Pushkin. After Jackson died, Lee was in the hot seat. She became Jackson's sole heir and the

executor of his estate. This meant she was now

responsible for Jackson's entire legacy and the value of his work.

And so around the autumn of 1956, Lee went to meet a guy called Sydney Janice, Jackson's

art dealer. Janice was 60 years old and usually wore a sharp suit.

He had that air about him of experience and authority.

He had made his money in the garment industry, designing a new kind of shirt with

two pockets on it, and from there he turned to art. He was now one of New York's most successful dealers of Modern Art, with a gallery on East 57th Street.

He was well connected and had a reputation for being a tough negotiator.

Lee knew Janice was the person who could get the best price for Jackson's work

and that's exactly what Lee wanted.

But it wasn't going to be easy.

Lee listened carefully as Janice told her he had good news.

He'd managed to line up the sale of one of Jackson's drip paintings called Autumn Rhythm to the Museum of Modern Art.

Moma The price? $8,000.

At the time this would have been the most a Jackson Pollock painting had ever sold for.

And I might add a hefty price tag for an

an abstract work, at least one by an American contemporary painter.

While European painters were commanding healthier sums,

anything more than $10,000 on an American abstract

painting was unheard of. So $8,000 for one painting was a big chunk of money and Lee knew this was a fantastic deal.

When Jackson died she only had $200 in the bank. She'd even had to borrow money for the funeral. So surely

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