History

An American painter that influenced the world of modern art with his unique abstract style of painting which made him a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement

Jackson Pollock, born Paul Jackson Pollock, was born on 28 January 1912 in Cody, Wyoming in the USA, being the youngest of five sons.

During his youth, Pollock's family moved around the West, to Arizona and throughout California. When Pollock was 8, his father, who was an abusive alcoholic, left the family, and Pollock's older brother, Charles, became like a father to him. Charles was an artist, and was considered to be the best in the family. He had a significant influence on his younger brother's future ambitions. While the family was living in Los Angeles, Pollock enrolled in the Manual Arts High School, where he learned to draw but had little success expressing himself. He was eventually expelled for starting fights.

He then followed his brother Charles to New York and studied under Thomas Hart Benton at the Arts Students’ League in New York, but Benton had little influence on him before leaving traditional techniques to explore abstraction expressionism via his splatter and action pieces, which involved pouring paint and other media directly onto canvases. Pollock was both renowned and critiqued for his conventions.

During the years of the Great Depression, Jackson Pollock worked for the WPA Federal Art Project from 1938 through to 1942. This was a program that had been implemented by President Franklin Roosevelt to try and stimulate the economy. He was paid $24.86 a week for 20 hours of work.

But despite being busy with work, Pollock could not stop drinking. In 1937, he began receiving psychiatric treatment for alcoholism from a Jungian analyst who fuelled his interest in symbolism and Native American art.

Marley, R 2014, The She Wolf, Painting, Museum of Modern Art
Although the person who posted this picture onto Flickr is not well known, the painting itself has originated from the Museum of Modern Art which is of high authority.

In 1936 Pollock had started using liquid paint which was introduced to him by a muralist by the name of David Siqueiros as well as several other techniques in the early 1940s.

In 1939, Pollock discovered Pablo Picasso's show at the Museum of Modern Art. Picasso's artistic experimentation encouraged Pollock to push the boundaries of his own work.

Brewer, J 2013, Jackson Pollock The Moon Woman Cuts the Circle, Panting, Flickr
The person who posted this picture onto Flickr is not well known and it doesn’t state where that person obtained the picture from and for that reason I would have to say it is of low authority.

 

He later used paint pouring as one of several techniques on canvasses in the early 1940s, such as Male and Female.

Hawk, T 2010, Male and Female, Painting, Flickr
The person who posted this picture onto Flickr is not well known and it doesn’t state where that person obtained the picture from and for that reason I would have to say it is of low authority.

In October 1945 he married a fellow American artist by the name of Lee Krasner where they moved to the Springs area of East Hampton, Long Island.

McDevitt, A 2012, Lee Krasner, Photograph, Flickr
The person who posted this picture onto Flickr is not well known and it doesn’t state where they obtained the picture from, so I would therefore consider it to be of low authority.

After buying a house Pollock converted the barn into a studio. This space is where he developed what is known as the “drip” method technique for which he is better known for.

His canvasses were so large that he would lay the canvas on the floor and “throw, drizzle, drip, splash, splatter, squirt, mix” the paint onto the canvas.

Exactly how Pollock came upon his drip technique has been a matter of long and inconclusive scholarly argument, but his work was already taking steps towards it in the mid-1940s. He began to lose the symbolic imagery of his earlier pictures and looked for more abstract means of expression.
 

He used many different types of paint including synthetic resin-based paints called alkyd enamels and household paints. He used different implements to apply the paint to the canvas. He used hardened brushes, syringes, trowels, knives, broken glass and sticks as paint applicators. He also preferred laying the canvas on the floor as opposed to on the wall as this enabled him to be able to engross and insert himself into the painting. He could use the force of his body to apply paint from all sides of the canvas thereby creating new dimensions to his artwork.

Liang, W 2011, Jackson Pollock, Photograph, Flickr
The person who posted this picture onto Flickr is not well known and it doesn’t state where they obtained the picture from, so I would therefore consider it to be of low authority.

 

Shimmering Substance led on to works like Number 1A (1948), a larger canvas than Pollock was familiar with, and dense with a dazzling web of colour. He found he was best able to approach works such as this by positioning the canvas flat on the floor, moving around it and applying the paint from all sides. By dipping a small stick, house brush or trowel into the paint and then rapidly moving his wrist, arm and body, he allowed it to drip and fall in weaving rhythms over the surface. The technique - the epitome of what critic Harold Rosenberg would call "action painting" - rarely permitted the brush to directly touch the canvas.

 

Designerham, 2012, Jackson Pollock - Shimmering Substance, Painting, Flickr
The person who posted this picture onto Flickr is not well known and it doesn’t state where they obtained the picture from, so I would therefore consider it to be of low authority.

Video

 

MoMA, 2010 AB EX NY: The Painting Techniques of Jackson Pollock: One: Number 31, 1950, online video, 24 October 2010
This Youtube video was uploaded to Youtube by the Museum of Modern Art and is therefore a credible source and of high authority.

Pollock's work thus became as much about process as they were about product. They became a record of the performance of painting - his play in and around the canvas, where he could enter them as a participant and hover above them as their creator.

 
 

Whilst using this “drip” technique, Pollock was labelled by Time magazine as “Jack the Dripper”.

The “drip” period was when Pollock’s most famous paintings were created.  These were painted during the period 1947 and 1950.
 

Jackson Pollock, My Painting, 1956

“My painting does not come from the easel. I prefer to tack the unstretched canvas to the hard wall or the floor. I need the resistance of a hard surface. On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting. I continue to get further away from the usual painter's tools such as easel, palette, brushes, etc. I prefer sticks, trowels, knives and dripping fluid paint or a heavy impasto with sand, broken glass or other foreign matter added. When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.”

