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What's the big deal with Jackson Pollock?
He became known for the method of action painting. Instead of working on an upright canvas, he would place it on the floor and move around it. His technique of dripping paint resulted in dynamic shapes and lines and clearly reflected how active he was while painting.
What made Jackson Pollock's work unique?
Art historians term Pollock's unique style as Abstract Expressionist, especially as gestural abstraction. In this, Pollock chose not to explore the subject of the art, but instead how the paint was applied on the canvas.
Why do Jackson Pollock paintings sell for so much?
Hoone admits that Pollock's art isn't for everyone. “It's hard for people to see the value in something that is so abstract,” he said. But the prices are based on demand: “It's worth a lot of money because a lot of people want it.” Hoone also brushed off skeptics' claims a child could create the same art.
Who did Jackson Pollock influence?
Pablo PicassoHelen Frankenth...Frank StellaGiovanni MorassuttiRobert RymanMorris LouisJackson Pollock/Influenced
What is Jackson Pollock artistic style called?
American painter Jackson Pollock is remembered for his abstract-expressionist art and "drip technique." But researchers who studied his work wanted to take a deeper look at the science behind his art.
What is Jackson Pollock's style of art?
Abstract expression...Modern artAction paintingJackson Pollock/Periods
Whats the most expensive painting?
Salvator MundiThis is a list of the highest known prices paid for paintings. The current record price is approximately US$450.3 million (which includes commission), paid for Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi in November 2017.
How much is an original Jackson Pollock worth?
Jackson Pollock's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 12 USD to 61,161,000 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 2000 the record price for this artist at auction is 61,161,000 USD for Number 17, sold at Sotheby's New York in 2021.
How much would the Mona Lisa cost?
The Renaissance masterpiece is considered priceless: its cultural value is impossible to translate into a monetary value. The Mona Lisa is believed to be worth more than $850 million, taking into account inflation.
How did Jackson Pollock impact society?
When he first began painting, Jackson Pollock painted representational objects such as people and animals. However, he is famous for helping to create a whole new art movement called Abstract Expressionism.
What was Jackson Pollock most expensive painting?
Jackson Pollock No. 5, 1948. The 2006 sale by record mogul David Geffen of this Abstract Expressionist work by American painter Jackson Pollock for $140 million made it the most expensive painting ever sold to date, according to a report in The New York Times from Nov. 2 of that year.
What are some fun facts about Jackson Pollock?
16 Interesting Facts about Jackson Pollock His original first name was Paul. Pollock once had a job cleaning statues for the Emergency Relief Bureau. ... Jackson Pollock wasn't a very good pupil at school. ... He once knocked down a wall to make a room large enough for a 20-foot canvas.More items...
How is Jackson Pollock's art different?
Most artists painted on a surface that stood upright or vertical. But Pollock put his large canvases on the floor so that he could move around all four sides of his work. He also used very liquid paints so that he could easily drop the paint onto his canvases. This "dripping" method allowed him to make energetic works.
What does Jackson Pollock's work mean?
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. At times they could suggest the life-force in nature itself, at others they could evoke man's entrapment - in the body, in the anxious mind, and in the newly frightening modern world.
What were Jackson Pollock's paintings inspired by?
Pollock's early work was influenced by Benton's "American Scene" style. However, this was enhanced by mystical and dark additions that reflected the work of Albert Ryder, a painter who Pollock admired. A few other influences reflected in Pollock's early paintings were Miro, Picasso, Siqueiros, and the Surrealists.
What were Jackson Pollock's drip paintings inspired by?
Pollock was influenced by the work of Pablo Picasso, Thomas Hart Benton, and Joan Miró. Pollock began utilizing synthetic resin-based paints known as alkyd enamels, which were a revolutionary medium at the time.
Who was Jackson Pollock?
Jackson Pollock was an American painter who was a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism, an art movement characterized by the free-associative...
What did Jackson Pollock paint?
Jackson Pollock is best known for his action paintings and Abstract Expressionist works. For these pieces, many made during his “poured” period, Po...
Where was Jackson Pollock from?
