Pollock, Jackson
driptechnique, in which he energetically drew or
drippedcomplicated linear rhythms onto enormous canvases, which were often placed flat on the floor. He sometimes applied paint directly from the tube, and at times also used aluminum paint to achieve a glittery effect. His vigorous attack on the canvas and intense devotion to the very act of painting led to the term
action painting.Pollock had become a symbol of the new artistic revolt, abstract expressionism, by the time he was killed in an automobile accident. His paintings are in many major collections, including museums in New York City, San Francisco, Dallas, and Chicago. Pollock was married to the painter Lee Krasner.
See H. Harrison, ed., Such Desperate Joy: Imagining Jackson Pollock (2001) and P. Karmel, ed., Jackson Pollock: Key Interviews, Articles, and Reviews (2002); catalogue raisonné, 4 vol., ed. by F. V. O'Connor and E. B. Thaw (1978, supplement 1995) and catalog ed. by K. Varnedoe and P. Karmel (1998); B. H. Friedman, Jackson Pollock: Energy Made Visible (1972, repr. 1995); J. Potter, To a Violent Grave: An Oral Biography of Jackson Pollock (1985); D. Solomon, Jackson Pollock: A Biography (1987); S. Naifeh and G. W. Smith, Jackson Pollock: An American Genius (1988); E. G. Landau, Jackson Pollock (1989); C. Ratcliff, The Fate of a Gesture: Jackson Pollock and Post-War American Art (1996).
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