A 20th Century artist: Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)

This first-hand experience of contemporary mural painting is thought to have ignited Jackson's ambition to paint large-scale works of his own. In 1936 Jackson took part in David Alfarc Siqueiros's workshop in New York and they experimented with new ways of painting. It was there that Pollock first encountered the use of enamel paint and was encouraged to try unorthodox techniques such as pouring and chuck the liquid material to achieve spontaneous effects. Likewise, the murals of Diego Rivera had also inspired Pollock. Jackson's time was spent working on government art projects in the late 1930s. .
             From 1935 to 1942 he worked on WPA Federal Art Project. During this time Pollock was invited to participate in a group exhibition of work by French and American painters, including Picasso, Braque, Matisse and other established masters. Among the practically unknown Americans in the group was Lenore Krassner, later known as Lee Krasner. Lee was greatly impressed by the work she saw in Pollock's studio and thought he had extraordinary talent. They became good friends and married in 1945. .
             Pollock's work had come to the attention of Peggy Guggenheim. She owned a gallery, Art of This Century, in New York which showed the most challenging latest work by American and European abstractionists and Surrealists. Guggenheim became Pollock's dealer and patron, giving him a contract that lasted through to 1947. It was in 1943 that Pollock held his first solo show. .
             The surrealism movement was a major influence upon Pollock due to the fact that ideas about the relevance of the unconscious to artistic creativity coincided with his own experience. Even as his art was gaining in assurance and originality, Pollock was experiencing personal turmoil and recurring bouts of depression. He was also struggling to control his alcoholism. As part of treatment for alcoholism, Pollock underwent psychoanalysis; his therapists, who followed the teachings of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, encouraged him to analyse his drawings for clues to his unconscious mental processes.