Weekly Volcano Blogs: Walkie Talkie Blog

January 1, 2013 at 9:46am

CLAYTON ON ART: "Jackson Pollock: Works from the Museum of Modern Art"

JACKSON POLLOCK: "Blue Poles, Number 11." c. 1952. oil on canvas. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

Recommend Blog Post
Total Recommendations (0)

LATE CHRISTMAS BOOK >>>

If I had planned on recommending a book for art lovers for Christmas I would recommend the one that was given to me: Jackson Pollock: Works from the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and from European Collections by Volkmar Essers.

If you're a Pollock fan you're probably thinking you already know all about him and you've seen just about all of his paintings - in reproduction if not in the original. Besides, all those drip paintings look alike.

Wrong. I've seen only a handful of his original works, but I have seen a lot in reproduction. I've watched the famous Jackson Pollock film by Hans Namuth and the movie with Ed Harris. I've also thumbed through stacks of books about Pollock, and I read Jackson Pollock: An American Saga, the biography by Steven Naifeh and Gregory Smith, which is generally acknowledged as the authoritative biography.  But there were paintings reproduced in the modest-sized hardback book that I had never seen. Especially a lot of very interesting pictures of some of his early paintings that were heavily influenced by American Indian art, Surrealism and the psychoanalytic writings of Sigmund Freud and C.J. Jung.

The text is slim but well written with most of the essential information you might want and the most important quotes from Pollock's interviews. The most famous of his quotes was when he talked about why he prefers painting on raw canvas on the floor. "On the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk around in it, work from the four sides and be literally ‘in' the painting."

The idea of being in the painting had huge reverberations throughout the art world for years to come. He also talked about how he starts a painting without any clear idea of where he's going - a getting acquainted period - and how he then responds to the painting in a kind of artistic give-and-take. The perfect description of what was called action painting or gestural abstraction, two common synonyms for a branch of Abstract Expressionism that put great emphasis on energy and gesture.

It's been more than half a century since Pollock's heyday, but his impact on modern art has not waned in the least.

So, if you didn't get this book for Christmas, maybe you can buy it for yourself. It retails for $30 but copies are available from Amazon from $9.60 to $12.99. Not bad for an outstanding art book. It is a catalog book first published on the occasion of a noted exhibition at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, Germany. It presents important paintings from that exhibition as well as graphic works from the New York Museum of Modern Art and from several European collections. The writeris curator at the museum Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf.

LINK: South Sound art reviews by Alec Clayton

Filed under: Arts, Books,
comments powered by Disqus

About this blog

News and entertainment from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s most awesome weekly newspapers - The Ranger, Northwest Airlifter and Weekly Volcano.

Recent Comments

Walkie Talkies said:

Thanks for posting! But I want say that Walkie Talkies are really required while organizing fun...

about COMMENT OF THE DAY: "low brow’s" identity revealed?

Humayun Kabir said:

Really nice album. I have already purchased Vedder's Album. Listening to the song of this album,...

about Eddie Vedder’s "Ukulele Songs" available today - and I don’t hold a candle to that shit

AndrewPehrson said:

Your post contains very beneficial content. Kindly keep sharing such post.

about Vote for Tacoman Larry Huffines on HGTV!

Shimul Kabir said:

Vedder's album is really nice. I have heard attentively

about Eddie Vedder’s "Ukulele Songs" available today - and I don’t hold a candle to that shit

marble exporters in India said:

amazing information for getting the new ideas thanks for sharing a post

about 5 Things To Do Today: Art Chantry, DIY home improvement, "A Shot In The Dark" ...

Archives

2024
January, February, March
2023
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2022
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2021
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2020
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2019
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2018
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2017
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2016
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2015
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2014
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2013
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2007
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2006
March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December