Jackson Pollock: Energy Made Visible - Research Paper Example

?It has been claimed that Jackson Pollock was an artist of the mid-twentieth century who inspired a revival of interest in Impressionism. To what extent is this true, and how is it reflected in his work? Jackson Pollock was a prominent vanguard artist of the New York School who brought Abstract Expressionism (Rosenberg, 1959) to the forefront of the American art scene and whose radical work revived interest in Impressionism (Naifeh & Smith, 1991). Dying at the age of 44, his work has become even more influential after his death, and many people can define and recognize a ‘Pollock’ for its unique and interesting style (Emmerling, 2003). Having had posthumous exhibitions at galleries such as the Tate Modern in London and MoMA in New York, Pollock can rightly be said to be one of the most influential modern artists, and as such his work will have inspired and influenced many others. Having this much power and influence, any art that his work references will be of interest to many, and as such Pollock can be said to have caused a revival of interest in Impressionism. Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950 The end of World War II created a feeling of alienation and disillusionment in the broader society (Shapiro, 2000). Vanguard artists, believing they are ‘one of the most moral and idealistic of beings’ turned to their art instead for ‘self-discovery, freedom of belief and action, and autonomous, honest creation’ (Sandler, 1978). The canvas became ‘an arena in which to act’ and to express emotions (Rosenberg, 1959). Moreover, ‘The gesture on the canvas was a gesture of liberation from value – political, aesthetic, moral’ (Rosenberg, 1959). Pollock embraced action painting for self-expression and pioneered in the ‘drip’ technique where he would put canvases on the floor and literally pour and drip paint on it (see Number 1, above) eliminating the use of the easel and brushes (Greenberg, 1961). The freedom it brought appealed to other artists as a way for ‘letting the unconscious part of the psyche assert and express itself’ (Orton, 1969). It also broadened the horizon of how to produce art. Pollock is a firm believer that the process in creating art was as important as the finished work and artists should be ‘part of it during creation’ (West, 1996) and that ‘No artist among the Abstract Expressionists is more open about revealing the stages that led up to the surface we see’ (Varnedoe and Karmel, 2002). Pollock’s beliefs shaped his art and his biggest contribution to the revival of Impressionism and subsequent art movements in the 60s (De Zegher, 2005) and even the Feminist Movement (Nochlin, 2006) was ‘Pollock’s radical approach to painting’ for it revolutionized the potential for all contemporary art that followed him’ (Varnedoe and Karmel, 2002). To understand how Pollock is related to Impressionism, both its contribution to his work and vice versa, it is necessary to understand the movement itself. Impressionism is a late 19th century art movement based mainly in Paris (in contrast to Pollock’s 20th century New York). The main defining factor of Impressionist art work is that the paint is applied quickly and in thick strokes (Clancy, 2003) which means that the focus is on the emotions and atmosphere of the subject rather than the technical details of the piece (Herbert, 1991). The original Impressionism focused mainly on ordinary subject matter, and this is recognizable within the painting (Herbert, 1991). Another factor involved in the definition of Impressionism is that the paint colors are applied to the canvas without mixing where possible, relying on biological and psychological processes within the eye to bring them together (Clancy, 2003). Jackson Pollock, Blue Poles Number II, 1952 Bearing these details in mind, it becomes easier to see how Pollock can be seen as an extension of Impressionism and invoking a revival of it; ‘turning from the formal means of Impressionism to its expressive character, and its social and cultural implications, we find much in it (Varnedoe and Karmel, 2002). In Impressionism, paint is applied quickly in order to capture something fleeting rather than the technical details. Pollock, with the employment of his drip technique, manages to do something very similar. Pollock is considered to be one of the pioneers of ‘action painting’ (Miller et al, 2010) and in many ways, the Impressionists were the first to utilize a similar technique. Action painting is defined as ‘painting with pure abandon’ (Nimmer & Amenoff, 2008) and is intended to capture something that to some extent is unobtainable or fleeting. The Impressionists used a similar technique in that they applied paint quickly, although they were more constrained in that art was widely considered at the time to require a recognizable subject (Clancy, 2003). Impressionists also did not use a drip technique like Pollock, and used brushes to complete their artwork, where Pollock was more experimental (Emmerling, 2003). The focus on capturing something changeable is something that Pollock and the original Impressionists also share. Impressionists were the first group of artists to paint outside ‘en plein air’, utilizing this to capture the effects of sunlight. Pollock also wanted to capture something transient, developing the drip technique to ensure that what he painted on canvas was immediate and that the paint could flow directly onto the canvas without having to go via an intermediate (Emmerling, 2003). This sense of immediacy rather