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Death of an Artist — True Crime
Death of an Artist

In February 2024, celebrated children’s book author and illustrator Petra Mathers and her husband, photographer Michael Mathers, mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Petra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they choose to die together? And what did that decision do to the people left to mourn them?

In season 3 of Death of an Artist, journalists Leon Neyfakh and Alice Gregory set out to interview everyone who got one of Petra and Michael’s letters—as one married couple trying to understand another. Through intimate conversations with Petra and Michael’s friends and family about their own relationships to aging, grief, death, and the friends they thought they knew, Death of an Artist weaves together a portrait of a community grappling with the Mathers’ deaths and the final words they left behind.

Listen back to season 2, where Katy Hessel offers an inside look at how Jackson Pollock and his wife, Lee Krasner, changed everything about the landscape of modern art. And in season 1, host Helen Molesworth revisits the artist Ana Mendieta’s death and the trial that followed—interrogating both the silence and the protest that have accompanied her story ever since.

Death of an Artist Season 1 is a co-production between Pushkin Industries, Somethin’ Else, and Sony Music Entertainment.

Death of an Artist Season 2 is a co-production between Pushkin Industries and Samizdat Audio.

Copyright: 2024 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia

Latest Episodes:

Introducing Death of an Artist Season 3: Petra Mathers and Her Michael Aug 18, 2026

When Alice Gregory and Leon Neyfakh started building a library for their infant daughter, they stumbled across a name in an obituary that Alice recognized from her own childhood: celebrated children’s book author and illustrator Petra Mathers. Petra had died by suicide alongside her husband, Michael Mathers. Both were in their late 70s, seemingly happy and healthy.

The details of Petra and Michael’s deaths pulled Alice and Leon down a rabbit hole that neither were expecting—a plan many years in the making, dozens of letters mailed out across the country, friends and family caught between betrayal and envy, and a community grappling with their own feelings around aging and death.

Death of an Artist drops weekly on Tuesdays starting August 25. Get early, ad-free access to the entire season of Death of an Artist by subscribing to Pushkin+. Subscribers also get bonus episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and early ad-free listening for all Pushkin shows.

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Bonus: The Women on the Scene with Audrey Flack Aug 23, 2024

Artist, musician and writer Audrey Flack shares her firsthand accounts of the downtown New York City art scene in the mid-twentieth-century and a song she and her band, The History of Art, wrote about Jackson Pollock.

Flack passed away in June. For more about her life, see “Audrey Flack, Creator of Vibrant Photorealist Art, Dies at 93.”

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Bonus: Krasner's Way with Eleanor Nairne Jun 28, 2024

Katy speaks with Eleanor Nairne, who first introduced her to Lee Kranser’s work. Back in 2019, Nairne exhibited a groundbreaking retrospective of Lee Krasner’s work while she was senior curator at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. Today she is the Keith L. and Catherine Sacks Curator and Head of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In this episode, a dive into Krasner’s artistic career.

Artwork Discussed:

Joan Miro Constellations (1940-41)

Mosaic Table (1947)

Stop and Go (1949)

Prophecy (1956)

Three in Two (1956)

Pablo Picasso Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)

Earth Green (1957)

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Episode 6: A Phoenix From the Ashes Jun 21, 2024

1956. New York City. After Pollock’s death, Krasner balances her new role as executor of his estate and her ambitions to continue making art.

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Episode 5: The Kiss of Death Jun 14, 2024

1955. Upper West Side. Jackson Pollock seeks help from a psychotherapist practicing controversial methods.

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Episode 4: Jackson Pollock Inc. Jun 07, 2024

1945. East Hampton. Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock start a new life in a farmhouse 100 miles east of New York City.

