Existing comment:
1936:
Pollock joined a workshop run by Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, who encouraged experimentation with liquid commercial paints instead of conventional art materials. This was Pollock's first exposure to paint-pouting techniques.
1943:
During World War II, Pollock began to adopt the improvisational approach that would be his landmark. He was now living with fellow painter Lee Krasner. Peggy Guggenheim's gallery, Art of This Century, presented his first solo exhibition, and Guggenheim commissioned a mural for her town house.
1944-47:
In 1945, Pollock and Krasner married and moved to a homestead in Springs on eastern Long Island, where they both thrived in the peaceful rural surroundings. In a converted storage barn, Pollock perfected his pouring technique.
1949-53:
Under the care of a local doctor, Pollock was sobert for two years, and he became highly productive. His exhibitions in the US and abroad were widely reviewed. Articles in Life magazine and The New Yorker, and a color film of him at work by Hans Namuth and Paul Falkenberg, added to his notoriety.
In early 1951, Pollock began a series of black paintings on unprimed canvas, which were praised by critics but scorned by collectors. The following year, he started to earn a good income from sales of earlier work, while his productivity, hampered by drink and depression, declined. |