than form and detail is something that unites the two. Another major similarity between the style of Pollock and the Impressionists is that both applied colors separately, without mixing; ‘like the Impressionists, Pollock did his best to atomize and distribute single colors so that their sensations would not combine to constitute a shape of color’ (Varnedoe and Karmel, 2002) (see Blue Poles Number II). The Impressionists were determined to use light and color in such a way that their paintings have a vibrancy not seen in paintings prior to this era, and the juxtaposition of colors in Impressionism means that the images often seem to ‘shimmer’ (Clancy, 2003). Pollock also avoids mixing colors, applying paint directly from the can to the canvas in layers without any mixing after the application. In Pollock’s style, this again provides an interesting visual effect, with the stark contrast between neighboring paints giving a sense of chaos to the canvas (Emmerling, 2003). As previously mentioned, an important part of Pollock’s work is that he felt a need to be ‘part of it during creation’ (West, 1996), and used the floor as his work surface so that he could walk around the canvas and see it from all directions and be truly involved with the work. This is sometimes considered to be one of the reasons why Jackson Pollock relied so heavily on action painting techniques, because of a desire to be part of the process rather than merely copying something from reality. The Impressionists also placed a heavy reliance on being part of what they were creating, many of them being among the first people to paint outside to allow them to capture light that would be impossible from inside a building (Clancy, 2003). The Impressionists were part of their work in that they were directly within the scenery in which they were capturing, and as such emotions and atmospheres were as much a part of their work as the visuals, similarly to Pollock. It is this need to be involved within the work that leads to the immediacy of both styles. Despite these direct similarities, Pollock was free from some constraints that the Impressionists had and as such is seen as part of the extension known as Abstract Expressionism, as mentioned above. Expressionism is a movement that is considered widely to be a direct reaction to Impressionism (Elger, 2002), and uses some similar techniques. Expressionism is, as the name suggests, reliant on expressing the emotions and perspectives of the artists (Elger, 2002). Expressionists focused on this need to show something that is internal, they often subvert reality within their work and occasionally the subject is not recognizable (see Galaxy, below). Abstract Expressionists build on this idea by using this emotional intensity and mixing it with anti-figurative styles (Friedman, 1995). Jackson Pollock, Galaxy, 1947, Joslyn Art Museum By being part of this new Abstract movement, then, Pollock was free to use the techniques of the Impressionists in his own style. The Impressionists were, for example, tied to painting something that directly resembles reality, although they were less tied down to details than artists that had gone before them (Clancy, 2002). Pollock ‘was not the painter of anything in the literal sense’ (Varnedoe & Karmel, 2002), in that what Pollock was trying to achieve with his work is for the viewer to be directly participating in the canvas (Friedman, 1995), projecting his or her own ideas and internal conflicts onto the painting. Pollock did not paint ‘things’, but ‘emotions’ and this means that his work is often misunderstood by some as not having purpose or direction. Although Impressionism and Pollock share the fact that they were often misunderstood within their time by critics and the public and were revolutionary in the art world, the Impressionists were still painting representations of the physical world, whereas Pollock focused on something emotional and intangible. ‘Free of these constraints, Pollock was able to elaborate some of their plastic ideas, bringing them to a more radical and natural fulfillment, by rendering them wholly consistent from within’ (Varnedoe & Karmal, 2002). Monet, Claude, Impression, soleil levant, 1872 Another way in which Pollock references the Impressionists but completely revolutionizes their style is in the use of the painting instrument. Where Impressionists had boldly chosen to use thick, wide brush strokes (Clancy, 2003) (see Impression, soleil levant), they were still constrained to using a brush as their tool. Moreover, Impressionists were confined to only using their lower arms and hands to apply paint. Pollock took the revolutionary wide brushstrokes and subverted them by completely abandoning the brush, preferring instead to rely on basting syringes and sticks, as well as the famous ‘drip’ technique (Friedman, 1995). By doing this, Pollock could create shapes and forms never seen in an Impressionist painting. Pollock also began to stop relying on his hands to apply the paint, and is said to have used his whole body in the creation of his artwork (Varnedoe & Karmal, 2002). By creating images that are unique, interesting, modern and idiosyncratic, Pollock’s work appealed to a young and creative art crowd in New York City, and is considered to be a vanguard artist. Pollock’s work relied on new and fresh techniques which had not been seen before, and as a result the work he produced is new and fresh too. By association, Pollock’s use of Impressionist techniques in this work meant that Impressionists gained some of these attributes