Page 52 - The Documenta issue of World of Art magazine (2002)

POLLOCK PollocK’S america

muSeo correr
Piazza San marco
Venice
JACkSon PoLLoCk’S italY
AMerICA
centro culturale
by Prof ellen G. landau candiani
meStre
Max ernst
23.3 - 16.6 2002 italY
Eislandschaften,
Eiszapfen und Gesteinsarten
des weiblichen Körpers Jackson Pollock’s frequently quoted 23.3 - 30.6 2002
1920 1956 definition of painting as “a state
of being” (he also said, “every good
artist paints what he is”) indicates
that he understood very clearly that
his drive to create was primarily
identity-driven. as this anniversary
exhibition demonstrates, his self-
exploratory impetus remained remarkably
consistent for Pollock, despite changes
in personal circumstance and style
over a career that spanned more than
two decades.

From the very start, Jackson Pollock
w a s p o s i t i o n e d b y p r o m o t e r s a n d
critics alike as the prime example of a
privileged, ‘american-type’ independence
and originality. Publicly, Pollock did
not endeavor to contradict this aspect
of his growing myth. in fact, wittingly
or not, he co-opted cultural clichés
(most notably, the restless, laconic
cowboy “twirling lariats of color”) that
underscored his individuality. “art is
coming face to face with yourself,”
is what he told his first biographer,
B h. Friedman.

Privately, however (as confirmed by
his wife, the painter lee Krasner, and
many of those closest to him), Pollock
knew his relationship to other artists
was actually complicated. even when
most clearly focused on self-retrieval,
in the remarkable drawings he brought
for analysis to his psychiatrists in the
late 1930s, Pollock could not avoid
“situating himself within an artistic

CoMPoSITIon wITH bLACk PourIng (C. 1947)
OLIO E SMALTO SU TELA MOnTATA SU MASOnITE, CM. 43,8 x 23,3
COLLECTIOn: nAnCy OLnICK & GIORGIO SPAnU
50 World of art