Jackson Pollock
-Macee Gronning 1st period

	 Jackson Pollock was born January 28th 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. His father was a farmer and government land surveyor. His mother was a fierce woman with artistic ambitions. He was the youngest of five brothers  He was a needy child, seeking a lot of attention in which most cases he did not recieve. When Pollock was 8, his father, who was an abusive alcoholic, left the family, and Pollock's older brother, Charles, took over the father roll. Charles was an artist, and was considered to be the best in the family. He had a significant influence on his younger brother's future. At the time the family was living in L.A. Pollock enrolled in the Manual Arts High School, where he learned to draw but had little success expressing himself. He was eventually expelled for starting fights.
	In 1930, at age 18, Pollock moved to New York City to live with his brother, Charles. He soon began studying with Charles's art teacher, representational regionalist painter Thomas Benton. Pollock spent much of his time with Benton, often babysitting Benton's young son, and the Bentons eventually became like the family Pollock felt he never had. Sadly When Pollock's father died suddenly in 1933, he fell into a deep depression. He got drunk one night and started a fight with Charles's wife, Elizabeth. During the fight, Pollock threatened her with an ax, and then turned around and sliced through one of his brothe'’s paintings, which had been scheduled for an upcoming exhibition. Pollock was forced to leave Charles's house, and in 1934, his brother Sanford arrived in New York to help take care of him.
	In 1942, Pollock met Lee Kranser, a Jewish contemporary artist and an established painter. She later visited Pollock at his studio and was impressed with his art. They soon became to like each other. 
	Peggy Guggenheim began expressing interest in Pollock's paintings. During a meeting she had with the painter Pete Norman, he saw some of Pollock’s paintings lying on the floor and commented that Pollock’s art was possibly the most original American art he had seen. Guggenheim immediately put Pollock on contract.
	Krasner and Pollock married in October 1945, and with the help of a $2,000 loan from Guggenheim, bought a farmhouse in the Springs area of East Hampton, on Long Island. Guggenheim gave Pollock a stipend to work, and Krasner dedicated her time to helping promote and manage his artwork. He was energized by his new surroundings and by his supportive wife. In 1946, he converted their barn to a private studio, where he continued to develop his "drip" technique, the paint literally dripping off of his tools and onto the canvases that he usually placed on the floor. Pollock  would use used sticks, trowels, paint cans with holes in the bottom, and knives to apply the paint. The media Pollock most often used was alkyd enamels. In 1947, Guggenheim turned Pollock over to Betty Parsons, who was not able to pay him a stipend but would give him money as his artwork sold.
	Pollock's most famous paintings were made during his "drip period" between 1947 and 1950. He became wildly popular after being featured in a four-page spread, on August 8, 1949, in Life magazine. The article asked of Pollock, "Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" The Life article changed Pollock's life overnight. Many other artists resented his fame, and some of his friends suddenly became competitors. As his fame grew, some critics began calling Pollock a fraud, causing even him to question his own work. During this time he would often look to Krasner to determine which paintings were good, unable to make the differentiation himself. He had a difficult time with all the fame. As a result of it, he became dismissive of other artists, even his former teach and mentor, Thomas Benton , acts of self-promotion made him feel like a phony, and he would sometimes give interviews in which his answers were scripted. When Hans Namuth, a documentary photographer, began producing a film of Pollock working, Pollock found it impossible to "perform" for the camera. Instead, he went back to drinking heavily.
	Pollock's 1950 show at the Parsons gallery did not sell, though many of the paintings included, such as his "Number 4, 1950," are considered masterpieces today. It was during this time that Pollock began to consider symbolic titles misleading, and instead began using numbers and dates for each work he completed. Pollock's art also became darker in color. He abandoned the "drip" method, and began painting in black and white, which proved unsuccessful. Depressed and haunted, Pollock would frequently meet his friends at the nearby Cedar Bar, drinking until it closed and getting into violent fights. But as the demand from collectors for Pollock's art grew, so too did the pressure he felt, and with it his alcoholism.
	Pollock’s style and work was heavily praised and criticized. Some simply dismissed him and his work as meaningless and chaotic, and others saw them as organized, fascinating.One of Pollock’s supporters, Clement Greenberg, said he was “the most powerful painter in contemporary America and the only one who shows promise to be a major one.” 
	Pollocks painting Autumn Rhythem (Number 30) Is known today to be one of Pollocks greatest paintings. This is the painting I choose to analysis. This painting has no focus point. Pollock worked from all sides on the painting, using the drip technique. He used black, brown and white alkyd enamels. To me It is a gloomy painting. It almost seems like he was angry when he painted this painting. 
	Alot of his work looks similar, becuase of the drip technique. However a lot of his work looks like he was trying to create something. Painting number seven looks like it is a face. 
	Overwhelmed with Pollock's needs, Krasner was also unable to work. Their marriage became troubled, and Pollock's health was failing. He started dating other women, and by 1956, he had quit painting, and his marriage was a mess. Krasner left for Paris to give Pollock space. Just after 10 p.m. on August 11, 1956, Pollock, who had been drinking, crashed his car into a tree less than a mile from his home. Ruth Kligman, his girlfriend at the time, was thrown from the car and survived. Another passenger, Edith Metzger, was killed, and Pollock was thrown 50 feet into the air and into a birch tree. He died immediately.
Krasner returned from France to bury Pollock, and subsequently went into a mourning that would last the rest of her life. Retaining her creativity and productivity, Krasner lived and painted for another 20 years. She also managed the sale of Pollock's paintings, carefully distributing them to museums. Before her death, Krasner set up the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, which gives grants to young, promising artists. When Krasner died on June 19, 1984, the estate was worth $20 million.