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Jackson Pollock
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==Career (1936–1954)== Pollock was introduced to the use of liquid paint in 1936 at an experimental workshop in New York City by the Mexican muralist [[David Alfaro Siqueiros]]. In the summer, he went to [[Dartmouth College]] to study [[José Clemente Orozco]]'s 3,200 square foot mural, ''[[The Epic of American Civilization]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hassett |first=Meghan K. |title=Orozco and Pollock at the Hood |url=https://dartreview.com/orozco-and-pollock-at-the-hood/ |access-date=2023-01-01 |website=The Dartmouth Review |date=May 2, 2012 |language=en}}</ref> He later used paint pouring as one of several techniques on canvases of the early 1940s, such as ''Male and Female'' and ''Composition with Pouring I''. After his move to [[Springs, New York]], he began painting with his canvases laid out on the studio floor and he developed what was later called his "[[drip painting|drip]]" technique. [[File:Pollock signature.jpg|thumb|Signature of Jackson Pollock on ''Pasiphaë'' (1943; Metropolitan Museum of Art)]] From 1938 to 1942 Pollock worked for the [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]] [[Federal Art Project]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.beatmuseum.org/pollock/jacksonpollock.html |title=Jackson Pollock |access-date=September 28, 2007 |publisher=The American Museum of Beat Art}}</ref> During this time Pollock was trying to deal with his established alcoholism; from 1938 through 1941 he underwent [[Jungian psychotherapy]] with Dr. [[Joseph L. Henderson]] and later with Dr. Violet Staub de Laszlo in 1941–42. Henderson engaged him through his art, encouraging Pollock to make drawings. Jungian concepts and archetypes were expressed in his paintings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://serdar-hizli-art.com/abstract_art/jackson_pollock_psychoanalytic_drawings.htm |title=Abstract Expressionism, Jackson Pollock's "Psychoanalytic Drawings" Paintings |access-date=July 25, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615044835/http://serdar-hizli-art.com/abstract_art/jackson_pollock_psychoanalytic_drawings.htm |archive-date=June 15, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Stockstad |first=Marilyn |title= Art History |year= 2005 |publisher=Pearson Education, Inc. |location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey |isbn=978-0-13-145527-6}}</ref> Some psychiatrists have hypothesized that Pollock might have had [[bipolar disorder]].<ref>{{Cite journal | issue = 2 | pages = 131–147 | year = 2001 | pmid = 11433879 | volume = 72 | journal = The Psychiatric Quarterly | last1 = Rothenberg | title = Bipolar illness, creativity, and treatment | doi = 10.1023/A:1010367525951 |first1 = A. | s2cid = 31980246 }}</ref> Pollock signed a gallery contract with [[Peggy Guggenheim]] in July 1943. He received the commission to create the {{convert|8|by|20|ft|m|adj=on}} ''[[Mural (1943)|Mural]]'' (1943)<ref name="Los Angeles Times">{{cite news|first=Jori|last=Finkel|date=June 26, 2012|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-jun-26-la-et-pollock-getty-20120626-story.html|title=Pollock painting to get the Getty touch|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> for the entry to her new townhouse. At the suggestion of her friend and advisor [[Marcel Duchamp]], Pollock painted the work on canvas, rather than the wall, so that it would be portable. After seeing the big mural, the art critic [[Clement Greenberg]] wrote: "I took one look at it and I thought, 'Now that's great art,' and I knew Jackson was the greatest painter this country had produced."<ref>[http://uima.uiowa.edu/mural/ Jackson Pollock, ''Mural'' (1943)] [[University of Iowa Museum of Art]], Iowa City.</ref> The catalog introducing his first exhibition described Pollock's talent as "volcanic. It has fire. It is unpredictable. It is undisciplined. It spills out of itself in a mineral prodigality, not yet crystallized."<ref>Sweeney, James Johnson, Catalog- Introduction- Pollock's First Exhibition, New York, 1943.