Jackson   Pollock




PHOTOGRAPH 1999 ESTATE OF HANS NAMUTH, COURTESY POLLOCK-KRASNER HOUSE




Jackson Pollock, the greatest action painter of the history.

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. »  (Jackson Pollock)

 J. Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1912

His parents, Stella May McClure and Leroy Pollock, grew up in Tingley, Iowa. Expelled from one high school in 1928, he enrolled at Los Angeles' Manual Arts High School, from which he was also expelled. During his early life, he experienced "Native American culture" while on surveying trips with his father. In 1930, following his brother Charles  Pollock, he moved to New York City where they both studied under Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League of New York. Benton's rural American subject matter shaped Pollock's work only fleetingly. In attempts to fight his alcoholism, from 1938 through 1941 Pollock underwent Jungian psychotherapy with Dr. Josep Henderson and later with Dr. Violet Staub de Laszlo in 1941-1942.Henderson made the decision to engage him through his art and had Pollock make drawings, which led to the appearance of many Jungian concepts in his paintings.In October 1945 Pollock married American artist Lee Krasner, and they moved to what is now known as the Pollock-Krasner House and Studio, at 830 Springs Fireplace Road, on Long Island, NY.

Peggy Guggenheim lent them the down payment for the wood-frame house with a nearby barn that Pollock converted into a studio. 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". After his move to Springs, he began painting with his canvases laid out on the studio floor, and he developed what was later called his "drip" technique, turning to synthetic resin-based paints called alkyd enamels, which, at that time, was a novel medium. Pollock observed Indian sandpainting demonstrations in the 1940s. Other influences on his dripping technique include the Mexican muralists and Surrealist automatism. Pollock denied "the accident"; he usually had an idea of how he wanted a particular piece to appear. His technique combined the movement of his body, over which he had control, the viscous flow of paint, the force of gravity, and the absorption of paint into the canvas.

Pollock' s most famous paintings were made during the "drip period";1947 / 1950. At the peak of his fame, Pollock abruptly abandoned the drip style. Pollock's work after 1951 was darker in color, including a collection painted in black on unprimed canvases. This was followed by a return to color and he reintroduced figurative elements. After struggling with alcoholism for his entire adult life, Pollock, on August 11, 1956, died in a single-car crash in his  Oldsmobile while driving under the influence of alcohol. One of the passengers, Edith Metzger, was also killed in the accident, which occurred less than a mile from Pollock's home. The other passenger, Pollock's mistress Ruth Kligman, survived. After Pollock's demise at age 44, his widow, Lee Krasner, managed his estate and ensured that Pollock's reputation remained strong despite changing art-world trends. They are buried in Green River Cemetery in Springs. A separate organization, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, was established in 1985.

Fabrizio Sannaon

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