The Life and Times of Jackson Pollock: Expressionist Artist

Jackson Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming, January 28, 1912. Forty-four years later he was dead. But what he did during his short life time had a huge impact on the art world. He is said to have developed the style of painting called abstract expressionism.

He grew up in Arizona and California and attended the Los Angeles Manual Arts High School. In 1930 Jackson moved to New York City where he studied at the Art Students League.

After marrying Lee Krasner in 1945 they moved to Springs, New York on Long Island where Jackson converted an old barn into a studio.

Jackson had a vary unique way of painting. He would spread a canvas on the floor and then pour house paint on the canvas. He would use hardened brushes or sticks to spread the paint around. Sometimes he would sprinkle ground glass or sand over the paint.

His paintings were exhibited both in the United States and Europe.

Time magazine gave him the nickname "Jack the Dripper."

Jackson has been quoted as saying, "I continue to get further away from the usual painter's tools such as easels, palettes, and brushes. I prefer trowels, knives, and dripping fluid paint or a heavy impasto with sand, broken glass, or other foreign matter added."

Another time Jackson said, "My painting does not come from the easel. I prefer to tack the unstretched canvas to the hard wall or floor. I need the resistance of a hard surface. On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it,work from all four sides and literally be in
the painting."

His most famous paintings came from his "drip period" which lasted from 1947 to 1950. After he became popular he tended to drift away from the drip technique.

Jackson suffered from alcoholism his entire adult life and after his paintings became famous, the pressure to produce more paintings for collectors was too much for him to handle and he started drinking even more.

Jackson was killed in a single alcohol related car crash on August 11, 1956. He was buried in Green River Cemetery.

In November of 2006, his painting "No. 5, 1948" sold at auction for $140,000,000. The most money ever paid for a painting at that time. Whoever bought the painting has kept it a secret.

The Pollock-Krasner House and Studio in Springs, New York, where Jackson and his wife lived and worked (she was also an artist) is open for public tours May to October.