</ref> ===Drip period=== {{Like essay|date=February 2025|section}} Pollock's most famous paintings were made during the "drip period" between 1947 and 1950. However, when investigating the impact that other artists have had on Pollock and his "drip paintings", the time that Pollock spent working and studying in the Experimental Workshop with David Alfaro Siqueiros in 1936 is rarely investigated or acknowledged. According to Robert Storr, "there is no other experience in his professional life that is equal to the decade that he spent learning from and observing the modern Mexican muralists…," especially when comparing this period of informal training to his formal education with Thomas Hart Benton, which, although critical to his beginnings, was short lived.<ref>[Robert Storr, A Piece of the Action (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1999-p.35</ref> Additionally, when specifically asked about how the "drip" came to be, Pollock disavowed his association with Siquieros on multiple occasions and made contradictory statements. For example, in 1947, Pollock suggests that he painted his canvases on the floor because he witnessed the Navajo sand artist at the Natural History Museum in New York do it in 1941 (five years after he witnessed Siqueiros do it in 1936), and soon after, he suggested that he painted his canvases on the floor because "the Oriental’s did it".<ref>Robert Storr, A Piece of the Action (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1999, p.57–58)</ref> Eventually, Pollock became famous from his "drip" paintings, and on August 8, 1949, in a four-page spread in ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine, he was asked, "Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" Thanks to the mediation of [[Alfonso A. Ossorio|Alfonso Ossorio]], a close friend of Pollock, and the art historian [[Michel Tapié]], the young gallery owner [[Paul Facchetti]], from March 7, 1952, managed to realize the first exhibition of Pollock's works from 1948 to 1951<ref>{{Cite book|title=Jackson Pollock|last1=Tapié|first1=Michel|last2=Ossorio|first2=Alfonso|publisher=Paul Facchetti|year=1952|location=Paris|pages=8|oclc = 30601793}}</ref> in his Studio Paul Facchetti in Paris and in Europe.<ref>Documents and lists of works from the exhibition can be found in the Facchetti Archives with his son [[Jean-Paul Agosti]] and in the Kandinsky Library in the Archives of the [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris.</ref> At the peak of his fame, Pollock abruptly abandoned the drip style.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/saltz/saltz9-18-06.asp |title=The Tempest|author = Jerry Saltz |format = reprint|publisher=Artnet.com |access-date=August 30, 2009}}</ref> Pollock's drip paintings were influenced by the artist [[Janet Sobel]]; the art critic Clement Greenberg would later report that Pollock "admitted" to him that Sobel's work "had made an impression on him."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Grovier |first=Kelly |title=Janet Sobel: The woman written out of history |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220307-janet-sobel-the-woman-written-out-of-history |access-date=2022-03-10 |website=BBC |date=March 8, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Pollock's work after 1951 was darker in color, including a collection painted in black on unprimed [[canvas]]es. These paintings have been referred to as his "Black pourings" and when he exhibited them at the [[Betty Parsons Gallery]] in New York, none of them sold. Parsons later sold one to a friend at half the price. These works show Pollock attempting to find a balance between abstraction and depictions of [[Figure painting|the figure]].<ref>William Cook, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5BNv7H97g3SpczrK56dHngF/jackson-pollocks-forgotten-bleak-masterpieces-the-30-year-wait-for-black-pourings-exhibition "Jackson Pollock's forgotten bleak masterpieces: The 30-year wait for 'black pourings' exhibition"], BBC — Arts, June 30, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2015.</ref> He later returned to using color and continued with figurative elements.<ref name="bio">{{cite web |url=http://www.jackson-pollock.com/biography.html |title=Biography |access-date=September 28, 2007 |publisher=Jackson-pollock.com}}</ref> During this period, Pollock had moved to the [[Sidney Janis Gallery]], a more commercial gallery; the demand for his work from collectors was great. In response to this pressure, along with personal frustration, his alcoholism deepened.<ref>[http://www.jackson-pollock.com/downfall.html "Downfall of Pollock"], Jackson Pollock website. Retrieved July 23, 2010.