Pollock, Jackson
On
the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since
this way I can walk around in it, work from the four sides and be literally
`in' the painting.
--
Jackson Pollock, 1947.
Pollock, Jackson (1912-56). American painter, the
commanding figure of the Abstract Expressionist movement.
He
began to study painting in 1929 at the Art Students' League, New York, under
the Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton. During the 1930s he worked in the
manner of the Regionalists, being influenced also by the Mexican muralist
painters (Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros) and by certain aspects of Surrealism. From
1938 to 1942 he worked for the Federal Art Project. By the mid 1940s he was
painting in a completely abstract manner, and the `drip and splash' style for
which he is best known emerged with some abruptness in 1947. Instead of using
the traditional easel he affixed his canvas to the floor or the wall and poured
and dripped his paint from a can; instead of using brushes he manipulated it
with `sticks, trowels or knives' (to use his own words), sometimes obtaining a
heavy impasto by an admixture of `sand, broken glass or other foreign matter'.
This manner of Action painting had in common with Surrealist theories of
automatism that it was supposed by artists and critics alike to result in a
direct expression or revelation of the unconscious moods of the artist.
Pollock's
name is also associated with the introduction of the All-over style of painting
which avoids any points of emphasis or identifiable parts within the whole
canvas and therefore abandons the traditional idea of composition in terms of
relations among parts. The design of his painting had no relation to the shape
or size of the canvas -- indeed in the finished work the canvas was sometimes
docked or trimmed to suit the image. All these characteristics were important
for the new American painting which matured in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Easter and the Totem
During
the 1950s Pollock continued to produce figurative or quasi-figurative black and
white works and delicately modulated paintings in rich impasto as well as the
paintings in the new all-over style. He was strongly supported by advanced
critics, but was also subject to much abuse and sarcasm as the leader of a
still little comprehended style; in 1956 Time
magazine called him `Jack the Dripper'.
By
the 1960s, however, he was generally recognized as the most important figure in
the most important movement of this century in American painting, but a
movement from which artists were already in reaction (Post-Painterly
Abstraction). His unhappy personal life (he was an alcoholic) and his premature
death in a car crash contributed to his legendary status. In 1944 Pollock
married Lee Krasner (1911-84), who was an Abstract Expressionist painter of
some distinction, although it was only after her husband's death that she
received serious critical recognition.
Breaking the ice
It
was Jackson Pollock who blazed an astonishing trail for other Abstract
Expressionist painters to follow. De Kooning said, ``He broke the ice'', an
enigmatic phrase suggesting that Pollock showed what art could become with his
1947 drip paintings.
It
has been suggested that Pollock was influenced by Native American sand
paintings, made by trickling thin lines of colored sand onto a horizontal
surface. It was not until 1947 that Pollock began his ``action'' paintings,
influenced by Surrealist ideas of ``psychic automatism'' (direct expression of
the unconscious). Pollock would fix his canvas to the floor and drip paint from
a can using a variety of objects to manipulate the paint.
The Moon-Woman Cuts the Circle (1943; 109.5 x 104 cm (43 x
41 in)) is an early Pollock, but it shows the passionate intensity with which
he pursued his personal vision. This painting is based on a North American
Indian myth. It connects the moon with the feminine and shows the creative,
slashing power of the female psyche. It is not easy to say what we are actually
looking at: a face rises before us, vibrant with power, though perhaps the
image does not benefit from labored explanations. If we can respond to this art
at a fairly primitive level, then we can also respond to a great abstract work
such as Lavender Mist. If
we cannot, at least we can appreciate the fusion of colors and the
Expressionist feeling of urgency that is communicated. Moon-Woman may be a feathered harridan
or a great abstract pattern; the point is that it works on both levels.
Список
литературы
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