Tuesday Art ATTACK- Jackson Pollock "Autumn Rhythm (No. 30)"
Posted on December 23 2014
Paul Jackson Pollock was born in 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. When Pollock was a child, his family moved frequently to facilitate his fathers job as a land surveyor for the government. For a period of time the family was settled in Echo Park, California and Pollock enrolled in the Manual Arts High School of Los Angeles. He was expelled from the school and spent many of his days accompanying his father on surveying trips of California. In the year 1938, Pollock followed his older brother Charles to New York City. Here he studied art at the Art Student League. He studied under Thomas Hart Benton and they spent the a summer touring the Western United States together with Glen Rounds, another art student. Once Pollock left the school he worked for the WPA Federal Art Project through the rest of the Great Depression. During July of 1943 Pollock would make a critical decision that would lead to his success. He signed a gallery contract with famous patron Peggy Guggenheim, also he was bestowed the commission to create Mural(1943) for the Guggenheim's new town house. Due to the suggestion of Marcel Duchamp the pairing was not done directly on the wall but rather a canvas roughly 8 feet tall by 20 feet long. The mural received many praises among critics and fellow artists and helped launch Pollock into the spot light. Pollock married fellow American Artist Lee Krasner in October of 1945. Together they left the city and into a more secluded area of long Island into a small house with a barn. Pollock turned the barn into his personal studio which gave him the space to work the scale canvases he wanted and to hone his drip technique skills. Many of Pollock's most famous paintings were made during his "Drip Period" lasting from roughly 1947 into the early 1950's. During this period Pollock's fame skyrocketed and he was the most well recognized artist in the United States if not the world at this time turning out works like Number 1, No. 5, and Autumn Rhythm. Adding to his fame Pollock was featured in a four-page article in Time Magazine in August of 1949. This spread had photos of his process as well as his studio and gained him even more popularity in the art world; in addition to driving interest into the minds of a large number of non art peoples of America that were fascinated with Pollocks work and approach. However, at the peak of his success Pollock walked away from his 'Drip Style" that has previously defined him. Pollock moved to a more commercial gallery in 1951 because his work was in such high demand from collectors and such. Prior to this point he had always struggled with alcohol consumption, but with all the new added pressure his alcoholism worsened. In 1956 Pollock stopped painting all together and ventured into the realm of sculpture. On August 11th 1956 Paul Jackson Pollock died in a single-car crash while under the influence. His wife Lee Krasner managed his artwork and kept his name in good reputation for the rest of her days. The two are now buried in Green River Cemetery in Springs, New York. Since his death Pollocks work has been heavily debated and sought after in the art world. His against the grain attitude and techniques are revolutionary to some and meaningless to others. None the less Pollock has a pivotal role in art history especially American art history, and his works are some of the most expensive and desired heavily by art collectors to this day.