Jackson Pollock was inspired by artist like Pablo Picasso, David Alfaro who worked with him in an experimental New York shop. Also Arshile Gorky of school of design in Boston, Cezanne and Diego Rivera. He became a household name in the art world when he landed his first solo show held at the Peggy Guggenheim’s art gallery in New York. Later Jackson Pollock had a permanent contract for his work at this gallery which made him devote all his time to painting. Other exhibitions of Jackson Pollock were at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Venice Biennale. Finally he became well established as an abstract action painter known for his drip and splash action paintings. Jackson Pollock blazed the trail of the Abstract Expressionists painters; a group of rebel painters of the 1950’s, artists like William De kooning, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothko. The term Abstract Expressionism meant “Action Painting” American type. Jackson Pollock however continue to use his unique materials like sticks, trowels, sand, broken glass and other foreign matter. He avoided the traditional way of painting and the brush and easel. Jackson Pollock also was very much influence by the Native Indian sand painters of the west of America”.
“When am painting, I am not aware of what I am doing, it is only after a sort of get acquainted period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image etc, because the painting has a life of it’s own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose a 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”.
1: Jackson Pollock’s Paintings:
“Number 14”.
Jackson Pollock’s Painting “Number 14” was produced in 1951. It is at the Tate Morden London level three with the Abstract movement paintings. Jackson Pollock’s “Number 14” is enamel on canvas the painting has a pale yellow background with lots of black enamel paint mixed into the painting to created the scene that Pollock saw as he was panting. The size of the painting is 1493 BY 2721by 63 millimetres studying the painting Jackson Pollock seem to have created some sort of a landscape, jungle, surrealism painting. He used black enamel paint to illustrate the movement and figures of the “number 14” painting I saw a lot of movements and figures like a man running in a forest with his hands up and a huge tree blowing back and forth. He uses the thickness of the black enamel paint to demonstrate the movement of the forest, the stick people trees, mountains in the back ground of the painting, sharp pointing trees and birds flying back and forth also dark skies with drips of black rain in the landscape, flat black around plants in the bottom of the painting with wild animals running crazy in the painting. “Number 14” painting looks and feels like very surreal nightmarish. It explains why Jackson Pollock was in Treatment for alcohol and nervous breakdown in 1938. His paintings and drawings were psychoanalysts in therapy sessions. I think Jackson Pollock had a lot of “Demons” inside of him which he dealt with through making his paintings and sharing this with the public.
2: Summertime 9A 1948:
The second painting I want to talk about is Jackson Pollock “Summertime 9A 1948”. The size of the painting is (84.8 by 55.5 centimetres). The painting is oil on canvas. Here the painting is full of melody and happiness. Sunshine yellow, figures in black dancing, figures in sea blue dancing across the painting. Lots of paint drips in black and browns, and red. There are lots of movement in painting with a very pale cream background, the painting of “Summertime” feels like melody, a dance of happiness in ones life, almost like Jackson Pollock is saying thank God summer is here, Jackson Pollock must have been very happy the summer of 1948 while he was painting “Summertime 9A”. I feel the joy he had in producing this painting could probably be due to the fact he had got married to Krasner who over the course of time had sacrificed her carrier to help him had some degree of emotional stability from depression and drinks. He had also meet Peggy Guggenheim who had given him the opportunity to have a solo show at her gallery and contracting him to produce paintings for her gallery and collections. The “summertime 9A reminds me of happiness, joy and sweetness and hope.
3: “HEAD”.
3: The third Jackson Pollock’s painting I would like to discuss is the “Head” made in 1938 also oil on canvas. (40.6 by 40 centimetres). The head has three eyes, two noses, two ears, three horns, eye lashes going left to right and downwards. In the painting Pollock used the colours from deep red, orange lots of black, blue in the painting here and there, also mustard brown and greenish yellow at the bottom corner. The painting is on a black background. Unlike some of drip and slash paintings I feel he had a definite image in his head which he wanted to paint; a monster , a weird creature perhaps. The picture feels very surrealist and frightening to me. I am wondering whether he was not in one of his depressing moods or he had a little too much to drink at the time he was painting “Head”. Despite the nature of this work like all his paintings, It is contemporary piece of art. One of a kind by a genius.
4: Yellow Island.
The fourth painting is called “Yellow Island” made in oil on canvas measuring (1462 by 1945 by 41 centimetres) . I wonder if Pollock was thinking about the beaches near the “Hampton's” where he and his wife were living. Was he thinking of one or two beaches that he had visited that week. Looking at the painting it looks like Pollock saw his island as very distorted and somewhat very crowed. He makes a messy flat landscape with his “Yellow Island” painting figures of heads crashing together and bodies falling apart and tall plants blowing back and forth with heavy big and small rocks moving back and forth. Yet Pollock makes this painting very attractive with his almost yellow gold nuggets he placed on his “Yellow Island” landscape. It completely transforms this painting into a beautiful island. As with a few of his paintings black is the predominant colours of different thickness. Some bold and noticeable others tiny strips, like the oil paint was dripping from a tiny slender stick. The background cheers the heart-sort of magnolia in colour. It looks like he wanted to put everything on this island. Crowding it with trees, leaves may be little crawly insects and mushy soil at certain areas. A favourite place of his it appears. He must have been in a happy mood when painting this. Intricate indeed coming from a master painter living ahead of his time. Very complementary.
