Biography
Jackson Pollock is an American artist, a representative of the abstract movement of expressionists of the XX century, known for the unique style of drip painting. Being a famous master of his generation, the painter left the rich heritage stored in private collections and presented in the expositions of the leading museums of contemporary art.Childhood and youth
Paul Jackson Pollock was born on January 29, 1912 in the American city of Cody, Wyoming, in the large-scale Presbyterian family of Stalla Mei and Leroy Pollock. The father of the future artist was a farmer and Amermer, and the mother, continuing the family traditions, was engaged in weaving.
In the infancy of Jackson with the brothers, first in Arizona, and then to California. In the young years, Pollock was interested in the culture of indigenous Americans, traveling with his father in the country.
In 1928, after an unsuccessful attempt to make a worker's career, the young man entered the Los Angeles School of Applied Arts, where he met abstraction and occult. In an educational institution, Jackson stayed long, he was excluded for alcohol abuse and unsatisfactory behavior.
In 1930, after the elder brother Charles Polelock moved to New York under the beginning of Thomas Hart Benton, who worked in the league of art students. Rural Themes of the works of the teacher did not care about Jackson, but the method of transferring the color and the independent nature of the paintings imposed a mark on the work of the future painter.
Paintings
Inspired by the work of the Mexican Muralista Muralista David Alfaro Sikeros, Pollock began working in the experimental workshop in New York, where she mastered the technique of using liquid paint, which has become a business card of the wizard. From 1938 to 1942, Jackson participated in the federal artistic draft department of public works of the United States, in parallel, passing the course of treatment from alcoholism.
During the rehabilitation, the psychiatrist Joseph Henderson, follower of the analytical approach of Karl Jung, encouraged the creative zeal of the artist, made the process of drawing part of therapy. The impact of this method affected the works of the artist of the time, such as the "Moonwoman" and "Wolf" written in 1942 and 1943.
The most famous paintings by the master created in the "drip period" between 1947 and 1950. At this time, the artist was influenced by the works of Thomas Hart Benton, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro. He began using alkyd enamels, paints based on synthetic resins instead of traditional artistic blends. Jackson applied handled brushes, wands and syringes for watering.
Imitating the process of creating Indian sand paintings, Pollock has no canvas on the floor to be able to move freely around. The technique of creating abstractions did not assume random forms and colors, the artist clearly knew how this or that spot was to appear. Throwing, dripping, pouring and spraying, Jackson moved vigorously on the canvas, almost like in dance, and did not stop until he saw what he wanted to see. Such a manner was named "Painting actions" with a light hand of art historian Harold Rosenberg.
In 1950, the young reporter Hans Machda made a photo of the Pollock in the process of work. The sensational series of pictures was printed in the "Art News" magazine. Wanting the viewer to perceive the works as a clean painting, Jackson refused the names and began the numbering of his work with the help of neutral numbers, not pushing the viewer to the search for the artistic intention of the author.
The web "No. 5.1948", first introduced at the Parsons Parsons personal exhibition first, was written with liquid paints of gray, brown, white and yellow colors and was perceived as a bird's nest. In 2006, it was sold for a record amount of $ 140 million and became one of the most expensive paintings of the American expressionist.
In 2015, the record of the cost of the work was broken by the work "number 17a" sold by the investor and Philanthropus Kenneth K. Griffin for $ 200 million.
At the peak of his glory, Pollock abruptly abandoned the drip method, causing himself in his insolvency. He invented the new drawing technique, which combined abstraction and surrealism. Pictures written in unpainted canvas, produced a rather gloomy impression. The admirers and collectors did not appreciate the change of the artist's style, no work was sold from the Black Collection.
In 1952, Pollock returned to the use of color. He settled in the commercial gallery of Sydney Janis, where he created the works of "Easter and Totem" and "Sea of Ocean", who revived the demand of connoisseurs of abstract art. One of the most famous works of Pollock became the picture "Blue Poles", originally called "number 11".
In 1973, this was a cloth of 212.1 cm for 488.9 cm acquired the National Gallery of Australia. The purchase aroused public outrage as unreasonably expensive (1.3 million Australian dollars), but over time became the most popular exhibit of the exhibition space.
At the end of his life, the artist experimented with wire structures, gauze and gypsum with textured surfaces and abandoned drawing. In the year of the death of Pollock did not write a single picture. The latest picturesque works of Jackson became the "smell" and "search" canvas, created in 1955.
Personal life
In 1942, on one of the exhibitions, the paintings of the Pollock became interested in the artist-abstract whether Krasner. She visited the painter workshop, wishing to get acquainted with the works and their creator.
After 3 years, in October 1945, Jackson and Lee married and settled in Springs, on the outskirts of East Hampton. They bought a wooden house with a barn, where Pollock organized a workshop. Krasner worked in the bedroom on the 2nd floor of the structure. In the first years of marriage, the newlyweds spent a lot of time together, in their free time they were engaged in gardening and cooking, often suited parties for colleagues and friends. There were no children from the pair.
In the face of his wife, the artist gained a faithful and loving companion of life, who threw his own career and toleting rips and the aggression of her husband. Considering Jackson in a brilliant master, whether she tried to arrange his career, she worked about exhibitions, met with collectors. It was she who became acquainted with Pollock with Peggy Guggenheim, the creator of the famous Museum of Contemporary Art, which became the organizer of the first personal exhibition of the American expressionist.
Krasner kept her husband on the verge of alcohol disappearance, which arose during the periods of depression, fed it, watched the appearance and dismissed his personal life in every possible way. All efforts were in vain. Another woman appeared at the midfalon - Ruth Klingman, and Krasner left her husband.
After the divorce in 1956, the pliers of the Pollock became more frequent. The loss of his wife caused attacks of aggression, which the artist splashed on his mistress. After 3 weeks of the Society, Jackson kicked the root from his own house in Springs and was left alone.
Death
The artist was seriously worried about the gap with Krasner and the loss of Klingman. He closed in himself, became sullen and gloomy. On August 11, 1956, wanting to establish relationships, Ruth came to the artist on Week-End with his friend Edith and invited him to a party.
Being drunk, Pollock sat behind the wheel of his cabriolet and did not cope with the control. OldSmobil flew off the road and overturned. Only Klingman survived in the accident, which threw out of the car. The cause of the death of Jackson was a blow to the growing tree nearby.
The impressionist was buried in Springs, in the graveyard Green River, in the grave marked with a large boulder with a memorable plate.
Lee Krasner took care of the management of the artist's property, supported his reputation.
In 2000, the artistic film "Pollock" was released on the cinema screens, dedicated to the biography of the expressionist. The main roles in the picture were performed by Ed Harris and Marsha Gay Hardden.
Interesting the fact that another film project about the life of the artist, based on oral memories of friends, was intended in Hollywood. Images of Pollock and Krasner should have embodied Robert de Niro, whose parents were friends with Jackson, and Barbara Streisand.
Paintings
- 1942 - "Male and Women's"
- 1943 - "Moonwoman" ("Woman's Moon Cutting Circle")
- 1943 - "Wolf"
- 1947 - "Enchanted Forest"
- 1948 - "№ 5, 1948"
- 1948 - "Number 8"
- 1950 - "Autumn Rhythm"
- 1953 - "Easter and Totem"
- 1953 - "Sea of Ocean"
- 1953 - "Depth"