Pollock:Abstract Expressionism Unleashed

Descripción

“At the beginning, the canvas is white, void; then the cautious start, then the
running of the paint from the pot onto the white of the surface…”
Hans Namuth.
Born in 1912, in a small town in Wyoming, Jackson Pollock embodied the American
dream as the country found itself confronted with the realities of a modern era which was
beginning to replace the fading nineteenth century. Like a storybook plot, Pollock left
home in search of fame and fortune in New York City. Thanks to the Federal Art Project,
he quickly won acclaim, and after the Second World War became the biggest art celebrity
in America. For de Kooning, Pollock was the “icebreaker”.
For Max Ernst and André Masson, Pollock was a fellow member of the European surrealist
movement. For Motherwell, Pollock was a legitimate candidate for the status of the Master
of the American School. During the many upheavals in his life in New York in the 1950s and
1960s, Pollock lost his bearing – success had simply come too fast and too easily. It was
during this period that he turned to alcohol and destroyed his marriage to Lee Krasner.
Eventually, he achieved truly legendary status, ending his life like that other great star
of the period, James Dean, killing himself after a night of drinking, behind the wheel of
his Oldsmobile.