in the eyes of the art world, and thus can be said to have experienced a revival. Of course, the Abstract Expressionist movement with which Pollock is associated is the best place to look to see evidence of a renewed interest in Impressionism. Some of Jules Olitski’s work, for example, uses Impressionist techniques such as quickly applied paint and the use of adjoining vibrant colours without mixing (Olitski et al, 1978). Olitski was working in the later parts of the 20th century and would have inevitably have experienced Pollock’s work, and known of the Impressionists, and as such the use of the Impressionist technique in his work could be evidence of a new interest in Impressionist work. Other Abstract Expressionists such as Hans Hartung shared Impressionist techniques. Hartung, for example, generally used wide brushstrokes applied in a hasty manner to give a sense of immediacy to his work (see Untitled, below), capturing movement and emotion (Pontegnie, 2006). Again, Hartung would have been exposed to the work of Pollock and the Impressionists, and the shared technique could be evidence of Pollock’s hand in a revival of interest in the movement. Hans Hartung, Untitled, 1955 More evidence for a renewed interest in Impressionists and their techniques can be found elsewhere. The Lyrical Abstraction movement is considered to be the French school of Abstract Expressionism and they do share many similar characteristics. As the original Impressionists were found in France, it is interesting to consider the similarities between the Lyrical Abstraction and Impressionist movements. Similarly to the work of Pollock, Lyrical Abstractionists such as Norman Bluhm (American but trained in Paris) and Jean Fautrier also employed a style that had a sense of urgency, also relying on action painting techniques to apply the paint. Lyrical Abstractionists share this and the use of bright adjacent colors without mixing with the Impressionists and Pollock, showing that there has been renewed interest in the work of these painters in the US and Europe. To conclude, then, it is evident that there are many similarities between the work of Pollock and the original Impressionist movement, in that they both employ urgent application of paint to capture something fleeting, transient. Both also use color in such a way that adjacent colours are not mixed and do not necessarily share similarities with each other, causing the work to have a vibrancy not seen before the Impressionists. Despite these similarities, Pollock cannot be said to be an Impressionist in many senses, and the techniques they do share Pollock built on and expanded free of the restraints of the Impressionist era. There is evidence also for a renewed interest in Impressionism as techniques employed by this movement can still be found in much of the work of the later 20th century and even in current artwork. Although it would be impossible to attribute this interest to Pollock definitively, it is possible to suggest that his employment of the technique inspired others to act similarly and subvert the traditions of other painting styles to create something truly unique. Works Cited De Zegher, Catherine and Teicher, Hendel. ‘3 X Abstraction’. New Haven. Yale University Press 2005. Print. Clancy, John I. Impressionism: historical overview and bibliography. Nova Publishers, 2003. Print. Elger, Dietmar. Expressionism: a revolution in German art. Taschen, 2002. Print. Emmerling, Leonhard. Jackson Pollock: 1912-1956. Taschen, 2003. Print. Friedman, B. H. Jackson Pollock: energy made visible. Da Capo Press, 1995. Print. Greenberg, Clement. ‘Art and Culture Critical essays’. Beacon Press. 1961. Print. Hartung, Hans. Untitled. 1955. Museum der blidenden Kunste. Leipzig. Herbert, Robert L. Impressionism: art, leisure, and Parisian society. Yale University Press, 1991. Print. Irving Sandler. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties. New York. Harper & Row. 1978. Print. Monet, Claude, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), 1872, oil on canvas, Musee Marmottan Miller, Frederic P, Agnes F Vandome, and John McBrewster. Action Painting. VDM Publishing House Ltd., 2010. Print. Naifeh, Steven and Smith, Gregory White. Jackson Pollock: An American Saga. New York. Harpercollins. 1991. Print. Nochlin, Linda. Women Artists at the Millennium. Boston. MIT Press. 2006. Print. Nimmer, Dean, and Gregory Amenoff. Art from Intuition: Overcoming Your Fears and Obstacles to Making Art. Watson-Guptill Publications, 2008. Print. Orton, Fred. ‘New York Painting and Sculpture’. New York. Uni of Leeds and H. Geldzahler. 1969. Print. Olitski, Jules, Neil Marshall, and Andre Emmerich Gallery. Jules Olitski?: new paintings: March 18-April 5, 1978, Andre Emmerich Gallery. The Gallery, 1978. Print. Pollock, Jackson. Lavender Mist: Number 1. 1950. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Pollock, Jackson. Blue Poles Number II. 1952. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Pollock, Jackson. Galaxy. 1947. Joslyn Art Gallery, Omaha. Pontegnie, Anne. Hartung: 10 perspectives. 5 Continents, 2006. Print. Varnedoe, Kirk and Pepe, Karmal. ‘Jackson Pollock’. New York. Museum of Modern Art. 2002. Print. Rosenberg, Harold. The Tradition of the New. Ayer Co Pub. 1959. Print. Shapiro, David and Shaprio, Cecile. ‘Abstract Expressionism: A Critical Record’. London. Routledge. 2000. Print. West, Shearer. ‘The Bulfinch guide to art history, a comprehensive survey and dictionary of Western art and architecture’. Boston. Little Brown and Co. 1996. Print. Read More