Selections from the Permanent Collection
Jackson Pollock (1912–1956): Enchanted Forest

 

“When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. It’s only after a sort of ‘get acquainted’ period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.”

— Jackson Pollock

About the artist

Jackson Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1912. His family moved to Arizona and later to Los Angeles. While still in high school Pollock began to study painting. At the age of 18, Pollock came to New York to study at the Art Students League with Thomas Hart Benton, who would influence and encourage him throughout the next decade. [more]

About this work

During the winter of 1946-47, Pollock instituted a new way of creating paintings. Moving around the unprimed canvas, which was laid flat on the wooden floor of his Long Island studio, Pollock poured, splattered, and dripped paint and enamel using his entire body in the process. This approach reinvented the methods and tools of traditional easel painting and came to be known as Action Painting, a style that demanded the total physical involvement of the artist. [more]

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Art Explorations
	To emulate Pollock’s method of painting you will need the following supplies: - plastic sheeting to protect against spills; - unprimed canvas or cotton duck approximately 3 x 2 feet; - tempera or latex house paint in a few different colors, thinned with water to a consistency that will pour and flow; - wooden sticks, old stiff household brushes. Pollock’s painting studio was located in a barn where he could boldly fling paint around. If you don’t have an empty barn or painting studio, experiment with Pollock’s technique outside. Cover a wide area of asphalt or pavement with a plastic tarpaulin to protect it from splatters. On top, lay a smaller piece of unprimed canvas or cotton duck purchased from an art supply or fabric store. Either tempera or latex house paints can be used. Limit your palette to no more than four colors (Pollock limited his palette to a few colors too). In plastic containers, mix the paint with water until it reaches a thick but flowing consistency. Using the wooden sticks and dried brushes as applicators, experiment with various ways of dripping, spattering, and pouring paint onto the surface. Try repeating a gesture several times as you move around the canvas trying to recreate Pollock’s all-over approach. Repeat with various colors layering the lines and inventing new gestures, movements, and rhythms as you go. When your painting is complete discuss the process. How did making a painting in this way change your ideas about Pollock’s work?
	Although Pollock received great acclaim as an innovative and inventive artist, he also was severely criticized. Many were skeptical of his unconventional working methods and labeled him “Jack the Dripper.” Battle lines were drawn between Pollock’s “highbrow” supporters and his “lowbrow” detractors, who couldn’t understand why drips and spatters should be deemed art. In your classroom stage a debate, waging the most convincing arguments to support or assail Pollock’s art.

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