Modern Art Monday: Jackson Pollock

Number 28, 1950

Jackson Pollock  (American, Cody, Wyoming 1912–1956 East Hampton, New York)

A recent visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art  allowed for a special view of this Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956) piece.  I snapped the image above during my visit and the depth, color and texture are stunning.  I feel that the piece is more startling in person, perhaps because of sheer size.


So many of the artists featured in the Modern Art area are familiar - we hear about in school when we are young and perhaps we are familiar with a work or two - but do we know them?  Let's start a two week post:  Modern Art Monday.  We'll revisit two well known works and connect with the artists as people.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, let's do a mini-Modern Art 101.  First up:  Paul Jackson Pollock. Known as Jackson Pollock, he was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement.

During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and 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.

Pollock died at the age of 44 in an alcohol-related car accident. In December 1956, the year of his death, he was given a memorial retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, and a larger more comprehensive exhibition there in 1967. More recently, in 1998 and 1999, his work was honored with large-scale retrospective exhibitions at MoMA and at The Tate in London.

In 2000, Pollock was the subject of an Academy Award–winning film Pollock directed by and starring Ed Harris.  I've pulled an image of the artist at work.


Next week: M.C. Escher