Jackson Pollock: No.5, 1948 - Navigating Turbulent Origins Towards an Artistic Revolution

Paul Jackson Pollock, born on January 28, 1912, in the serene town of Cody, Wyoming, was the youngest among five siblings. The Pollock family's domestic dynamics were anything but straightforward, shaped significantly by frequent relocations, the extended absence of his father, and the dominant personality of his mother.

In 1928, the family underwent a significant relocation to Los Angeles, where Jackson enrolled in Manual Arts High School. During this period, Pollock's fascination with Mexican muralists such as Joe Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros began to take root. These artists underscored the political dimension of art, leaving an enduring impact on Pollock's artistic journey.

While at Manual Arts, Pollock received instruction in drawing and sculpture from Schwankovsky and sculptor Harold Lehmann. However, success remained elusive in these artistic pursuits.

Pollock's artistic legacy encompasses the introduction of the All-over style of painting, a departure from traditional composition that avoids specific focal points or identifiable elements within the canvas. The design of his paintings paid no heed to the canvas's inherent shape or size, sometimes leading to post-production alterations like trimming to align with the intended image. These characteristics played a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of American painting in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

One of Pollock's masterpiece works, "No.5, 1948," commanded an astonishing $140 million in 2006, setting a record as the highest sum ever paid for a painting at that time. This surpassed the $135 million spent on Gustav Klimt’s “Adele Bloch-Bauer I.”
Jackson Pollock: No.5, 1948 - Navigating Turbulent Origins Towards an Artistic Revolution