Jackson Pollock
Biography
Born in Cody, Wyoming in 1912, Jackson Pollock (born Paul Jackson Pollock) would become a leading pioneer of the Abstract Expressionism movement. His development and implementation of the “Drip” technique, a style in which he used his brushes to literally drip and splatter paint onto a canvas from above, would provide Pollock with an intensely personal method of artistic expression. Believing that authentic expression should be the goal of art, his work would eventually garner attention and accolades, including a rare embrace from the European art world, and helped to legitimize both the Abstract Expressionism movement as well as American artists in general.
Pollock’s family left Wyoming before he was eleven years old, and for the next sixteen years of his life they would reside in various areas of California and Arizona. His formal art education began in 1928 at the Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, California. In 1930, Pollock left California for New York City. His brother, Charles, had left home in 1922 to pursue an art education himself, and Jackson would follow in kind, studying at the Art Students League under the same teacher as his brother, Thomas Hart Benton. He attended the League until 1933, and in 1935 he would find steady employment creating easel paintings with the WPA Federal Art Project. In the late 1930’s, Pollock was struggling with alcoholism and depression, attending regular Psychotherapy sessions. During this time his paintings became increasingly abstract and surrealistic, drawing influence from his own exploration of the subconscious mind as well as from artists such as Pablo Picasso and Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco.
In 1943 he held his first solo exhibition at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery, and near the end of that year and the beginning of 1944 he created his first wall sized painting, titled Mural. He married in 1945 to fellow painter Lee Krasner, and they moved to East Hampton on Long Island, New York. Throughout this decade he would innovate his techniques in an attempt to fully translate his personality into his paintings. The culmination of this occurred in 1947 when he first used the Drip technique. This development is often cited as the greatest achievement in Abstract Expressionism and is the style for which Pollock would go on to be most recognized. If not at first universally embraced, this technique would push Pollock and Abstract Expressionism as a whole to the forefront of mainstream art discussion including covers and stories with widely distributed periodicals such as Time and Life magazines. For the next few years, Pollock continued to paint and exhibit, exploring the potential of Abstract Expressionism and his Drip technique. During the last couple of years of his life, his production began to slow down due to personal issues and deteriorating health. He died in an automobile accident in August of 1956.
Born: 1912
Died: 1956
Exhibitions
Select Exhibitions
2022
Pollock – Orozco, MARK BORGHI, BRIDGEHAMPTON BRIDGEHAMPTON | NEW YORK | USA
2021
Jackson Pollock: The Experimental Works on Paper, BARBARA MATHES GALLERY UPPER EAST SIDE | NEW YORK | USA
Jackson Pollock: The Graphic Works, WASHBURN GALLERY NEW YORK | USA
2017
Jackson Pollock’s “Mural”, NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON D.C. WASHINGTON D.C. | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | USA
Jackson Pollock: The Graphic Work, GUILD HALL MUSEUM EAST HAMPTON | NEW YORK | USA
2015
Jackson Pollock’s Mural: Energy Made Visible, PEGGY GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION VENICE | ITALY
Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots, TATE LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL | UK
2009
Screenprints, Aurel Scheibler, Berlin, Germany
Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning & American Art 1940-1976, Saint Louis Art Museum, The Jewish Museum, New York
2008
Action Painting, Foundation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland
Jackson Pollock: “Intaglios and Screenprints,” Joan T. Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
2007
Pollock Matters, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, MA
2006
No Limits, Just Edges: Jackson Pollock Paintings on Paper, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Black Paintings, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
2005
No Limits, Just Edges: Jackson Pollock Paintings on Paper, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany
Jackson Pollock, Joan T. Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
2003
Jackson Pollock – Blue Poles Number 11, 1952, NGV National Gallery of Victoria International, Melbourne, Australia
The Screenprints: 1941-1951, Joan T. Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
Blue Poles Number 11, 1952, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2002
Das MoMA in Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
2001
Claude Monet und die Moderne, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, Germany
2000
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
1999
Werke aus dem Museum of Modern Art, New York und Europäischen Sammlungen, Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf
The American Century, Art & Culture 1900-2000 Part II, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Tate Gallery, London, England
1998
Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-1979, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
Evolution and Revolution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
1996
Beat Culture and the New America: 1950-1965, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
1995
The New-Found Screen Prints, Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton
New Found Works, Jason McCoy, Inc., New York, NY
Pollock/Siqueiros, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany
1994
The Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and New Acquisitions, The Pierpont Morgan Library New York, NY
1992
Pollock in the Mid-Forties: A Close-Up, Jason McCoy Inc. New York, NY
1990
Black Enamel Paintings, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY
1989
Jackson Pollock: Paintings & Drawings 1934-1952, Anthony D’Offay Gallery London, England
1988
Jackson Pollock: Images Coming Through, Jason McCoy Inc. New York, NY
1982
Musée National d´Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
1980
Drawing Into Painting, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1968
Works on Paper, Wanderausstellung USA und Montreal
1967
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA
1964
Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, NY
1964
documenta III, Kassel, Germany
1964
Bilanz Internationale Malerei seit 1950, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
1963
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
1961
Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Collection of Lee Krasner Pollock, Marlborough Fine Art, London
1961
Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Kunsthaus, Zürich, Germany
1959
documenta II, Kassel, Germany
1958–1959
New American Painting, Wanderausstellung,Rome, Basel, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, London, Paris
1958
Kunsthalle Basel, Wanderausstellung, Hamburg, Rom, Amsterdam, London
1957
IV Bienal, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1956
XXVIII Biennale, Venice, Italy
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Tendences Actuelles, Kunsthalle, Bern, Switzerland
50 Ans d’art aux États-Unis, Wanderausstellung Paris, Zürich, Barcelona, Frankfurt a.M., London, Den Haag, Vienna, Belgrad
1954
9 American Painters Today, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Younger American Painters: A Selection, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1953
12 Peintres et Scuplteurs Américaines Contemporaines, Musée National d’art Moderne, Paris, Wanderausstellung Zürich, Düsseldorf,Stockholm, Helsinki,Oslo1952
15 Americans, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1952
Regards sur la Peinture Américaine, Galerie de France, Paris, France
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY and 1954, 1955, 1957
Bennington College, Vermont, Lawrence Art Museum, Williams College, Williamstown, MA
Studio Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
1951
American Vanguard Art for Paris Exhibition, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY
Surrealisme & Abstractie, keuze uit de Versameling Peggy Guggenheim, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Palais de Beaux Arts, Brusselsl, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland
Amerikanische Malerei und Graphik, 18.-20. Jahrhundert, Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin
1950
Amerika Schildert, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Young Painters in U.S. & France, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY
XXV Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Museo Correr, Venice, Italy
1948
Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, and 1949, 1950, 1951
XXIV Biennale di Venezia, La Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, Venice, Italy
1947
Large Scale Modern Painters, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1946
Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954
1945
Arts Club of Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
1944
Abstract and Surrealist Art in the United States, Cincinnati Art Museum, Wanderausstellung
Twelve Contemporary Painters, Wanderausstellung organisiert vom MoMA
1943
Spring Salon for Young Artist, Art of this Century, New York, NY
Art of this Century, New York, and 1945, 1946, 1947