Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956) was an influential American painter and major force in the Abstract Expressionist movement.
He is famous for his unique creation of drip paintings.
During his lifetime, he enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety at the same time: he was considered a painter who spent most of his time in seclusion; He has a capricious temper and has severe drinking problems.
Born in Cody, Wyoming, he moved to New York in 1929 to join the New York Art Students Union, where he studied under Thomas Hart Benton; From 1938 to 1942, he worked for the Federal Art Project; In 1943 began to turn to abstract art.
In the 1950s and 1960s, he was supported by the CIA through the Congress for Cultural Freedom.
In 1947, the "drip painting method" began to be used, eliminating the easel, laying huge canvases on the ground, using boxes, sticks or brushes drilled with small holes to splash paint on the canvas, thin paint with the help of a sprayer;
The contact with the canvas is not fixed in one position when painting, but walks around the canvas, or crosses the past, so that the composition has no center and the structure is unrecognizable;
Drawing a web of complex and indistinguishable lines with repeated unconscious movements;
The lines on the screen are twisted vertically and horizontally, and the colors change impermanently. The influence of the Surrealist school can be seen in its approach to extreme indulgence of the subconscious.
Before developing his unique technique, he was too focused on creating without breaking through, his work did not sell well, and he was too bizarre and neurotic to earn a living part-time, and at one point had to rely on his brother and girlfriend Lee Krasner, who later became his wife.
Pollock was killed in a traffic accident on the night of August 11, 1956, while driving drunk and speeding.
## Early life
Jackson Pollock was born on January 28, 1912, the youngest of five children.
His parents, Stella May and Leroy Pollock, were Presbyterians, his mother was of Irish descent and his father was of Scottish descent.
His father's surname was McCoy, but when his parents died when he was one year old, he was adopted by a neighbor and changed his surname to Pollock.
Le Roy was originally a farmer and later worked as a land surveyor in government.
Pollock was interested in drawing from an early age and often doodled at home.
His father, while not against his interest, did not encourage him either.
His mother was even more supportive of his artistic talent, buying him some painting utensils and taking him to museums and galleries.
Pollock's family relocated frequently, and he lived in several locations in Arizona and California.
While living in Echo Park, California, he attended Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles.
There, he was guided and encouraged by some teachers, and also met some like-minded classmates. He began to be exposed to some modern art trends and works, such as Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism and Surrealism.
In 1929, Pollock moved with his family to New York and joined the Art Students League of New York, where he studied under Thomas Hart Benton.
Benton was a famous American landscape painter who depicted life in rural America.
He had a profound influence on Pollock, not only teaching him the techniques and theories of painting, but also cultivating his identification with American culture and history.
Pollock also imitated Benton's style and created works with American flair, such as "Going West" and "The Ranch."
## Career development stage and unique drawing skills
In the 1930s, Pollock began to come into contact with new artistic movements and ideas, such as social realism, abstraction, primitivism, and psychoanalysis.
These had an important influence on his later work.
In 1935, Pollock joined the Federal Art Project, a government-funded program designed to provide jobs for unemployed artists.
In this project, Pollock mainly worked on murals, but also participated in a number of exhibitions.
He became acquainted with influential artists and critics such as Hans Hofmann, John Graham, Harold Rosenberg, and others.
He also began experimenting with abstract painting and was inspired by European avant-garde artists such as Picasso, Miró, Matisse, etc.
In 1938, Pollock was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for alcoholism and neurasthenia.
There he was exposed to Jungian psychoanalysis and was encouraged to express his subconscious mind through painting.
This had a profound impact on Pollock, making him pay more attention to the exploration and representation of his inner world.
In 1941, Pollock met Lee Krasner, an abstract expressionist painter and member of the Federal Art Project.
The two soon fell in love.
In 1945, they married and moved to Springs, Long Island, where Pollock established his studio.
Krasner was an important supporter and impetus for Pollock's career, not only helping him manage his finances and day-to-day affairs, but also connecting him with galleries and critics, even sacrificing her own creative time.
She was also Pollock's most loyal advocate and understanding, highly valued and analyzed his work.
In 1943, Pollock was sponsored by Peggy Guggenheim, a wealthy art collector and gallerist with a keen eye for the avant-garde of the time.
She provided Pollock with a monthly stipend of $150 and had a solo exhibition for him at her Art of This Century Gallery.
One of the most famous was the 1947 "Jackson Pollock: New Works," which featured 14 of his first drip paintings.
The works caused a stir and controversy, with some praising him for pioneering a new artistic language and others criticizing him for destroying the traditions and norms of painting.
The drip painting method is Pollock's most representative and innovative painting technique, and one of the most influential styles in the Abstract Expressionist movement.
Pollock laid a huge canvas on the ground, splashing, splashing, and applying diluted paint or synthetic resin paint to the canvas with various tools such as brushes, sticks, syringes, etc., forming complex and rhythmic lines and color blocks.
He is no longer constrained by easels and brushes, but engages in the painting process with his whole body, interacting with the canvas from all angles and distances. "I don't paint on canvas, I paint on canvas," he said. ”
He believes that this allows him to express his emotions and subconscious more directly, without being disturbed by any external factors.
"I don't need form, just feeling," he said. ”[10]
Pollock's drip painting method was influenced in many ways.
On the one hand, he was inspired by European modernist artists such as Picasso, Miró, Monet, etc., all of whom tried to express form and color in a way different from traditional painting.
On the other hand, he was influenced by Native American culture and art, especially the sand painting performances of the Indians, a ritual art activity he had watched and was deeply interested in the 1930s.
On the other hand, he was influenced by psychology and philosophy, especially Jungian psychoanalysis and existential thought, both of which emphasized the importance of individual subjectivity and self-expression.
Pollock's drip painting method also gave rise to a series of theories and commentaries.
The most influential of these were those of Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg.
Greenberg was a well-known art critic who considered Pollock's drip painting method to be the embodiment of the purity of painting, and he abandoned any figurative elements and focused only on form and color, thus achieving a "flatness", that is, painting is only a painting, not a representation or symbol of anything else.
Greenberg believed that this was an inevitable trend in the development of painting and a sign that American art was free from European influence.
Rosenberg, a cultural critic who saw Pollock's drip painting as a form of "action painting," emphasized the interaction and conflict between the painter and the canvas during the painting process, as well as the projection of the painter's personal experience and emotions.
Rosenberg saw it as an existential art that reflected the turmoil and anxiety of American society at the time.
Pollock's drip painting method caused mixed reactions in the art world and the public.
Some admired his innovation and courage, believing that he opened up a new art form and expression.
Others criticize him for his casualness and absurdity, believing that he has no skill or beauty, and is just graffiti.
In any case, Pollock's drip painting method had a huge impact in the United States and the world, and he was hailed as "America's first original artist"[11] and also regarded as a symbol of the "free spirit".
He influenced not only later abstract expressionist painters such as Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, etc., but also other artistic fields such as music, dance, theater, and film.
His works are also in museums and private collections around the world, some of which have sold for sky-high prices, such as No. 5, 1948. 5, 1948) sold for $140 million in 2006, making it the most expensive painting in the world at the time [12].
Art can make people forget the hustle and bustle of the weekday
--- Stay tuned to "Calligraphy and Painting - Space"