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| Category: |  Modern Art |
| Name: |  Jackson Pollock
The Road to Expressionism |
| Birth Year: | 1912 |
| Death Year: | 1956
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| Representative Image: |  |
| Biography, Lectures, and Research Links: |
Malaspina Great Books -
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
Biography
Blog Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) was an American analog to Picasso in terms of 20th century fame. Abstract expressionism does not begin to describe how he splashed paint everywhere to great effect. Pollock's career was cut short, when he died in a car crash in 1956. [The material above is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and uses material adapted in whole or in part from the Wikipedia article on Jackson Pollock.]
Pollock began to study painting in 1929 at the Art Students' League, New York, under the Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton. During the 1930s he worked in the manner of the Regionalists, being influenced also by the Mexican muralist painters (Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros) and by certain aspects of Surrealism. From 1938 to 1942 he worked for the Federal Art Project. By the mid 1940s he was painting in a completely abstract manner, and the 'drip and splash' style for which he is best known emerged with some abruptness in 1947. Instead of using the traditional easel he affixed his canvas to the floor or the wall and poured and dripped his paint from a can; instead of using brushes he manipulated it with 'sticks, trowels or knives' (to use his own words), sometimes obtaining a heavy impasto by an admixture of 'sand, broken glass or other foreign matter'. This manner of Action painting had in common with Surrealist theories of automatism that it was supposed by artists and critics alike to result in a direct expression or revelation of the unconscious moods of the artist. Pollock's name is also associated with the introduction of the All-over style of painting which avoids any points of emphasis or identifiable parts within the whole canvas and therefore abandons the traditional idea of composition in terms of relations among parts. The design of his painting had no relation to the shape or size of the canvas -- indeed in the finished work the canvas was sometimes docked or trimmed to suit the image. All these characteristics were important for the new American painting which matured in the late 1940s and early 1950s. [Adapted from WebMuseum]
The Great Books: Jackson Pollock
Please browse our Amazon list of titles about Jackson Pollock. For rare and hard to find works we recommend our Alibris list of titles about Jackson Pollock. Post Comments, Questions or Suggestions! This database is maintained by Malaspina Great Books.
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| Biographical & Documentary Video Research
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Best Choice Books, Music, Art: | Jackson Pollock (Modern Masters Series)
Jackson Pollock
Memories Arrested in Space
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| Browse Books, Music, Art & Book Reviews: | Books from Alibris: Jackson Pollock
Books from Amazon: Jackson Pollock
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| Audiobooks at iTunes: Thousands of Classics |
| Art Posters: Jackson Pollock
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| Library Catalogs: | COPAC UK: Jackson Pollock
Library of Canada: Jackson Pollock
Library of Congress: Jackson Pollock
Other Library Catalogs: Jackson Pollock
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| External Links: | Representative Image: Lavender Mist (1954)
Research Links: Jackson Pollock
Malaspina Canada Links: Jackson Pollock
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| Online Research: |
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| Records from Related Period and Category: | Modern Art
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About
this Database:
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This web page is part of a biographical database on Great Ideas. These are living ideas that have shaped, defined and directed world culture for over 2,500 years. By definition the Great Ideas are radical. As such they are sometimes misread, or distorted by popular simplifications. Understanding a Great Idea demands personal engagement. Our selection of Great Ideas is drawn from literature and philosophy, science, art, music, theatre, and cinema. We also include biographies of pivotal historical and religious figures, as well as contributions from women and other historically under-represented minorities. The result is an integrated multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary database built upon the framework of the always controversial Great Books Core List published in 1940 by the late Great Books Pioneer Mortimer Adler (1902-2001). Most of the works on that list are available in the 60 volume Great Books of the Western World.
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