Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock(January 28, 1912 - August 11, 1956) was an
influential American painter and a major force in the abstract
expressionist movement.
Pollock's most famous paintings were during the "drip period"
between 1947 and 1950. He rocketed to popular status following an
August 8, 1949 four-page spread in Life Magazine that asked, "Is he
the greatest living painter in the United States?" At the peak of
his fame, Pollock abruptly abandoned the drip style.
Pollock's work after 1951 was darker in color, including a
collection in black on unprimed canvases, followed by a return to
color[5] and he reintroduced figurative elements. Pollock had moved
to a more commercial gallery and there was great demand from
collectors for new paintings. In response to this pressure his
alcoholism deepened
Pollock wanted an end to the viewer's search for representational
elements in his paintings, thus he abandoned naming them and
started numbering them instead. Of this, Pollock commented:
"...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.
After struggling with alcoholism his whole life, Pollock's career
was cut short when he died in an alcohol-related, single car crash
in his Oldsmobile convertible, less than a mile from his home in
Springs, New York on August 11, 1956 at the age of 44. One of his
passengers, Edith Metzger, died, while the other passenger,
Pollock's girlfriend Ruth Kligman, survived. After his death,
Pollock's wife, Lee Krasner, managed his estate and ensured that
Pollock's reputation remained strong in spite of changing art-world
trends. They are buried in Green River Cemetery in Springs with a
large boulder marking his grave and a smaller one marking hers.
|
cart is empty