 

Gaylen94, G 2009, Jackson Pollock in studio, Photograph, Flickr

Although the person who posted this picture onto Flickr is not well known, the photo itself (although not stated by the person who uploaded it to Flickr) has originated from Hans Namuth who was a well-respected photographer in his time and the photograph is also copyrighted under Hans Namuth Ltd.

Jackson Pollock at work, 1950. Photograph ©Hans Namuth, 1989. Hans Namuth Ltd., New York

Blue Poles & The Deep

In 1973 one of those paintings called No. 11 or Blue Poles was sold at auction and purchased by the Australian Government for AUD $1.3 million dollars or US $2 million.This was most money ever paid for a single painting of modern art.It hung in the old Parliament House in Canberra, but now hangs in the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

 

Designerham, 2012, Jackson Pollock - Blue Poles, Painting, Flickr
The person who posted this picture onto Flickr is not well known and it doesn’t state where they obtained the picture from, so I would therefore consider it to be of low authority.

In 1949, Pollock's show at the Betty Parsons Gallery sold out, and he suddenly became the best-paid avant-garde painter in America. But fame was not good for Pollock, who, as a result of it, became dismissive of other artists, even his former teacher and mentor, Thomas Hart Benton.  Furthermore, acts of self-promotion made him feel like a phony, and he would sometimes give interviews in which his answers were scripted. When Hans Namuth, a documentary photographer, began producing a film of Pollock working, Pollock found it impossible to "perform" for the camera.  Instead, he went back to drinking heavily.

Pollock's 1950 show at the Parsons gallery did not sell, though many of the paintings included, such as his "Number 4, 1950," are considered masterpieces today.  It was during this time that Pollock began to consider symbolic titles misleading, and instead began using numbers and dates for each work he completed.

Pollock said "...look passively and try to receive what the painting has to offer and not bring a subject matter or preconceived idea of what they are to be looking for."

Pollock's wife, Lee Krasner, said Pollock "used to give his pictures conventional titles... but now he simply numbers them. Numbers are neutral. They make people look at a picture for what it is—pure painting.”

Pollock's art also became darker in colour.  He abandoned the "drip" method, and began painting in black and white, which proved unsuccessful.  Depressed and haunted, Pollock would frequently meet his friends at the nearby Cedar Bar, drinking until it closed and getting into violent fights.

Concerned for Pollock's well-being, Krasner called on Pollock's mother to help. Her presence helped to stabilize Pollock, and he began to paint again. He completed his masterpiece, "The Deep" during this period.
 

 

Humann, H 2008, Jackson Pollock The Deep 1953, Painting, Flickr
The person who posted this picture onto Flickr is not well known and it doesn’t state where it obtained the picture from, so I would therefore consider it to be of low authority.

But as the demand from collectors for Pollock's art grew, so too did the pressure he felt, and with it his alcoholism.

Finally, his drinking had increased to such an extent that eventually Pollock’s marriage fell apart, his health was failing and he had stopped painting.On the night of 11 August 1965 he had been drinking excessively and whilst one mile from his home, he hit a tree, was thrown from the vehicle and died.

He was aged 44 years.

In its edition of 8 August, 1949, Life magazine ran a feature article about Jackson Pollock that bore this question in the headline: "Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?"Could a painter who flung paint at canvases with a stick, who poured and hurled it to create roiling vortexes of colour and line, possibly be considered "great"?

New York's critics certainly thought so, and Pollock's pre-eminence among the Abstract Expressionists has endured, cemented by the legend of his alcoholism and his early death.The famous “drip paintings” that he began to produce in the late 1940s represent one of the most original bodies of work of the century.

Legacy

"In December 1956, the year after his death, Pollock was given a memorial retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and then another in 1967. His work has continued to be honoured on a large scale, with frequent exhibitions at both the MoMA in New York and the Tate in London. He remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century."

 

http://www.biography.com/people/jackson-pollock-9443818 © 2014 A+E Networks. All rights reserved

 

"Now, as much as ever, people cannot stop talking about Jackson Pollock. He and abstract expressionism, for which he is a symbol, remain so vivid that he seems to be still alive, still dancing over his canvas, still trying to lead art to places it has never been. There is a sense that no one, not even post-modernists who reject everything he stands for, knows how to cut him down to size. more than 30 years after his death in 1956, at the age of 44, he remains the great presence in American art, and no one else is close."

Brendon, Michael, 1987, ART REVIEW; Divining the Legacy of Jackson Pollock, The New York Times

 

Print

I thought you might also be interested in this book which you can borrow from any of the LINC branches.The reference code is JUNIOR 759.13 POL with the book title Jackson Pollock, which is part of the series Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists.

Mike Venezia has an Arts Degree from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago.  He has written quite a few book series which have been  highly successful which have been written for educational purposes directed at children.  He recently retired from his job of 33 years as Executive Art Director and Vice President at Chicago's largest advertising agency, Leo Burnett Company to write full time. I found this book to be relevant to the topic and consider it to be of medium authority.

Venezia, M., 1994, Jackson Pollock, Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists, Childrens Press, Chicago

I have also provided the following link to the LINC in case you would like to order this book.

Jackson Pollock, Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists

There is also another book which might interest you which explores the life and career of Jackson Pollock.

Landau, Ellen G, 1989, Jackson Pollock, Thames and Hudson, London.

I have also added the the following link should you wish to also borrow this book.

  

Jackson Pollock