</ref> ===Relationship with Lee Krasner=== Pollock and [[Lee Krasner]] met while they both exhibited at the McMillen Gallery in 1942. Krasner was unfamiliar yet intrigued with Pollock's work and went to his apartment, unannounced, to meet him following the gallery exhibition.<ref>Hobbs, Robert. Lee Krasner. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993. p.7</ref> In October 1945, Pollock and Krasner were married in a church with two witnesses present for the event.<ref>Rose, Barbara. "Krasner|Pollock: A Working Relationship". New York: Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, 1981. p.4</ref> In November, they moved out of the city to the [[Springs, New York|Springs]] area of [[East Hampton, New York|East Hampton]] on the south shore of [[Long Island]]. With the help of a down-payment loan from Peggy Guggenheim, they bought a wood-frame house and barn at 830 Springs Fireplace Road. Pollock converted the barn into a studio. In that space, he perfected his "drip" technique of working with paint, with which he would become permanently identified. When the couple found themselves free from work they enjoyed spending their time together cooking and baking, working on the house and garden, and entertaining friends.<ref>Rose, Barbara. "Krasner|Pollock: A Working Relationship". New York: Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, 1981. p.8.</ref> [[File:Pollock-barn.jpg|thumb|right|Pollock's studio in [[Springs, New York]]]] Krasner's influence on her husband's art was something critics began to reassess by the latter half of the 1960s due to the rise of feminism at the time.<ref>Tucker, Marcia. "Lee Krasner: Large Paintings". New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1973. pg.7</ref> Krasner's extensive knowledge and training in modern art and techniques helped her bring Pollock up to date with what contemporary art should be. Krasner is often considered to have tutored her husband in the tenets of modernistic painting.<ref name="Rose, Barbara 1981. p.6">Rose, Barbara. "Krasner|Pollock: A Working Relationship". New York: Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, 1981. p.6</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Naifeh |first1=Steven |last2=Smith |first2=Gregory White |year=1989 |title=Jackson Pollock: An American Saga |url=https://archive.org/details/jacksonpollockam00naif |url-access=registration |publisher=Clarkson N. Potter |isbn=978-0-517-56084-6 }}</ref> Pollock was then able to change his style to fit a more organized and cosmopolitan genre of modern art, and Krasner became the one judge he could trust.<ref name="Rose, Barbara 1981. p.6" /><ref name="Berger, John 2015. p.369">Berger, John. "Portraits: John Berger on Artists". London: Verso, 2015. p.369</ref> At the beginning of the two artists' marriage, Pollock would trust his peers' opinions on what did or did not work in his pieces.<ref name=" Berger, John 2015. p.369" /> Krasner was also responsible for introducing him to many collectors, critics, and artists, including [[Herbert Matter]], who would help further his career as an emerging artist.<ref>Landau, E.G., Cernuschi, C. "Pollock Matters". Boston: McMullen Museum of Art Boston College, 2007. p.19</ref> Art dealer [[John Bernard Myers]] once said "there would never have been a Jackson Pollock without a Lee Pollock", whereas fellow painter [[Fritz Bultman]] referred to Pollock as Krasner's "creation, her Frankenstein", both men recognizing the immense influence Krasner had on Pollock's career.<ref>Chave, Anna. "Pollock and Krasner: Script and Postscript". The President and Fellows of Harvard College acting through the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 1993. Anthropology and Aesthetics, No. 24, p.95</ref> Jackson Pollock's influence on his wife's artwork is often discussed by art historians. Many people thought that Krasner began to reproduce and reinterpret her husband's chaotic paint splatters in her own work.<ref>Wagner, Anne M. "Lee Krasner as L.K.", Representations, No. 25 (Winter, 1989): 42–57. PRINT. p.44</ref> There are several accounts where Krasner intended to use her own intuition as a way to move towards Pollock's ''I am nature'' technique in order to reproduce nature in her art.<ref>Anne M Wagner. Three Artists (Three Women): Modernism and the Art of Hesse, Krasner, and O'Keeffe. (Berkeley: University of California, 1996.) p. 107</ref>
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