Jackson Pollock was an American painter born in 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. He is known for pioneering the technique of drip painting between 1947-1950, during which he would pour and drip paint onto large canvases laid out on the floor of his studio. Pollock's abstract expressionist works from this period such as Number 7, 1951 and The Deep (1953) were influenced by Native American sand painting and Mexican muralists. He is regarded as one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century.
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Jackson Pollock
1. JACKSON POLLOCK
Katie Chance
HJ MacDonald
6B
October 22, 2012
4. A Jackson Pollock quote:
It doesn't make
much difference
how the paint is
put on as long
as something
has been said.
Technique is just
a means of
arriving at a
statement.
An American painter, Paul Jackson Pollock was born January 28, 1912 in Cody, Wyoming.
Jackson grew up in Arizona and California. While living in Echo Park, California, he enrolled at Los Angeles‘ Manual Arts High School. In 1930, following his brother Charles Pollock, he moved to New York City. They both studied under Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League of New York. From 1938 to 1942, Pollock worked for the Federal Art Project. He was paid $24.86 to paint 20 hours a week. In 1945, he married Lee Kasner, another painter. This picture is his studio in Springs near East Hampton on Long Island in New York state.
Jackson Pollock was a contemporary painter in the style of abstract expressionism. He believed the process of making a painting was as important as the finished painting. His did not paint on an easel. He placed canvas on the floor where he could paint from all four sides. He used household paint rather than artist’s paint. He used the techniques of dripping, throwing, pouring, drawing, staining, and brushing—called action painting.
Here are some early works On the left: Male – Female from 1942 On the top right: She Wolf from 1943 On the bottom right: The Key from 1946
Pollock's most famous paintings were made during the "drip period" between 1947 and 1950. His popularity increased after he was featured in Life magazine from August 8, 1949. At the peak of his fame, Pollock abruptly abandoned the drip style.
Pollock's work after 1950 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. During this period, there was great demand from collectors for new paintings. In response to this pressure, along with personal frustration, his alcoholism deepened.
Pollock didn’t want to influence what people saw in his paintings, so instead of using titles, he would number his paintings. Here are 2. One from the drip period: Number 5, 1948 and one from the darker period: Number 7, 1951.
His father was a land surveyor. Pollock went on trips with him and was able to observe Native American sand painters. These artists worked on all sides of their work and poured sand or pigments on to a surface to create art. In 1936, he was introduced to the use of liquid paint at a workshop by a Mexican muralist. Pollock saw photos of the work of Ukrainian American artist Janet Sobel in Peggy Guggenheim’s book The Art of This Century Gallery . The photos were examples of all-over painting and made an impression on him. Lee Kasner, his wife, was an abstract expressionist painter who took classes with Hans Hofmann. The small image is a Hans Hofmann painting.
In 2000, Pollock was the subject of an Academy Award–winning film Pollock  directed by and starring Ed Harris. He added sand, broken glass, and other material to his paintings. In 1956, Time  magazine called Pollock "Jack the Dripper" as a result of his unique technique.
The artist died August 11, 1956 in an alcohol-related car accident. He was 44 years old. That December, he was given a memorial exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art  in New York City . He had a large scale exhibition there in 1967. In 1998 and 1999, his work was honored with large-scale retrospective exhibitions at that same museum and also at The Tate  in London.
MLA 7 - using easybib.com "Abstract Expressionism."Â Wikipedia . Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_expressionism>. "Jackson Pollock Biography."Â Bio.com . A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/jackson-pollock-9443818>. "NGA:Jackson Pollock Web Feature."Â NGA:Jackson Pollock Web Feature . National Gallery of Art, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/>.