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Episode 3: The Collector May 31, 2024

1942. Midtown. Peggy Guggenheim arrives, opens a gallery and gives hungry artists hope.

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Episode 2: Inner Rhythm May 24, 2024

1936. Brooklyn. A young Lee Krasner leaves home and starts to create a kind of art America has never seen before.

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Episode 1: Crash May 17, 2024

1956. Paris. An artist named Lee Krasner learns that her husband is dead.

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Death of an Artist Season 2: Krasner and Pollock May 03, 2024

On May 17th, Death of an Artist returns with an all new season hosted by Katy Hessel about the woman who made the modern art world: Lee Krasner.

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An Epilogue: Live from A.I.R. Gallery Dec 20, 2022

A live audience and curator Patricia Margarita Hernandez join Helen at the A.I.R. gallery in this epilogue to the series. The conversation moves from generational shifts in the artworld to Helen’s own Robin Hood fantasy – and ends with some pushback from an audience member who knew Ana.

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The Numbers Nov 04, 2022

In the wake of the #metoo and Black Lives Matter movements, art museums began publicly touting their dedication to diversity. In this episode, we hear from two arts journalists about whether there are actually more artworks by women and people of color on the walls.

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Episode 6: The Reckoning Oct 21, 2022

Today, Carl Andre lives in the same apartment where Ana fell to her death. Helen investigates and grapples with what his not guilty verdict means and chips away at the silence the art world has used to protect both Andre and itself.

If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.

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Episode 5: The Silencing Oct 14, 2022

Carl Andre is acquitted. Decades later, the art world remains divided about his innocence. In order to protect Carl, the art world maintained a strict separation between the art and the artist and used silence to preserve the status quo. But a few remain vocal.

To hear the rest of Season 1 ad-free, sign up for Pushkin+ on the Death of an Artist show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin.fm/plus. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 4: The Genius Problem Oct 07, 2022

Carl stands trial for the murder of Ana Mendieta. His defense ruthlessly attacks Ana, using her artwork against her, and rests heavily on his prestige in the art world. Helen reveals her personal connection to Carl Andre and his work, and how it changed her career.

To hear the rest of Season 1 ad-free, sign up for Pushkin+ on the Death of an Artist show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin.fm/plus. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 3: The Feminist Cabal Sep 30, 2022

Ana’s art engaged with her identity as a Cuban female artist. She worked hard to be recognized in a world dominated by white men. After her death, Ana’s friends and family demand an investigation. Many of the most powerful members of the art world dismiss them as a “feminist cabal.”

To hear the rest of Season 1 ad-free, sign up for Pushkin+ on the Death of an Artist show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin.fm/plus. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 2: What the Wall Label Doesn’t Tell You Sep 23, 2022

Following Ana’s death, police take Carl in for questioning. He has scratches on his face. His story is inconsistent, yet he maintains his innocence. In this episode, we rewind and take a look back at Carl’s history and his relationship with Ana and try to understand what led to that night.

To hear the rest of Season 1 ad-free, sign up for Pushkin+ on the Death of an Artist show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin.fm/plus.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 1: The Haunting Sep 23, 2022

In 1980s Manhattan, a young Cuban artist named Ana Mendieta made a name for herself as a rising star in the art world. Her turbulent marriage to the older and well-established sculptor Carl Andre raised eyebrows. One September night, Carl called 911 in a panic. His wife, he said, “went out the window.”

To hear the rest of Season 1 ad-free, sign up for Pushkin+ on the Death of an Artist show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin.fm/plus.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing Death of an Artist: The Story of Ana Mendieta and Carl Andre Aug 26, 2022

Coming Sept 23: For more than 35 years, accusations of murder shrouded one of the art world’s most storied couples: Was the famous sculptor Carl Andre involved in the death of his up-and-coming artist wife Ana Mendieta? Host Helen Molesworth revisits Mendieta’s death and the trial that followed, and interrogates both the silence and the protest that have accompanied this story ever since.

To hear the whole season early and ad-free, consider becoming a Pushkin+ subscriber in Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Death of an Artist is a co-production between Pushkin Industries, Somethin’ Else, and Sony Music Entertainment.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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