Jackson Pollock

American painter (1912-1956)

Jackson Pollock was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He developed a unique “drip technique” of pouring and splashing paint onto a horizontal canvas, which earned him widespread recognition and divided critical opinion. Pollock’s volatile personality and struggles with alcoholism added to his legacy as a complex and influential artist.

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About the Jackson Pollock

Paul Jackson Pollockwas an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his “drip technique” of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface, enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles. It was called all-over painting and action painting, since he covered the entire canvas and used the force of his whole body to paint, often in a frenetic dancing style. This extreme form of abstraction divided critics: some praised the immediacy of the creation, while others derided the random effects.

A reclusive and volatile personality, Pollock struggled with alcoholism for most of his life. In 1945, he married the artist Lee Krasner, who became an important influence on his career and on his legacy. Pollock died at age 44 in an alcohol-related single-car collision when he was driving. In December 1956, four months after his death, Pollock was given a memorial retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Artin New York City. A larger, more comprehensive exhibition of his work was held there in 1967. In 1998 and 1999, his work was honored with large-scale retrospective exhibitions at MoMA and the Tate Gallery in London.

Frequently Asked Questions

Jackson Pollock was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely known for his ‘drip technique’ of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface.

Jackson Pollock’s unique painting style, known as the ‘drip technique’ or ‘all-over painting’, involved pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface, allowing him to view and paint his canvases from all angles.

Jackson Pollock’s extreme form of abstraction divided critics, with some praising the immediacy of the creation, while others derided the random effects of his ‘drip technique’.

Jackson Pollock was a reclusive and volatile personality who struggled with alcoholism for most of his life. In 1945, he married the artist Lee Krasner, who became an important influence on his career and legacy.

After his death at the age of 44 in an alcohol-related car accident, Jackson Pollock was given a memorial retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City in 1956. His work was also honored with large-scale retrospective exhibitions at MoMA and the Tate Gallery in London in 1998 and 1999.

24 Quotes by Jackson Pollock

  1. 1.

    He drove his kind of realism at me so hard I bounced right into nonobjective painting.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  2. 2.

    It is only when I lose 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.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  3. 3.

    The strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings in modern art.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  4. 4.

    My paintings do not have a center, but depend on the same amount of interest throughout.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  5. 5.

    I don’t work from drawings. I don’t make sketches and drawings and color sketches into a final painting.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  6. 6.

    Every good painter paints what he is.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  7. 7.

    I hardly ever stretch the canvas before painting.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  8. 8.

    On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  9. 9.

    The modern artist… is working and expressing an inner world – in other words – expressing the energy, the motion, and other inner forces.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  10. 10.

    The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  11. 11.

    I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  12. 12.

    Today painters do not have to go to a subject matter outside of themselves. Most modern painters work from a different source. They work from within.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  13. 13.

    It doesn’t make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  14. 14.

    My painting does not come from the easel.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  15. 15.

    Bums are the well-to-do of this day. They didn’t have as far to fall.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  16. 16.

    I’m very representational some of the time, and a little all of the time. But when you’re painting out of your unconscious, figures are bound to emerge.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  17. 17.

    The modern artist is working with space and time, and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  18. 18.

    When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  19. 19.

    New needs need new techniques. And the modern artists have found new ways and new means of making their statements… the modern painter cannot express this age, the airplane, the atom bomb, the radio, in the old forms of the Renaissance or of any other past culture.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  20. 20.

    When I say artist I mean the man who is building things – creating molding the earth – whether it be the plains of the west – or the iron ore of Penn. It’s all a big game of construction – some with a brush – some with a shovel – some choose a pen.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  21. 21.

    Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn’t have any beginning or any end. He didn’t mean it as a compliment, but it was.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  22. 22.

    When I’m painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. It’s only after a get acquainted period that I see what I’ve been about. I’ve no fears about making changes for the painting has a life of its own.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  23. 23.

    Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)

  24. 24.

    I continue to get further away from the usual painter’s tools such as easel, palette, brushes, etc.

    Jackson Pollock

    American painter (1912-1956)