Hillary Bisonó Ortega ’21
Jackson Pollock’s Number 2, 1949
Paul Jackson Pollock was born on January 28, 1912, in Cody, Wyoming to LeRoy McCoy and Stella McCoy. The youngest of five brothers, Jackson was described as a “sensitive boy with a febrile imagination,” and a troublesome temperament. Resolving to be like his older brother Charles, an artist working alongside American painter Thomas Hart Benton, Pollock sought out a career in pursuing and creating art. Pollock, however, realized that this process would be arduous and depressing in nature.
When first starting, Pollock enrolled at Manual Arts High School and was determined to become an artist. However his lack of technical ability “was repeatedly exposed.” In 1930, Pollock wrote to his brother Charles on the form of his art, “My drawing I will tell you frankly is rotten it seems to lack freedom and rhythm [sic) it is cold and lifeless. It isn’t worth the postage to send it … the truth of it is I have never really gotten down to real work and finish a piece. I usually get disgusted with it and lose interest … altho I feel I will make an artist of some kind I have never proven to myself nor anybody else that I have it in me.” It is repeatedly shown, at quite an early stage, that Pollock desired to find freedom in art, and yet Pollock would not find his own personal style until after his time studying under Benton. In Jackson Pollock 51, directed by Hans Namuth, we realize that despite Pollock’s unsatisfactory beginning in art, Pollock’s inability to remain a slave to traditional notions of art helped achieve developing and pioneering a new art form; that art form being respectively named Abstract Expressionism. Pollock says, “Because a painting has a life of its own, I try to let it live,” and he lives by this truth.
Pollock’s discontent and immeasurable anger can, arguably, be seen in his artistic method. In American art history, Pollock is considered a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement; other main contributors involved were Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko in the 1940s. Abstract Expressionism is defined as “the term applied to new forms of abstract art developed by American painters… It is often characterized by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity.” In 1954, the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute purchased Jackson Pollock’s Number 2, 1949 as its 39th item acquired.
When viewing Number 2, 1949, what first struck me was the placement of the piece in itself. Pollock’s work hid under the grand floating staircase that Philip Johnson, American architect, pridefully created. Number 2, 1949 was obscured in a shadow that no other painting at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute was subject to. The placement was calculating and deliberate, establishing Number 2 as an ominous and looming figure over the entirety of the museum. However, Number 2 can, too, exhilarate viewers. When entering the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute through its front entrance, you first are met with a plethora of natural lighting, but also Jackson Pollock himself. Serving as the first piece of art that one may lay eyes on, Pollock captivates his audience with his 38 x 189 1/2in. (96.5 x 481.3cm) oil, duco, and aluminum paint on an unsized canvas. Pollock’s method when painting was coined as ‘drip-painting,’ and Number 2 most certainly fits this chracteristic. Number 2, 1949 can be best described, at first premonition, as impulsive, hasty, and violent. Pollock was described by others as a violent, belligerent drunk, but Number 2, too, captures the essence of Pollock’s passion to free his artwork rather than constrain it to traditional notions of art.
Though arresting from afar, Number 2 shows a timeline of a free-flowing, liberated form. Viewers of Number 2 can discern Pollock’s movement in the complex and intricate strokes that each flamboyant line assumes. There exists a balance in Pollock’s work where every line takes the form of its own, and yet they complement each other gracefully. Pollock concerns himself with the freedom of art, and yet viewers can infer that every flick and drip of his paint was done with intent. This is evidenced by the use of colors being applied in a certain sequence, they go as follows: “thin gray and white lines, bold black curves, an overall intertwining of white, and then delicate pourings and touches of yellow, silver, scarlet, and Indian red”. Even if that were the case, Pollock’s composition of art in Number 2 embodies that patience and timelessness of life in the form of art. The intentionality of applying certain colors of paint at different times allows the painting to breathe a life of its own with its depth and dimensionality.
Number 2 captivated me and manifested its life onto my own. Although its mysterious aura can puzzle and seem off-putting to viewers, Pollock’s animated brushstrokes gave the painting life and allowed it to breathe and extend its arms out in the presence of the museum.
