Jackson Pollock and Abstract Expressionism in Postwar America

The Postwar Artistic Climate and the Rise of Expressionism

According to Anthony White, the abstract paintings of the American artist Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) "are among the highest achievements of 20th-century art," and during "an unparalleled period of creativity from the late 1940s to the early 1950s, Pollock abandoned the conventional tools and methods of the painter, putting aside brushes, artist's paint and traditional composition, and poured and flung house paint directly onto large canvases placed on the floor." This unique and startling artistic style "had an enormous impact on contemporary art" which can still be sensed even today.

In order to understand and appreciate the world of Jackson Pollock and his remarkable art, we must first explore the artistic climate that preceded him during the middle years of the 20th century. Following the end of World War II in 1945 and the beginning of the Atomic Age, there persisted a haunting dread among many Americans that life "had no meaning or value," which influenced a number of highly successful artists to protest in paint against what they saw as a mechanized culture that did not tolerate individualism and non-conformity. At this time, a new artistic style emerged known as Expressionism, which was harsher, more defiant, and more rebellious than any of its predecessors and "insisted on an even more radical abstraction from the world of reality."¹

As Western civilization continued to spread its culture and beliefs to all parts of the globe during the early 1940s, traditional values and those linked to organized modern life — such as the traditional family structure — were facing harsh criticism from many different sources and were declared by some as largely false. According to Justin Spring, writing in The Essential Jackson Pollock, "It was almost as if the only value left was the belief in the artistic process on the grounds that in creativity alone resides the true nature of mankind."² Thus, the life of the artist became a model of free expression via the pursuit of self-identity and self-knowledge through art, supported by a sense of mysticism and a fascination with the unknown.

However, regardless of this desire for free expression and to live as a non-conformist, artistic individuals were forced to live and work in a modern, mechanized world in which art had become a very big business — driven by the rise of highly prominent art houses like Sotheby's and the creation of smaller art venues in cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Art became a commodity within its own market and generated much advertising in order to draw the general public into the world of art as buyers rather than mere museum viewers. The old divisions between the various styles of art were quickly disappearing, and some artists became emboldened to combine painting, sculpture, and architecture into a single style, supported by continuing advances in technology and science.

To the casual viewer, painting styles and techniques that emerged after World War II seemed based on confusion, "with bewildering overlaps and intersections of tendencies and influences, yet a closer look revealed a certain order to the madness which fit haphazardly into several artistic styles, such as Expressionism, Cubism and Constructivism."³

This order also appeared as a fundamental pairing with the works of earlier painters — the so-called "Fathers of Modern Art" — namely Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne. Additionally, this new means of artistic expression reflected the dualism in Western art between the classical forms directed by the intellect and the imagination, and the Baroque and Romantic expressionism based on feelings and sensations.

During the first half of the 20th century, Cubism and Expressionism dominated the world of art and are now grouped as postwar trends and styles based on the individual artist's approach to his medium — either predominantly rational and formalistic or emotionally expressive. These groups are also descendants of either Cubism or Expressionism and are placed under the general headings of Abstract Formalism and Abstract Expressionism.

Endnotes

¹ Friedman, B. H. Jackson Pollock: Energy Made Visible. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972, 56.

² Spring, Justin. The Essential Jackson Pollock. New York: Wonderland Press, 1986, 156.

³ Landau, Ellen. Jackson Pollock. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998, 173.

⁴ Cernuschi, Claude. Jackson Pollock: Meaning and Significance. New York: Westview Press, 1991, 183.

⁵ Ibid., 185.

⁶ Landau, 178.

⁷ Ibid., 183.

⁸ Friedman, 214.

⁹ White, Anthony. "Jackson Pollock: Before Blue Poles." Internet.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² Spring, 214.

¹³ Friedman, 214.

¹⁴ Cernuschi, 245.

¹⁵ White, "Jackson Pollock: Before Blue Poles."

¹⁶ Spring, The Essential Jackson Pollock, 246.

¹⁷ Landau, 241.

¹⁸ Ibid., 244.

¹⁹ White, Internet.

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ Ibid.

Bibliography

Cernuschi, Claude. Jackson Pollock: Meaning and Significance. New York: Westview Press, 1992.

Friedman, B. H. Jackson Pollock: Energy Made Visible. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1972.

Landau, Ellen. Jackson Pollock. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998.

Spring, Justin. The Essential Jackson Pollock. New York: Wonderland Press, 1986.

White, Anthony. "Jackson Pollock: Before Blue Poles." Internet. 2006. Retrieved from