Jackson Pollock

• Influential American painter, major force of AE
• Born in Cody, Wyoming 1912
• Studied at Los Angeles Manual Arts High School
• 1930, moved to NYC, studies under Thomas Hart Benton at Arts Students League
• Benton's influenced in his curvilinear undulating rhythms and use of rural American subject matter
• October 1945, married American painter Lee Krasner, moved to Pollock - Krasner House and Studio
• Perfected technique of working spontaneously with liquid paint
• Used paint pouring technique on canvases in early 1940's
• Began painting with canvas on floor, developed 'drip' technique
• Used hardened brushes, sticks, basting syringes
• One of the origin terms of action painting
• Moved away from repetition and using only hands and wrists as he used his whole body
• Most famous paintings during 'drip' period
• At peak of his fame, after 1951, he used darker colours, often black, introduced figurative element, moved to more commercial
• Died in car crash in 1958 due to alcohol driving. Age 44

Jackson Pollock