Jackson Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming, on January 28, 1912. His family lived there for 11 months after his birth, and Pollock never returned to...
Where did Jackson Pollock live?
Jackson Pollock lived in New York after moving there in 1930 to study art. He lived with his brother Charles and later in an apartment in Greenwich...
How did Jackson Pollock die?
Jackson Pollock died in a car crash in the summer of 1956 at age 44. He was driving under the influence of alcohol and was killed after he was thro...
Why is Jackson Pollock considered a great artist?
Continue Reading. Jackson Pollock was considered a great artist because he was able to create art pieces that display and deliver movement, vitality and flow. Moreover, he was seen as the chief innovator behind a new American style of art (Abstract Expressionism).
Why is Jackson Pollock's work so pleasing?
Mathematicians claim that fractals are the reason so many people find Pollock’s work so aesthetically pleasing. They claim that a frac tal pattern, whether in a Jackson Pollock drip painting or in nature, is subconsciously pleasing to the eye. Researchers studying Jackson Pollock drip paintings are mystified and delighted at the fact that fractals are present in his work, as he was employing it decades before Benoit Mandelbrot c
How did Pollock die?
The ‘Abstract Expressionism’ was born here but in Springs in 1956 Pollock killed himself in a drink-drive. His wife Lee (along with Peggy Guggenheim and others) did everything in her capacity to protect his ‘legacy’ by putting him in almost all major museums across the globe and the rest is history.
What is the true story behind Jackson Pollock?
The first painting he sold was the drop cloth the teacher used to contain the mess. He realized he couldn’t duplicate this by simply slinging paint everywhere, so he abducted 20 children and kept them in a room, forcing them to constantly paint. Every day, he would go into that room and remove the canvas that he used as a drop cloth. This is the true story behind Jackson Pollock. The guy was a moron that got lucky because some frivolous millionaire decided to buy one of these bukake paintings made by children accidentally
When did Jackson Pollock start using fractals?
Researchers studying Jackson Pollock drip paintings are mystified and delighted at the fact that fractals are present in his work, as he was employing it decades before Benoit Mandelbrot came up with the concept in 1975 while studying fluctuations in the cotton market.
How much did Pollock's number 16 sell for?
Also, his famous art “Number 16” was sold for a record $32,645,000.00 at Christie's, New York. Pollock's career extended in an age when the progress of mass media accelerated and multiplied the diffusion of new ideas and images in art.
What is Pollock's painting about?
In addition to the idea of 'action' painting, Pollock's paintings also focus on the act of perception. This treats the canvas as a field of forms and colours which require time to absorb, apprehend and interpret. Although this can be said of all paintings, many consider figurative paintings to emphasise the image and narrative. I would also add that Pollock's paintings are highly technical paintings; that is, the drips are not random, nor is the technique accidental. Lines, figures, movements, and traces are sometimes deliberately constructed within the appearance of an accidental, non-compositional technique.
What was Pollock's job?
From 1938 to 1942 Pollock worked for the WPA Federal Art Project. During this time Pollock was trying to deal with his established alcoholism; from 1938 through 1941 he underwent Jungian psychotherapy with Dr. Joseph L. Henderson and later with Dr. Violet Staub de Laszlo in 1941–42. Henderson engaged him through his art, encouraging Pollock to make drawings. Jungian concepts and archetypes were expressed in his paintings. Some historians have hypothesized that Pollock might have had bipolar disorder. Pollock signed a gallery contract with Peggy Guggenheim in July 1943. He received the commission to create the 8-by-20-foot (2.4 by 6.1 m) Mural (1943) for the entry to her new townhouse. At the suggestion of her friend and advisor Marcel Duchamp, Pollock painted the work on canvas, rather than the wall, so that it would be portable. After seeing the big mural, the art critic Clement Greenberg wrote: "I took one look at it and I thought, 'Now that's great art,' and I knew Jackson was the greatest painter this country had produced." The catalog introducing his first exhibition described Pollock's talent as "volcanic. It has fire. It is unpredictable. It is undisciplined. It spills out of itself in a mineral prodigality, not yet crystallized."
