Outline / Background of Artist – Jackson Pollock
Mr. Jackson Pollock, deemed the most famous modern artist of the 20th Century is well known in the history of American art as an Abstract Expressionist of drip paintings. Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) Jackson was attributed claim to be a liberating artist with no real discipline of one’s self expressions. In 1929 Jackson Pollock began his art studies at the Students’ League in New York, here is where he was introduced to using his expressions from the subconscious and creating art. After viewing a Picasso exhibition; entitled Picasso: 40 Years of His Art, Jackson Pollack seemed to realize the power of expressionism and later began his drip style paintings. Three years ago I can recall a movie
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I believe I was more drawn to why this artist did this type of art and why it’s considered art. At first look, his paintings look like a child or children had a blast with paint. No rhythm or method and the lines and brush strokes going to nowhere. Then I really started looking his paintings in the last few years of his life. He was bolder with his colors. I think he felt free and no so repressed, not lead to have to produce art. Even though in the movie it showed he battled alcohol and turned to art as a released but he was reined in by an agent, and then heavily criticized by the art world. When he appeared to be drinking again he painted without restraint. His paintings at first seemed to be rejected because they or he was not understood as an artist and at the time the world of art of Regionalism and Social Realism was what artists were viewing and creating. Jackson Pollack was living during World War II, in his earlier paintings he makes reference to this war. And later there was the Great depression and he had mother son issues from his childhood. I think he embraced the changes and went with what he felt he needed to express and so he became a known artist as a new Abstract Expressionist. I believe once he explained where the paintings came from is when the art world embraced his creations. These creations came right in the mist of World War II and into the aftermath and a new error of the fabulous fifties, when the …show more content…
He later attended a college of arts. I get the feeling from reading about Pollock he wanted to be different. He did not want to be constrained by others ideas or conformed to what “Americans” of the art world wanted from artists. I believe he struggled and was tormented by his own feelings and unable to cope. Using alcohol, I believe the bottle took all his inhibitions away and allowed him to do as he pleased without judging himself. I think there are moments of soberness when he stopped painting and took a step back and looked at his creations. I believe in these moments he would sit pondering or rethinking why he did what he did. He would start to feel whatever emotion and he would then pick up another color and try to make an amends with his own creations. It seems maddening for this behavior but it shows this in his art. It seems this madness went on and on until there was no more resolution for him, he would then abruptly stop. After more drinking I think he would start a new painting. This could be the reasoning as to why we see some of his last paintings, looking so dreary in color and lack of rhythm. The paintings which have vibrant colors are when he was at peace with who he was as a person. I do not care for all of his paintings. Some of the paintings do look like someone just dropped paint on a canvas
The resemblance in Brown's work to de Kooning and other Abstract Expressionists (such as the long strokes of Pollock) is what often creates her association with the movement. In his essay, “In Defense of Abstract Expressionism,” renowned art historian TJ Clark describes the movement as:
Jackson Pollock was not known for painting images, that's because he didn't use a brush He believed the brush would interfere with the dripping of the paint. Instead Jackson used a stick to pour paint onto the canvas. He would change the color, type of paint, and the thickness of the paint as the work progressed. Therefore, the painting would reflect the movements of his arm and body as he applied the paint. The activity of the painting would become part of the painting itself. That style of painting is called action painting. Jackson Pollock was the first "all-over" action painted just like Cernuschi stated on page 67 in his book Meaning and Significance, "He painted no image, just action." It looked like Pollock almost imitated a dance. Pollock dripped paint all over the canvas, but always had total control of where the splash of paint would be. That is how he got his nickname "Jack the
Jackson Pollock was a legendary, novel, abstract expressionist who has created numerous paintings through his drip-style, action painting technique (Goodnough, 2012). Theosophical influence arose from Phillip Guston and Thomas Hart Benton, while in the early stages of the artist’s life. Muralists, such as Jose Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera were also admired and studied by Pollock. He was captivated by the unorthodox techniques of David Alfaro Siqueiros which contributed to the abstract style of Jackson Pollock (Solomon, 1987).
