Jackson Pollock

Paul Jackson Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming in 1912, and studied at the Manual Arts High School (1928), and the Art Students League in New York (1930). Pollock’s instructor in New York, Thomas Hart Benton, was a continual support through Pollock’s career. Artists that influenced Pollock and were respected by him included Jose Clemente Orozco, Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera. Surrealism, the precursor to abstract impressionism, also greatly influenced the artist. Pollock’s first solo show was held in 1943 at the Guggenheim, where he received a contract until 1947. This contract allowed the artist to devote all his time to painting, and we can see that his works moved away from figurative styles and more into abstract techniques, and abstract impressionism. Pollock is renowned for his splashing and dripping paint onto a canvas, which gave him the nickname ‘Jack the Dripper’. After completing his contract at the Guggenheim, he was supported by the CIA via the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Pollock died in a car accident in 1956.