing.

Helen Molesworth is the perfect narrator for this true story. She is also considerate and defines all the art “lingo”. Thank you for making this podcast to tell Ana Mandieta’s story and what it means in the larger picture.

A question I’ve asked myself soo many times since entering my 20s and having the freedom to relearn history outside of the religious imperialist male gaze. This story unfolds in a honest, riveting way and I appreciate how the host is able to acknowledge her own struggle and part she played in the long run of this event. So thankful to have learned Ana’s story and how her memory lives on!

New to the stories of artists. Due to a Contemporary Art class, I found this trailer on YouTube— it seems my textbook missed this part of their stories. As a Latina I am grateful for the work, including research, audio clips/interviews, visual descriptions and evident passion to share a story that likely goes untold. Great play on the name too. Thank you. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a disservice to the artist and her memory to conduct this podcast through the lens of critical theory. It’s pretentious, tedious, nasty and vengeful. The host could not be more unlikeable.

The problem in this world is not that this podcast has been published, but that there are people in this world who prefer that it not be. It’s that fear, that silence, that maintains the imbalanced status quo.

Why couldn’t she just tell the story, we get it, you hate white men!

I am not someone who knows much about the “art world.” I had never heard of the two artists this story is about. However, the podcast brings you inti the fold beautifully and is thoughtful in its presentation of the story. I’m so glad that I listened!

Thoughtfully presented, illuminating, and heartbreaking. I will be thinking about this story for a very long time, and I look forward to exploring Ana Mendieta’s work.

I came to hear Ana’s story. I couldn’t make it to the end, it was completely overshadowed by Helens hatred for whites men.

The tone of this podcast makes clear that this host revels in her place among those in the wealthy, overindulged world of "artists who matter:" those who decide what art is and those who decide what art goes where in museum displays and warehouses. She fawns over those who had the financial backing to drink themselves stupid, spew superficial nonsense about politics and spew superficial nonsense on the ground, in rock, and on canvas and call it revolutionary. The writing is sophomoric and the host's very limited framing of this era and of the people involved are not what I expected from Pushkin.

Holy moly, this podcast was amazing. As a woman who is confronting the question of, “speak up or shut up?” on a daily badid, it was phenomenal to hear how an influencer like Helen Molesworth is being confronted with the same question. The history, the education, the investigation, the conversations, the questions were masterfully woven together. I loved it.

More shows about the art world like this please!

This podcast connects so many dots, and has me asking why is the story of artists so disconnected from their art? And who does silence protect?

Often, when podcasters speak about victims they struggle to dissociate their life from their death. Not the case with this storyteller who effortlessly immerses you in the time, place, and person. Well done, bravo!

Thank you SO SO much for this. As a practicing artist who got through just one year of art school…where we learned about all these male artists separately from their work, this has meant so much to me. Helen Molesworth was the PERFECT person to host this podcast. This story has touched me and broken me wide open.

Amazing! I loved this and I thought it was so well done.

I had never heard of the artwork or the artists in this podcast. I was completely unaware of Ana Mendieta, or her, death and probable murder. The way the story is told, and the questions asked is so thought-provoking. My opinions changed at different times throughout, on whether an artist’s life should be attached to his or her work, or whether the art should stand on its own. The conclusion is jaw-droppingly spot on. Helen Molesworth does a superb job taking the listener through these events and the hard questions. I hope this podcast truly changes the conversation. And I hope this podcast wins a Peabody.

Brilliant. This is one of the best, most thought-provoking podcasts I’ve ever listen to. On the surface it asks if we should separate an artist from his or her art. But below the surface, it’s about misogyny, violence against women, racism, and the worship of reputation based largely upon the opinion of others.

This is fascinating and beautifully done! Highly recommend!

Feminists rever Solanas who shot Warhol. He also died from GI problems from the shooting. If she is not cancelled then Andre should not. The narrator is incredibly annoying and repetitive.

Loved this. Well produced, compelling, truly thought provoking.

Brave journalism from Moleworth. Not the only story of Mendieta, but one worth knowing.

Please do not let this be your one and only podcast. You have more to say, and an audience hoping to support you. I learned so, so much listening to this series. Thank you very much!

This podcast was a gripping and emotional journey thanks to the host’s incredible talent in making the very complex power dynamics and contradictions of the art world accessible to everyone. I really hope she and the producers would consider expanding this style of narrative into more seasons about more artists that need a better understanding and analysis.

Absolutely brilliant. Loved this podcast.

I enjoyed it. Not my world, but Helen weaves a compelling story retelling. Ive shared with several friends

Excellent show. I was getting a bit tired of true crime podcasts, but this one is so much more than that. It’s not just a true crime show but also raises important questions about the dynamics of the art world. I didn’t know much about Anna, but now I’m a fan.

I am an artist and an art professor. I have no interest in true crime, but I was an enormous fan of Anna Mendieta‘s work. Her shocking and horrible death, probably at the hands of her husband, was devastating to many. this podcast, by an amazingly gifted curator and thinker about art, was a gift, not just a true crime story.

I loved this podcast and devoured it. I was an art history major in college and worked in museums for a little bit after that, and while I know of Ana Mendieta’s work I knew nothing of her death. And that strange silence around her death is kind of the whole point of this podcast. Helen Molesworth is a reflective and knowledgeable host and the whole thing is fascinating. You definitely don’t have to know about the art world to engage in this story, because at its heart it’s really about being a woman in the world we all live in. My only suggestion is a spin-off podcast about the Guerilla Girls!!!