Jackson Pollock

On 11th August, 1956, this painter met with a fatal accident when he was driving while intoxicated. The accident occurred close to his house and it claimed one more life other than Pollock’s. The resting place of this artist is in the ‘Green River Cemetery’.

After his death, his wife took responsibility of their estate and took charge of preserving Pollock’s works. She even formed the ‘Pollock-Krasner Foundation which patronised young artists by providing grants.

He was born to LeRoy Pollock and Stella May McClure on 28th January, 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. He the youngest child and had four elder brothers. His family shifted from Wyoming and lived in Arizona and California.

His father was employed as a surveyor Jackson accompanied his father on the surveying trips when he was a child. That was how he got acquainted with American culture.

When the family resided in Los Angeles, California, he attended the ‘Manual Arts High School’. He was ousted from this school and in 1928, too he had faced expulsion.

In 1930, he travelled to New York where his brother Charles stayed and both of them joined the ‘Art Students League’ and got trained by American painter Thomas Hart Benton. Pollock was not much influenced by the themes which Benton worked with, but his teacher’s metrical style of painting and boundlessness had an impact on him.

In 1936, he encountered liquid painting by Mexican mural painter David Alfaro Siqueiros, in an art workshop in New York.

During the period 1938-42, he was employed at the ‘WPA Federal Art Project’, the visual arts arm of the ‘Federal Project Number One’ - a ‘New Deal’ program in the US, that functioned during the Great Depression-era.

He was into alcohol and to fight his addiction he took ‘Jugian psychotherapy’ remedies during the period 1938-41, and he was helped by Dr. Joseph Henderson and then he was treated by Dr. Violet Staub de Laszlo.

In 1945, he married and moved into his new house which is now called as the ‘Pollock-Krasen House and Studio’ located in Long Island, New York. There he built a studio in which he engaged in painting and perfecting his art.

He applied the liquid painting technique which he had come across years ago. The talented artist developed innovative forms of painting which later came to be known as drip painting technique. He did not use traditional paint brushes to create images, rather employed sticks, hardened brushes and even syringes as painting tools.

Pollock did not mount his canvas on the wall but placed it on the floor which helped him to apply paint from all directions and also provided a multi-directional view of the images he painted.

The period during 1947-50, was the most significant years of his career when he created paintings like ‘One: Number 31’. This painting was placed 8th among the most influential modern art paintings. This period often referred to as the ‘Drip period’ has popularised Jackson Pollock and his drip painting technique.

His painting ‘Blue Pores’ of 1952 is also considered to be a masterpiece of this artist.