What influences Pollock's work?
The work of Thomas Hart Benton, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró influenced Pollock. Pollock started using synthetic resin-based paints called alkyd enamels, which at that time was a novel medium. Pollock described this use of household paints, instead of artist's paints, as "a natural growth out of a need". He used hardened brushes, sticks, and even basting syringes as paint applicators. Pollock's technique of pouring and dripping paint is thought to be one of the origins of the term action painting. With this technique, Pollock was able to achieve a more immediate means of creating art, the paint now literally flowing from his chosen tool onto the canvas. By defying the convention of painting on an upright surface, he added a new dimension by being able to view and apply paint to his canvases from all directions.
How did Pollock die?
Pollock died at the age of 44 in an alcohol-related single-car accident when he was driving . In December 1956, four months after his death, Pollock was given a memorial retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.
Why did Pollock start numbering his paintings?
Continuing to evade the viewer's search for figurative elements in his paintings , Pollock abandoned titles and started numbering his works. He said about this, " [L]ook 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." His wife said, "He 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."
Why was Pollock called Jack the Dripper?
In 1956, Time magazine dubbed Pollock "Jack the Dripper" due to his painting style.
How much did Pollock's painting cost?
In 2016, Pollock's painting titled Number 17A was reported to have fetched US$200 million in a private purchase. A reclusive and volatile personality, Pollock struggled with alcoholism for most of his life. In 1945, he married the artist Lee Krasner, who became an important influence on his career and on his legacy.
How much did Pollock's number 19 sell for?
In 2013, Pollock's Number 19 (1948) was sold by Christie's for a reported US$58,363,750 during an auction that ultimately reached US$495 million total sales in one night, which Christie's reports as a record to date as the most expensive auction of contemporary art.
Who Was Jackson Pollock?
Artist Jackson Pollock studied under Thomas Hart Benton 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. He died after driving drunk and crashing into a tree in New York in 1956, at age 44.
Where did Pollock live?
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 discovered his passion for art. He was expelled twice before abandoning school for his creative pursuits.
Why did Pollock leave school?
He was expelled twice before abandoning school for his creative pursuits. In 1930, at age 18, Pollock moved to New York City to live with his brother, Charles. He soon began studying with Charles's art teacher, representational regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton, at the Art Students League.
Why did Krasner call Pollock's mother?
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. But as the demand from collectors for Pollock's art grew, so too did the pressure he felt, and with it his alcoholism.
How much was Pollock Krasner's estate worth when she died?
When Krasner died on June 19, 1984, the estate was worth $20 million.
What color was Pollock's art?
Pollock's art also became darker in color. 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.
What was the name of the program that was started during the Depression?
The Depression Era. During the Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt started a program called the Public Works of Art Project , one of many intended to jumpstart the economy. Pollock and his brother Sanford, known as Sande, both found work with PWA's mural division.
What is Jackson Pollock's myth?
Jackson Pollock, who was born in 1912, perfectly embodies a cultural myth that has fascinated and obsessed Americans — and those who have admired and/or envied American culture — since World War 2: the myth of the heroic individual creator. Over time, Pollock’s legendary status has been woven very completely into the fabric ...
How did Pollock's career unfold?
Pollock's career unfolded in an era when the development of mass media accelerated and multiplied the dissemination of new ideas and images in art. Pollock's career was certainly aided by the rise of mass media: a tremendous impact was made by the spread Life Magazine did on him in 1949, which posed the question: "Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?
Why did Pollock change how things were done?
The Philistine modern art haters of the fifties who would look at a Pollock in a magazine and say "My kid could do that" missed the point that Pollock was a "genius" who had changed how things were done because he had a new idea of how to do things: he replaced the brushstroke with the drip. Ideas begin in the mind as abstractions, and if you don't "get" a Pollock there remains a possible taint: if you need or like images or realism maybe you have an excessively literal mind.
What is the apex of Jackson Pollock?
