In 1942, although Pollock painted only three paintings, these three paintings were seen as a sign that Pollock had matured artistically. Pollock has been fighting for this goal for 12 years, and the results are clearly impressive. The first thing that was noticed was the change in the size of his oil painting in 1942. Previously, his oil paintings were relatively small, such as his early "Self-Portrait" which was only 5cm × 7cm. The new works are now very large, with Man and Woman being a painting about six feet high, Moon Woman almost six feet tall, and Shorthand of the Human Body being a banner five and a half feet long. It was clear that Pollock was more artistically assertive.
"Shorthand of the Human Body" is a semi-abstract work that appears to depict a reclining nude woman, and some critics have suggested that the painting is accompanied by two human figures (a man and a woman), and they may be right, and the inconsistent themes in the painting seem to be very harmonious and appropriate. Pollock is not only creating a human body, but also giving us a hint that this work is an illustration of his growing ability to help him realize his dream of becoming a painter, and that it is a further development of the work of Picasso and Miró.
Pollock continued to draw nourishment from the artists he admired, while remaining virtually unrepresented. Considered his first major work, Man and Woman, bears some resemblance to a Kandinsky painting entitled The Striped Piece. Kandinsky's painting was painted in Paris in 1934, when the painter was still in the abstract period. The painting is divided vertically into five pieces, or rather into five stripes, and against this backdrop, small circles, crescents, spirals, and other geometric shapes are depicted on them, suggesting two vague human figures: one that looks like a steel helmet and the other that looks like a fetus. These two shapes are similar to the two heads in Man and Woman. Pollock's portrait of Kandinsky, like one, is also divided into five vertical stripes. It can be seen that Pollock borrowed the form from Kandinsky. Of course, this form is much less than what he has explored.
Man and Woman is a symbolic portrait of a man and a woman. The woman is on the left side of the frame, apparently a happy woman. Her head is a black semicircle, with two eyelash-eyed eyes stacked on top of each other. The bare upper body is piled up in red, and the uterus is a red fat round. The man's body is like a woman's, but it is outlined with a thread, and the large open mouth seems to bite the woman.
In fact, the struggle in "Men and Women" can easily be thought of as a mere struggle between the sexes. On the other hand, the conflict that Pollock is presenting here can also be said to be a conflict between him and the forerunners of Europe. It is no accident that he adopted Kandinsky's method to frame the painting. Kandinsky, however, was a master of the pure geometric method, which is not reflected in Pollock's work. The rude, savage-looking man in the painting seems to be on the verge of primitive backwardness. Therefore, Pollock borrowed Kandinsky's composition and program, and his intention was to reconstruct. In 1942, Europe had completed its greatest artistic movement, Surrealism, and it was an opportunity for American painters to finally have a chance to become the forerunner of art. The painting was completed at this critical moment, which already foreshadowed the future of art belonging to this country.
In 1943, Pollock lost his job again, which left him in trouble. After losing his job, he wanted to sell a few paintings to subsidize his living and exchange them for some painting materials, but no one wanted to buy his paintings. In desperation, he asked the owner of an art supply store on Eighth Street if he would be willing to trade $25 in oil painting materials for one of his paintings. The owner of the shop, Joseph Meyer, also told him not to change. Frustrated, Pollock had no choice but to steal to solve the problem of painting materials. One day, Meyer noticed that Pollock was filling his pocket with paint, so he asked him, "Do you need help?" Pollock continued to fill the paint without looking up, "No, thank you", and he arrogantly said, "I can do it myself." "The kind merchant didn't stop Pollock when he left the store.
Painter Wang Yancheng shares with you the beauty of modern art......