Jackson Pollock

1912 - 1956

Biography

Jackson Pollock was an important American exponent of Abstract Expressionism.

He was born into a modest but hard-working shepherd family in Cody Wyoming in 1912. He found his way to New York and joined the Art Students' League in 1929, originally interested in sculpture. While there he received training in painting from Thomas Hart Benton. He was also influenced by the art of Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847–1917), developing a romantic Regionalist style during the 1930s.

He met a number of avant garde artists as a member of the Federal Art project 1938-42, and discovered Surrealism. He was part of the New York Surrealist exhibition in 1942. As a result of undergoing psychotherapy beginning in 1939, he came into contact with Jungian philosophy, which spawned a series of figurative pieces based on Native American art.

After the War he move to Long Island and began to develop his best-known techniques called 'Action', where he dripped and threw paint onto large canvasses on the floor. He wanted to avoid having a focus for the work, but rather to be a part of its creation and to work semi-automatically. His techniques and ideas later influenced performance artists and 'happenings'.

Despite the abstract nature of his later work, Pollock always used descriptive titles for his paintings. The work comprised chaotic drips and splashes, textured by adding sand and other material. Gripped by alcoholic depression, from 1951 he began to work in black enamel on raw canvas and dream-like figures began to appear in his art once again.

He died in an alcohol-related automobile accident in 1956.

Images

Lavender Mist: Number 1 1950 Oil, enamel and aluminium on canvas 210 x 486.8 cm © Jackson Pollock, DACS 2009. All rights reserved. The depiction of artworks herein should not necessarily be considered an intimation of ownership

Galaxy 1947 Oil, aluminium paint and gravel on canvas 110.49 x 86.36 cm © Jackson Pollock, DACS 2009. All rights reserved. The depiction of artworks herein should not necessarily be considered an intimation of ownership