The short answer is that the figure of Jackson Pollock sits at the apex of a vast cultural construction: the currently accepted history of American art and culture. To explain how he got there, and how his work became a form of currency, requires a long answer. Jackson Pollock, who was born in 1912, perfectly embodies a cultural myth ...
What is Pollock's art style?
Pollock is an artist who is seen as the prime mover and innovator behind a new American style of art (Abstract Expressionism) that blossomed in this county in the aftermath of our nation's defeat of the Axis powers. America's triumph in the war, infinitely aided by our having developed nuclear weapons first, validated our obsession with progress and paved the way for an era of American cultural hegemony that has lingered strikingly. Interestingly, if the rise of Fascism hadn't driven a generation of intellectuals to emigrate to the U.S. the nuclear bomb and Abstract Expressionism would have likely both been invented in Europe.
How did Jackson Pollock die?
Jackson Pollock, who has been the subject of a feature motion-picture, a Pulitzer Prize winning biography and innumerable magazine articles and museum exhibitions has had his myth multiplied by a media society, and it didn’t hurt that he died young in a spectacular car crash.
How much did Pollock's No 5 sell for?
The price record is reportedly held by his No. 5 of 1948 which is believed to have sold for $140 million in 2006. Disputes over the authenticity of several purported Pollock works have made for some very entertaining news stories in the past decade.
What are some interesting facts about Jackson Pollock?
16 Interesting Facts about Jackson Pollock. 1) His original first name was Paul. 2) Pollock once had a job cleaning statues for the Emergency Relief Bureau. He also briefly worked as a janitor with his brother, Sanford, at a children's school where their eldest brother, Charles, taught.
Why did Pollock stop naming his paintings?
14) Pollock stopped naming his pictures (giving them numbers instead) because he didn't want people to look for a subject matter or a meaning in his art. Instead he wanted the appreciate the painting for what it was.
Why did Pollock steal gasoline?
8) During the 1930s, Pollock occasionally stole food and gasoline because of his dire financial situation.
When did Pollock buy the She Wolf?
15) The first of Pollock's paintings to be acquired by a museum was The She-Wolf, bought by MoMA for $650 on May 2, 1944. Pollock said of the painting: "She-Wolf came into existence because I had to paint it.
When did Pollock's father die?
9) When Pollock's father, LeRoy, died on March 6, 1933, Pollock did not have enough money to return home for the funeral.
Did Jackson Pollock go to school?
3) Jackson Pollock wasn't a very good pupil at school. He got expelled from two high schools and in 1930 he decided to live with his brother in New York.
What magazine included Pollock's new work in one of its issues?
He was shot to huge prominence when Life (magazine) magazine included Pollock’s new work in one of its issues and famously said "Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?"
Why did Pollock expose the soul of art?
Because Pollock exposed the soul of art, and gave artists a new path. It is primarily Pollock's groundbreaking message to the world that drove art in a completely new direction.
Why did art dealers raise the price of their paintings?
Because a group of art dealers figured if they could extoll a painter or two, they'd be able to raise the price of the paintings they produced.
When did Pollock start using drip?
It isn’t until late 1940’s that Pollock starts using his distinct technique (dripping). His artist friends whom he used to meet at a cafe, were all driven insane when they saw Pollock’s new work. He also abandons the technique when he becomes very famous.
Who put more money on their wall than taste?
The only person who’d put that on their wall Is an art collector with more money than taste, in a pure demonstration of having more money than taste.
Is Pollock's work figurative?
If you look at Pollock’s early work, they are actually figurative.
Is Pollock aesthetically pleasing?
I find Pollock aesthetically pleasing, extremely so. The composition, the colors, the lines he uses are all non-trivial to achieve and clearly non-random. But this is not a requirement to appreciate him, nor is it that relevant to his importance.
Overview
Legacy
Pollock's staining into raw canvas was adapted by the Color Field painters Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis. Frank Stella made "all-over composition" a hallmark of his works of the 1960s. The Happenings artist Allan Kaprow, sculptors Richard Serra and Eva Hesse, and many contemporary artists have retained Pollock's emphasis on the process of creation; they were influenced by his approach to the process, rather than the look of his work.
