Jackson Pollock

The dominant figure that steered the course of the Abstract Expressionist movement was the infamous painter Jackson Pollock. He was born Paul Jackson Pollock in Cody, Wyoming on January 28, 1912. He was the fifth and youngest son and grew up in Arizona and California after his family left him when he was a little over one year old. Pollock's artistic journey began at the Manual Arts School in Los Angeles, California where he joined two of his brothers. From there, he went on to New York to attend the Art Students' League after being convinced by one of his brothers whom also attended the school.

Before moving into his own innovative style, Pollock would have to learn the formal rules of art, as every accomplished artist does. Without knowing the formal rules of art, one could claim that the artist is unaware of what art really is. Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton, from the Art Students' League in New York, was Jackson Pollock's first major influence in his early years as a painter. But he was an influence in a peculiar way, however. Benton was actually known for his mural and landscape paintings that show scenes from everyday life in the Midwest. He did not create these paintings in a realist manner, however. He included some distortion and his own stylistic attributes when creating human figures and colorful swirling environments. For Pollock, Benton's landscapes stood too still. Pollock explained the result of their relationship best when he said, "My work with Benton was important as something against which to react very strongly, later on; in this, it was better to have worked with him than with a less resistant personality who would have provided a much less strong opposition." Benton's strong emphasis on the formal rules of art actually inspired Pollock to move into the extreme opposite direction later on in his life. He studied with Benton for a total of three years.

As an alternative to American Realism, Pollock began to look at the works of the European Surrealists. Through European Surrealism, he discovered the idea of automatic drawing and biomorphic forms. These Surrealist painters gave gesture painters like Pollock the "permission" to loosen their drawings and not abide by the stricter and more formal rules of earlier movements such as Cubism and Realism. Cubism also left Pollock with no room to express his larger than life creativity and inner feelings. Along with the Surrealists, the Regionalist Mexican painters also influenced him with their extravagant stylistic compositions and extreme contrast of light and dark. In Pollock's late twenties and thirties he was also strongly affected by the Museum of Modern Art and the works shown there. Picasso can be seen as Pollock's most stylistically influential figure. Three Picasso paintings in particular stuck with him through the years: "Girl Before a Mirror", "Guernica", and "Le Desmoilles d'Avignon". "Le Desmoilles d'Avignon" inspired Pollock's painting entitled "Gothic". He also found inspiration from the abstract Spanish painter Joan Miro. Both artists included uses of linear, arrow like forms piercing circles. These influential elements can be seen in Pollock's "Moon Woman," and "Water Figure". Miro's works include a triangle shaped head, as does Pollock's.

These influences listed above provided the basis for what Jackson Pollock did through gaining experience after his graduation from the Art Students League and his employment by the WPA and his work with the Federal Art Project in 1942. Early in his career, Pollock began to maintain a drawing style, which can be described as quick and spontaneous. At the Spanish muralist Siqueiro's workshop in 1936, Pollock actually began painting with spray guns and airbrushes. Siquero also introduced Pollock to his later achieved drip and pour technique, which made him so famous. His "out of the box" ideas led him to being accepted into the Surrealist Circle, which centered around Peggy Guggenheim's "Art of this Century" gallery, where Pollock then began to exhibit his works.

His reoccurring problem with alcoholism continuously interrupted his artistic career, however. In 1939, Jackson Pollock entered psychotherapy for his alcoholism. For him, the doctors saw that producing artwork could serve as a means of therapy for his problem with alcohol. His alcoholism would later come back to haunt him and his works in later years and become the cause of his ultimate demise.

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.

His personal technique in gesture and action painting was applied as directly as possible. Pollock said that through this active process, he could "literally be in the painting". This describes the term coined "action painting". He also said, "When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of Ð''get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well." This is what it meant when it is stated that his creations reflect his inner ideas and compulsions. This truly is the definition of real art. Painting these abstract interlacing webs turned into a sort of private ritual for Pollock. He said that these drip paintings presented him with "meaningful surprises". One of his greatest and most well-known drip paintings is titled "Autumn Rhythm". This work was done through the years of 1948 to 1950, one of the few periods that Pollock succeeded in not drinking. When Pollock wasn't plagued by his problem with alcoholism, he created his greatest drip paintings. As stated above, this artwork served a therapeutic purpose. He included all of his inner feelings of anger and fear, which were possibly the product of the little