Jackson Pollock Abstract Expressionism

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From my perception, the source of abstract expressionism and of one of its main influence and source came from Jackson Pollock. Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York in the 1940s, also one of the pillars of contemporary or modern art. The Abstract Expressionist were committed to an expressive art of profound emotion and universal themes, and most were shaped by the post-war tragedies and the results of it. In revolt abstract expressionist artists reinvented abstract painting but its influence comes much earlier from Surrealism and Cubism, often considered the most important contribution to Modernism. Forming a distinct style; a style that combines abstract form and expressionist …show more content…

His work was large in scale, flamboyant in color, and fluidity. He is most closely linked with what is known as action painting. No drop of paint is an accident and loose, rapid sweeping brushstrokes make this style reminiscent of the Surrealists. Pollock became influenced by Picasso, Miro alongside Rothko and the surrealists but soon developed his own unique style which he would later become famous for. Mark Rothko’s technique of painting departs from Pollock’s actions. Rothko’s style is called color field painting. His works consist of strong formal elements, such as color, shape, balance, depth, composition, and scale. Alongside other artists associated with abstract expressionism style of painting, artists such as Lee Krasner (Pollock’s wife) 1908-1984, Willem de Kooning 1904-1997, Mark Rothko 1903-1970, Adolph Gottlieb 1903-1974, Franz Kline 1910-1962, Philip Guston 1913-1980, Robert Motherwell 1915-1991, Arshile Gorky 1904-1948, Adolf Gottlieb 1903-1974, Barnett Newman 1905- 1970. This work of art was also known as one of his famous 'drip paintings ' that he began to produce in the late 1940s represent one of the most original bodies of work of the century. At times they could suggest the life-force in nature itself, at others they could evoke man 's entrapment - in the body, in the anxious mind, and in the newly frightening modern …show more content…

As his favorite study; Surrealism suggested ways to describe the unconscious; and Cubism guided his understanding of picture space. In 1939, Pollock began to make efforts to treat his alcoholism, and his analyst encouraged him to create drawings. These would later feed his paintings, and they shaped Pollock 's understanding of his pictures not only as outpourings of his own mind, but expressions that might stand for the terror of all modern humanity living in the shadow of nuclear war.
Pollock 's greatness lies in developing one of the most essential abstract styles in the history of modern art, separating line from color, redefining the categories of drawing and painting, and finding new means to describe pictorial space. A painting 's form is composed of its basic elements: color, line, composition, arrangement and texture. These elements constitute the fundamental language used by formalist art critics to examine and analyze works of

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