Early life (1912–1936)
Paul Jackson Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1912, the youngest of five brothers. His parents, Stella May (née McClure) and LeRoy Pollock, were born and grew up in Tingley, Iowa, and were educated at Tingley High School. Pollock's mother is interred at Tingley Cemetery, Ringgold County, Iowa. His father had been born with the surname McCoy, but took the surname of his adoptive parents, neighbors who adopted him after his own parents had died within a year of ea…
Career (1936–1954)
Pollock was introduced to the use of liquid paint in 1936 at an experimental workshop in New York City by the Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. He later used paint pouring as one of several techniques on canvases of the early 1940s, such as Male and Female and Composition with Pouring I. After his move to Springs, New York, he began painting with his canvases laid out on the studio floor and he developed what was later called his "drip" technique.
Relationship with Lee Krasner
The two artists met while they both exhibited at the McMillen Gallery in 1942. Krasner was unfamiliar yet intrigued with Pollock's work and went to his apartment, unannounced, to meet him following the gallery exhibition. In October 1945, Pollock and Lee Krasner were married in a church with two witnesses present for the event. In November, they moved out of the city to the
Later years and death (1955–1956)
In 1955, Pollock painted Scent and Search, his last two paintings. He did not paint at all in 1956, but was making sculptures at Tony Smith's home: constructions of wire, gauze, and plaster. Shaped by sand-casting, they have heavily textured surfaces similar to what Pollock often created in his paintings.
Pollock and Krasner's relationship began to crumble by 1956, owing to Pollock'…
Artistry
The work of Thomas Hart Benton, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró influenced Pollock. Pollock started using synthetic resin-based paints called alkyd enamels, which at that time was a novel medium. Pollock described this use of household paints, instead of artist's paints, as "a natural growth out of a need". He used hardened brushes, sticks, and even basting syringes as paint applicators. Pollock's technique of pouring and dripping paint is thought to be one of the origins of the term a…
Authenticity issues
The Pollock-Krasner Authentication Board was created by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 1990 to evaluate newly found works for an upcoming supplement to the 1978 catalogue. In the past, however, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation has declined to be involved in authentication cases.
In 2006, a documentary, Who the *$&% Is Jackson Pollock?, was made concerning Teri Horton, a truck driver who bought an abstract painting for five dollars at a thrift store in California in 1992. …
Who Was Jackson Pollock?
Early Life
- Paul Jackson Pollock was born on January 28, 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. His father, LeRoy Pollock, was a farmer and a government land surveyor, and his mother, Stella May McClure, was a fierce woman with artistic ambitions. The youngest of five brothers, he was a needy child and was often in search of attention that he did not receive. During his youth, Pollock's family moved around th…
The Depression Era
- During the Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt started a program called the Public Works of Art Project, one of many intended to jumpstart the economy. Pollock and his brother Sanford, known as Sande, both found work with PWA's mural division. The WPA program resulted in thousands of works of art by Pollock and contemporaries such as José Clemente Orozco, Wille…
Love and Work
- In 1941 (some sources say 1942), Pollock met Lee Krasner, a Jewish contemporary artist and an established painter in her own right, at a party. She later visited Pollock at his studio and was impressed with his art. They soon became romantically involved. Around this time, Peggy Guggenheim began expressing interest in Pollock's paintings. During a meeting she had with th…
The 'Drip Period'
- Pollock's most famous paintings were made during this "drip period" between 1947 and 1950. He became wildly popular after being featured in a four-page spread, on August 8, 1949, in Life magazine. The article asked of Pollock, "Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" The Lifearticle changed Pollock's life overnight. Many other artists resented his fame, and some of hi…
Downfall and Death
- Overwhelmed with Pollock's needs, Krasner was also unable to work. Their marriage became troubled, and Pollock's health was failing. He started dating other women. By 1956, he had quit painting, and his marriage was in shambles. Krasner reluctantly left for Paris to give Pollock space. Just after 10 p.m. on August 11, 1956, Pollock, who had been drinking, crashed his car int…
Legacy
- In December 1956, 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 honored 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.