JACKSON POLLOCK BY: EMILY CORCORAN

JACKSON POLLOCK Early Life Life After 1942 Influences Unique Technique Paintings Death Legacy Memories

EARLY LIFE Born January 28, 1912 Cody, Wyoming Born with last name McCoy After parents death became Pollock after being adopted Grew up in Arizona and Chico, California Enrolled in Los Angeles’ Manual Arts High School Expelled after being expelled from another High School in 1928 Moved to New York City to study under Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League of New York When moving to New York Jackson dropped his first name Paul Studied Under Benton for 2 ½ years 1935 worked for the WPA Federal Art Project Easel Painter Next 2 years lived in poverty with brother and wife until 1942

LIFE AFTER began treatment for alcoholism 1938 suffered a nervous break down forcing him to be institutionalized for months 1939 – 1941 while in treatment psychoanalysts used his work as treatment for other patients 1943 given contract by Peggy Guggenheim at Art of This Century gallery First one man show 1944 created first wall sized painting “Mural” Pollock struggled to find a process by which he could translate entire personality into painting Totem Lesson 1 (1944) The Blue Unconscious (1946) Eyes in the Heat (1946) 1945 married painter Lee Krasner Helped him to stabilize this life

INFLUENCES The work of the Ukrainian American artist Janet Sobel Janet Sobel Mexican Muralists Pablo Picasso & Joan Miró Surrealist Automatism Indian Sand Painting European Modern Art American painter Albert Pinkham Ryder Thomas Benton

UNIQUE TECHNIQUE Perfected the technique of working with paint Introduced the use of liquid paint in 1936 at experimental workshop Later used paint pouring as one of several techniques on canvases “Male and Female” & Composition with Pouring I” Began to paint with his canvases laid out on the studio floor Later developed “Drip” technique Using only synthetic resin-based paints called alkyd enamels Pollock used hardened brushes, sticks and even basting syringes as paint applicators Used technique of pouring and dripping paint “Action Painting” Pollock was able to achieve a more immediate means of creating art Paint flowing from chosen tool onto the canvas Added new dimensions; applying paint from all directions Time magazine called him “Jackson the Dripper” Move freely around a room as if he were dancing on the painting 1951 and 1952 painted almost exclusively in black enamel on different sized canvas

PAINTINGS Drip Period Full Fathom Five (1947) Summertime (1948) Mural Sized (1950) One Autumn Rhythm Lavender Mist Un-sized Canvas Number Twenty-three, 1951/“Frogman” (1951) Echo (1951) Number Seven, 1952 (1952) 1952 returned to color and Mural Scale paintings Convergence (1952) Blue Poles (1952) Last series of major works in 1953 Portrait and a Dream Easter and the Totem Ocean Greyness The Deep Last years White Light (1954) Scent (1955 )

DEATH Died August 11, 1956 Single-car crash while driving under the influence of alcohol Killing himself, passenger Edith Metzger and Ruth Kligman (mistress) Age 44 Lee Krasner (Wife) managed estate and ensured Pollock's reputation remained strong despite changing art-world trends Buried in Green River Cemetery in Springs, New York with a large boulder marking his grave

LEGACY “After Pollock’s death, artists active in the American Art Movements immediately following Abstract Expression such-as “happenings,” Pop art, and Colour Field painting” Became a model of a painter who fused art and life Started European art movements and artists Considered an “iconic” master of mid- century Modernism Pollock-Krasner-Foundation established in 1985 Assists individual working artists or merit with financial needs

“Pollock was described by his contemporaries as gentle and contemplative when sober, violent when drunk. These extremes found equilibrium in his art. He was highly intelligent, widely read, and, when he chose, incisively articulate. He believed that art derived from the unconscious, saw himself as the essential subject of his Painting, and judged his work and that of others on its inherent authenticity of personal expression.”