Knocked a wall down in his studio in order to fit in the canvas that would become Mural (1943), for Peggy Guggenheim's apartment. But he didn't commence work on it until 15 hours before it was due to be delivered - "it was a stampede", he would later report.
When it was delivered, Guggenheim found that it was eight inches too long to fit into the space. On Marcel Duchamp's advise it was chopped down to fit.
More how we work.
This entry on Jackson Pollock reminded me of how Frank Lloyd Wright designed his master work Falling Water. In the Ken Burns documentry on Lloyd Wright his collaborators at the time describe how he produced the design for Falling Water in the time it took his client, Edgar J. Kaufmann, to drive from Pittsburgh to Wright's studio (I believe it was a 4 hour drive).
Lloyd Wright had instructed his apprentices to map the entire site showing the position of every rock and tree. He placed the site plans on the wall of his studio and then did nothing for months. When Kaufmann telephoned to inform Wright that he was comming, that day, to see the progress on the design Wright informed him that he was ready to show him the design. Wright then sat down, with a blank sheet of paper, to draw - the plans were ready when Kaufmann arrived.
Posted by: John R. Harris | December 17, 2004 at 12:32 AM
I am wondering how we can have people know about the fine work in art criticism and history that has been done at the Terrain Gallery, and invite the authors to speak in many places.
I have just been looking at two papers online. One is by Dorothy Koppelman, the other by Lori Elbel Bruce.
Read these if you will.
1. Jackson Pollock -- and True and False Ambition: The Urgent Difference, by Dorothy Koppelman
(http://www.terraingallery.org/Jackson-Pollock-Ambition-DK.html)
2. Jackson Pollock's Number One 1948; or, How Can We Be Abandoned and Accurate at the Same Time? by Lore Elbel-Bruce
(http://www.terraingallery.org/Pollock_LS.htm)
Both of these papers are on the page http://www.terraingallery.org/Art-Talks-Archive.html (Terrain Gallery / Aesthetic Realism Foundation) and both are popular with visitors.
They are moving papers, and they show how the highest art speaks to our common humanity and everyday conflicts.
I think they honor Jackson Pollock as a true artist and his turmoil as a human being.
Sincerely,
Arnold Perey, Ph.D.
Aesthetic Realism Consultant / Webmaster
www.AestheticRealism.org
Posted by: Arnold Perey | April 26, 2005 at 07:36 PM