The painting above was made in 1945 by self-taught artist Janet Sobel; it's called Milky Way. Sobel was a Ukrainian-born artist who was a pioneer in abstract expressionist art and in drip painting; her work directly influenced that of Jackson Pollock. From Why This Pioneering Abstract Painter Disappeared From the Art World at the Height of Her Fame:
The next year, Sobel had her first solo show at New York's Puma Gallery, where the legendary art critic Clement Greenberg visited — with Pollock. In an update to his essay "American-Type Painting," Greenberg wrote that they "admired these pictures rather furtively," adding: "Later on, Pollock admitted that these pictures had made an impression on him."
Here's one of Sobel's paintings circa 1946-1948:
Compare that with Pollock's first drip painting in 1946. Hmm!
Sobel's "outsider" status, gender, and age, as well as a move away from NYC and the loss of her primary patron, all contributed to her short career, lack of recognition, and limited legacy (for someone who was described in 1946 as an artist who will "eventually be known as one of the important surrealist artists in this country").
In 2021, Sobel was the subject of a belated obituary in the NYT's Overlooked series.
How exactly Sobel entered the art world is a bit of folklore. As one story goes, Sobel's son Sol was an art student who in the late 1930s threatened to quit his studies at the Art Students League, a storied nonprofit school in Manhattan that counts Norman Rockwell, Georgia O'Keeffe and Mark Rothko among its alumni.
According to historians and family members, Sobel criticized one of Sol's paintings, prompting him to throw down his brush and tell her to take up painting herself instead.
And here's a MoMA video about Sobel's Milky Way:
The fantastic art history YouTube channel Great Art Explained has a great two-episode series on Jackson Pollock.
In Part One of my film I look at how, post World War Two, the art scene shifted from Paris to New York. How America was searching for "The Great American painter", and why he is so loved and hated at the same time. I look at just what Abstract Expressionism means, how we can "read it", and I look at the myths surrounding Pollock and modern art itself. I also look at his influences ranging from Mexican sand Painting, to the Regionalist art movement, to Picasso and the modernists.
In Part Two of my film I look at how fame affected Jackson Pollock, and how alcohol destroyed his relationships. I look at the science behind why we are so affected by his work, and I also look at a lesser known story, of how art became an unlikely player in the Cold War and the global contest of ideas. How Abstract Expressionism was enlisted as an unknowing agent in a shadowy propaganda war, bankrolled by the CIA, to sell the story of freedom... and capitalism.
From Evan Puschak, this explanation of how art went from almost fully representational painting to abstract impressionism in about 100 years is a 6-minute whirlwind tour of modern art, from Édouard Manet to Jackson Pollock's drip paintings. I always love when Puschak dips back into art...the first video of ever posted of his was about Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Socrates.
Forensic scientist Thiago Piwowarczyk and art historian Jeffrey Taylor are often called upon to authenticate purported paintings by well-known artists. Using a drip painting resembling Jackson Pollock's work, they show how they use historical research, hardcore science, and good-ol' human observation. The steps they go through are:
1. Provenance research. Is there any documentation of the artist painting this? Who owned it and when? Forged documentation can be an issue here.
2. Visual analysis. Does the material used for the painting fit the artist and the timeframe? Often, a forger won't sign a fake to mitigate any potential legal ramifications.
3. Photography and ultraviolet analysis. Was the canvas reused? Is there an under-painting or drawing?
4. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. What elements are present in the paint? Do they match those in the paints normally used by the artist?
5. Microscopy & Raman spectroscopy. What kind of paint was used? Did that paint exist when the artist was working?
Super interesting. All of the craft aside, Piwowarczyk also says that "if the deal is too good, there's something wrong". $25,000 for a Pollack? Nope. (via open culture)
In 1950, Swiss photographer Hans Namuth took some photos of Jackson Pollock painting some of his drip paintings, which were used to illustrate a 1951 article in ArtNews. Along with photos published alongside a piece in Life in 1949, they made Pollock and his unusual technique famous.
Namuth returned with a film camera and captured the artist painting in full color motion in a short film called Jackson Pollock 51.
In the film, you can see the physicality and performative aspect of Pollock's work, the near repetition, the footwork, the precise imprecision of his arm movements, the cigarette dangling from his mouth. Pollock narrates part of the film:
I don't work from drawings or color sketches. My painting is direct. I usually paint on the floor. I enjoy working on a large canvas. I feel more at home, more at ease, in the big area. Having the canvas on the floor, I feel nearer, more a part of the painting. This way, I can walk around it, work from all four sides, and be in the painting, similar to the Indian sand painters of the West.
At one point, Pollock paints on glass and Namuth shoots from underneath, so you can see how it looks from the point of view of the canvas. A 1998 NY Times piece by Sarah Boxer has an account of how the photos and film were captured, including a series of incidents that brought the Namuth/Pollock collaboration (and, some say, Pollock's life six years later) to an end:
When Pollock and Namuth came in from outside, blue from the cold, the first thing Pollock did was pour himself a tumbler of bourbon. It was the beginning of the end. Pollock had been sober (some say) for two years. Soon Namuth and Pollock got into an argument — a volley of "I'm not a phony, you're a phony." Then Pollock tore a strap of cowbells off the wall and started swinging it around.
With the dinner guests seated and food on the table, Pollock and Namuth continued to argue. Finally Pollock grabbed the end of the table, shouting "Should I do it now?" to Namuth. "Now?" Then he turned over the whole table, plates, glasses, meat, gravy and all. (There is a scholarly disagreement about whether it was turkey or roast beef.) The dogs lapped at the glassy gravy. Krasner said, "Coffee will be served in the living room."
After that night, Pollock never stopped drinking. He didn't bring in the glass painting ("No. 29, 1950") until it was covered with rain and leaves. He returned to a more figurative style of painting. Six years later, bloated, depressed and drunk, he drove his car into a tree, killing himself and a friend.
(via open culture)
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