A quintessentially American painter, Jackson Pollock was one of the most influential drivers in the Abstract Expressionist movement and is best known for his distinctive technique of working with spontaneously-flung "drips" of liquid paint. Born in Cody, Wyoming, and raised in California, Pollock began his study of painting at the Art Students League in New York in 1929 under the Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton, whose canvases depicted scenes of the American west through a filter of European Expressionist technique. After graduation Pollock--who was greatly influenced by Benton's swirli … (read more)

A quintessentially American painter, Jackson Pollock was one of the most influential drivers in the Abstract Expressionist movement and is best known for his distinctive technique of working with spontaneously-flung "drips" of liquid paint. Born in Cody, Wyoming, and raised in California, Pollock began his study of painting at the Art Students League in New York in 1929 under the Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton, whose canvases depicted scenes of the American west through a filter of European Expressionist technique. After graduation Pollock--who was greatly influenced by Benton's swirling brushstrokes--worked as a mural and easel painter for the Works Progress Administration through the 1930s, a period in which he also came to admire the Surrealists and the Mexican muralist painters José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera. Under the influence of Siqueiros, Pollock began to experiment with an especially fluid kind of liquid paint--a medium that would be crucial to his most important work.

In the 1940s Pollock's painting became increasingly abstract, and in 1947, after moving to a studio in the Springs area of Long Island, he developed his signature “drip” method, which involved using brushes or often sticks to pour, drip, and splash liquid paints onto canvases affixed to the floor or the wall, letting cigarette butts and other detritus fall onto the surface. "On the floor I am more at ease," Pollock explained. "I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk around in it, work from the four sides and be literally 'in' the painting.” Pollock's abstract works, particularly his "drip" paintings, cemented his reputation as being the most critically-championed proponent of Abstract Expressionism along with the Dutch-born painter Willem de Kooning. But while the two painters remained friends, the movement soon split down ideological lines, with critic Clement Greenberg proclaiming Pollock the greatest artist of his generation for his "all-over" canvases, and critic Harold Rosenberg promoting de Kooning as the best "action" painter. Then, quite as abruptly as he had adopted the “drip” method, Pollock deserted it in the early 50s at the height of his fame as an artist.

A surly, untalkative man given to bouts of violence--he famously once ripped the bathroom door off its hinges at the Cedar Tavern, where artists gathered in New York at the time--Pollock was a lifelong alcoholic whose drinking grew ever more troubling to his friends and his wife, the painter Lee Krasner. But the public loved his rebellious image, and while he enjoyed fame and recognition for his talent he was also celebrated--and emulated--for his ungoverned behavior, feeding fire to the tragic ideal of the artist. This dark side of Pollock's reputation was sealed in his death, when he drunkenly killed himself and his friend Edith Metzger when he drove their car at high speed into a tree in Long Island in 1956.

Pollock’s work was honored by MoMA and the Tate London in retrospective exhibitions in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, Ed Harris directed and starred in an Academy Award-winning film, "Pollock," surrounding the artist's life and work.

Watch a clip of Hans Namuth's legendary 1950 film of Jackson Pollock painting:

Watch part of a documentary about Pollock's life [via OvationTV]:

(read less)