The technique that Jackson Pollock adopted was referred to by many as ‘drip’ painting. This technique can be seen in his works of art from 1937 and on. The way in which Pollock created his ‘drip’ paintings would be by taking ordinary house paint and either pouring, drizzling, or flicking it across a canvas. To many critics and other artists, his technique appeared odd, especially since he was known for not using any ordinary artist’s tools. He removed himself from the confines of what an artist was expected to use by getting rid of his easel and paintbrushes. “Pollock succeeded by eliminating the brushstroke as a mark of gestural energy, in getting his labyrinth of colours to emerge in a more or less autonomous way on
All of his sixty paintings show that African American in the south had a hardship of work, the long journey that African Americans take to reach their destination and sadness of leaving their home and the new life that awaited. In the painting that shows the hardship of works it shows the sadness of their face and some of them with their heads and back forward and carrying baskets loads of product. The painting of the Long journey shows African Americans walking through dry fields as sunset is setting and in the new life painting it shows a family looking out through a train with happiness in their face as they see new land. This reflects to the many immigrants that are coming from different parts of the world presently and seeing new opportunities and with leaving there is a purpose and take a long journey such as Nayo and Milto in the film Wet Backs : The Undocumented documentary for the new life that was before them. But there are struggles that were portrayed in this series of panting being that on one painting it had a group of people mistreating and beating an African American. There was also racial injustice with cops and the people of the U.S have seen many stories still happening presently with many deportations and this connects to the Arizona policy to deport as many as one-hundred thousand undocumented
The innovative and passionate presence in both Jackson Pollock’s and Wassily Kandinsky avant-garde paintings exemplifies the redefinition of boundaries throughout their art making practices. Both artists challenged traditions both materially and conceptually using innovative and diverse approaches to materials and techniques when painting. Wassily Kandinsky goes against traditions and academies to create vivid, sensual and symbolic large-scale semi abstract expressionist oil paintings in a heightened state of mind. Many artworks of his convey bright and cheerful spontaneous colours that make the audience fully consumed within his works due to hypnotic and distorted semi realist shapes. Consequently, Jackson Pollock also goes against
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) is Jackson Pollock’s most famous piece that shows action painting, a defining technique of Abstract Expressionism, and his innovative drip painting technique he developed in 1940. Pollock created his piece by placing the canvas on the floor, then he used brushes, or even his hands and started to drip the paint on the surface. His distinct technique of painting makes him absorbed in the creation of his art piece without being aware of what he is doing. Therefore, Pollock is free from realism and from his own self through painting because it relieves his anxiety now that he is focused only on his art. Pollock’s work is classified as non-objective because Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) cannot be related to any recognizable object from real life, so he is not constraint by reality, but goes outside the box as if liberated to soar free and paint from his
The abstract expressionist I admire is Lee Krasner because once I seen her work I loved it is based on different colors and weird shapes. Of course everything has a meaning of its work. I am going to talk to you about her life and work. Lee Krasner was born on October 27, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York one of the things she liked was to be called Lenore but as the years passed she loved to be called Lee. Lee parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Lee was the youngest of six children and the only one to be born in the United States. Lee graduated from high school in 1925 she was awarded a scholarship to attend a Women’s Art School of Cooper Union. Once she graduated from that school Lee wanted more art education. Lee loved to do art work she was
Often times misunderstood and, at times, even complex to understand, Abstract is a category of artwork that challenges the viewer’s intellect through its array of bold color schemes, extracted ideas, and conceptual viewpoints. Expressionism is a sub-category of Abstract artwork, which encapsulates the philosophical, intellectual, and emotional stimulation it hopes to create in the observer, which frequently, is the objective of the artist who created the conceptual piece. Three artists who embody the abstract principles are Joan Mitchell, who was one of the first women expressionist painters who focused on landscape-type portraits, and a successive artist to similar abstract painters such as Mark Tobey, and also preceded by modern sculptor Lynda Benglis who literally “cements” abstract painting concepts into unique dimensional sculptures. Yet, Mitchell’s artwork is “special” to me
Pollock began doing all of his works in a completely abstract manner in the mid 1940s. But, after 1947 is when Pollock's most recognizable abstract works would be produced. This is when he began placing large canvases on the floor and creating his famous abstract works. On these large canvases, he started to use his "drip" technique, which was first shown to him by Siqueiro. These drip paintings were first shown in 1948. They are said to reflect both ecstasy and anxiety. After they were introduced to the world, a critic actually characterized Pollock as "Jack the Dripper". These works captivated and scared his future wife, Lee Krasner, a painter herself.
The people back in the 19th century really didn’t accept Van Gaogh’s truthful and emotionally morbid way of expressing the way of art is to himself. It finally was seen as art through the people’s eyes. This set a stage of art that is now known as Expressionism. It is best characterized by the use of symbols and a style that expresses the artist’s inner feelings about his subject. His style of painting is exemplified by a projection of the painter’s inner experience onto the canvas he paints on. Van Gogh’s paintings are done with his feelings that goes on in his life. (Mark Harden’s Artchive)
Mark Rothko- Abstract Expressionist paintings can be divided into two groups. That of the action painters and that of the colour-field painters. As melancholic and misanthropic as Pollok, killing himself in 1970. Understood that to paint a flat form painting destroyed illusion and revealed truth. He was very aware of the spiritual dimensions attainable in abstract art, some of his works being described as deeply religious. (Hugh Honour & Fleming, 1991)
Taking following extreme cases of abstraction, when speaking of Pollock’s work such as his ”Autumn Rhythm” (1950), we realize how the visual formed is fully based on science and gravity that permits the dripping and pouring of the paint on the horizontal canvas. But, by walking around/on the canvas we can argue Greenberg’s analysis and suppose that the painter possibly connects with it, he gets drowned in the act and merges inside the painting while mechanically pouring paint on the canvas. This means that even though the painter tries to focus on the flatness of the painting rather than the content and is physically detached from the canvas, this focus cannot erase an emotional
Abstract Expressionism is making its comeback within the art world. Coined as an artist movement in the 1940’s and 1950’s, at the New York School, American Abstract Expressionist began to express many ideas relevant to humanity and the world around human civilization. However, the subject matters, contributing to artists, were not meant to represent the ever-changing world around them. Rather, how the world around them affected the artist themselves. The works swayed by such worldly influences, become an important article within the artists’ pieces. Subjectively, looking inward to express the artist psyche, artists within the Abstract Expressionism movement became a part of their paintings. Making the paintings more of a representation
Unfortunately, for some artists, the reality of life isn’t so beautiful. One of the most talented, yet mentally ill artists of all time was Vincent Van Gogh. He was also from the 19th century belonging to the post-impressionists. In order for one to analyze the art of