Pollock

Pollock

<strong>Abstract action: The splattered oeuvre of a cultural icon</strong><br /><br />The rebel hero of Abstract Expressionism, <strong>Jackson Pollock</strong> (1912–1956) careened through his life like a firework across the American art landscape. Channeling ideas from sources as diverse as Picasso and Mexican surrealism, he rejected convention to <strong>develop his own way of seeing, interpreting, and expressing</strong>.<br /><br />Pollock’s most famous works are his <strong>drip paintings</strong>, where he dripped and poured household enamel paint over the canvas with a variety of instruments, from <strong>sticks to syringes, hardened brushes to broken bits of glass</strong>. The splattered results pulsate with energy, replacing the refinement of easel and brush with something altogether more <strong>immediate, vivid, and physical</strong>. To evade the viewer’s search for figurative elements in his paintings, Pollock abandoned titles and <strong>identified each work with a neutral number only</strong>.<br /><br />Notoriously reclusive and volatile, struggling with alcoholism, married to fellow Abstract Expressionist Lee Krasner, and killed in a car crash aged just 44, Pollock is as much <strong>a compelling celebrity icon as an artistic pioneer</strong>. This essential artist introduction explores both his work and his fame to understand <strong>masterpieces of the modernist story</strong>, and the making of a cultural icon.<br /><br /><strong>About the series:</strong><br />Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features:<ul> <li> a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance <li> a concise biography <li> approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions</ul>