Jackson Pollock
Born – Cody, USA 1912
Died – Long Island, USA 1956
Jackson Pollock’s early landscapes were characteristic of the American romantic realism of the 1930s. By the end of the 1940s, he was painting in a completely abstract manner, producing canvases covered with dripped paint. The central figure in a movement known as Abstract Expressionism, Pollock saw painting as a spontaneous activity, believing that the canvas should express directly the artist’s emotions. The picture was not painted: it “happened”. To quote Pollock, “The painting has a life of its own. I only let it come through”. Typically, Pollock would let the paint fall from the brush or vessel on to a huge canvas laid on the floor. The result was a network of coloured lines of extraordinary delicacy and complexity. Yellow Island reveals a darker, more melancholic side to the artist. Executed on the floor, using black paint on raw unprimed canvas, this particular picture is from a series that was thought by critics to indicate Pollock’s dependence on alcohol. Pollock’s concept of “action painting” as something into which one threw one’s whole body contributed hugely to the rise of modern American painting. His early death, in a road accident in 1956, has added to his legendary reputation.
Masterpieces:
- Summertime Number 9A
- Pasiphae
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About jackson pollock
Jackson Pollock
Ellen G. Landau
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Jackson Pollock: An American Saga
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Jackson Pollock
Leonhard Emmerling
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