5: Easter and the Totem:
The fifth painting is called “Easter and the Totem” made in 1953 measuring (90 by 65 centimes); oil on canvas. This painting is colourful, consisting of colours like orange, black, white, yellow, pink, green, brown and sea blue. The painting is about Easter the fun of Easter hunt eggs, the forest huge trees and life at Easter and the spring weather. It looks like he had the lovely spring colours in mind. Trees shrubs even weeds displaying colours in shapes and depth. He might have been thinking of the colours of people’s garments-cool lovely outfits and plenty of lovely sunshine. This painting reminds me of children hunting for colourful Easter eggs at the park, children running around with their colourful heart shaped ribbons, baskets and ducks in colourful feathers talking to each other on the pond at the park. Pollock brings this excitement of Easter holidays alive in his painting in a very sweet way.
6: “Teacup”.
The sixth painting I would like to talk about is called “Teacup” produced in 1946. It is oil on canvas measuring (80 by 60 sentiments). The painting reminds me of the story book called “Alice in wonderland book”. Jackson Pollock had a great love for the outdoors, Pollock was always almost know for painting out doors on a large canvas and having the need for large endless space and I think he loved animals like dogs, cats, and ducks and rabbits, and birds. The painting looks like people sitting around a table outside in the garden having fun eating a good meal and some wine. But in the painting it looks like he is trying to tell a story of having happy times when his family come down to the Hampton’s in New-York to visit him and his wife and enjoying conversation with his mum “Stella” and his dad and brothers and their wife’s and children and maybe happy times with his artist friends at the table in the garden, Pollock visualize this subject very well in a sweet and childlike manner capturing his happy days in his garden with his family and friends. The colours in this painting is kind of light spring colours consisting of oranges, yellow yellow and green background purple, deep red dark green black out line for the figures in his painting, some white and cream colour and browns, olive green this painting feels like Pollock was painting deep and thick colours onto the painting “Teatime” yet at the same time he sort of scraped some of the colours of the canvas to give his painting a light colourful feel of spring light colours. I wonder if from the movie that was based on Pollock’s life with Ed Harris the Actor who plays in the movie called “Pollock” in a scene where he asks his wife Lee crasher that they should make a baby and she says no to her husband because she quotes” we do not have babies, because we are artist” and Pollock losses his temper and breaks a beer bottle on the ground and says to his wife “why did you marry me, if not to make babies”. I feel from this painting that Pollock painted it was very personal piece of work to Jackson Pollock as he wanted children to make his life complete and probably he was picturing his own children running in the garden with his brothers children and he spending time with his own child in the garden. I feel he was very much disappointed with his wife and her thinking towards not having children with him probably drove him to having an affair with that beautiful young girl who died in his truck in “Spring” in Hampton's New-York” in 1956.
7: “Blue Moby Dick.”
The seventh painting I want to talk about is “( Blue Moby dick)” made in 1943 and the size of the painting is (60cm by 75cm). The seventh painting reminds me of a book which was written by Herman Melville called (Moby Dick) published in 1840 which sold only 3,000 copies at that time it was released to book shops. Later on years after, however it became famous and read by many American children. It is said to be a favourite novel. It is about a captain called Ahab and his crew who battled to kill a whale. This painting looks like the story of the battle that the captain and his crew might have had when the whale was killed in the Moby Dick novel. Pollock captures this story in his painting very well. The deep blue sea with bits of variable shaped whites running across the sea might well represent the waves. The orange, red might have denoted the blood of the wounded great big whale when the body was falling apart. The dark brown, I presume was the skin of the whale. Pollock tackles this subject of the great American Novel “Moby Dick” very well. He truly brings this story to life in the painting Moby Dick. He did live near the sea in springs in the Hampton's in New York and was very familiar with the seaside and read the book perhaps as a child or an adult.
8: “Water Bull”
The eighth painting is called “water Bull” dated 1964. It is oil on canvas measuring (35 by 100 centimetres). The painting is very colourful with lots of black inscribed markings on the canvas almost like Pollock is trying to tell us a story of somewhere he had lived on the farm when his father was in the farming business and perhaps he was painting this picture from memory. In the painting it looks like there are people cutting grass in a field and a lake near by with animals like the “Bull” drinking from the lake, birds flying over the sky and greenish yellow mini mountains, cuts of fresh grass ready for the horses to eat on the farm. The colours in this painting are soft and warm, very soft outdoors relaxing beautiful colours. For example the lovely yellow towards the bottom right side and the extreme right of the painting. There are tiny bits of brown in different shapes resembling insects usually found in areas where cattle are found. I wonder when Jackson Pollock was a young man maybe in his teens whether he used to watch the cowboy’s rodeo near his father’s farm or weather he was once a rodeo cowboy as a teenager fascination for the about “Water Bull”.
A picture of Jackson Pollock and his wife Lee Krasner and his mum Stella at home cooking roast.
I really admire Jackson Pollock’s work as I feel it ties into my style and way of painting. My brush strokes and shapes and colour are very close to his style of painting when am painting in the studio, though my subjects may differ from Jackson Pollock’s painting.
