Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock was born on January 28, 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. He was the first of his colleagues to earn respect from the European art world by developing a technique that he called "pour painting," which is also known as drip painting.
His life first began in Wyoming, but soon was relocated West where they moved between California and Arizona for the next 16 years. Soon after his family moved once again, to Los Angeles where they finally set roots. Pollock soon joined the Manual Arts High School where he first pursued his passion of art. While there he was introduced to metaphysical and occult spirituality which would later come into play in his paintings.
However, In 1930 Pollock decided to move to New York to join his brother who studied under Thomas Hart Benton. For the next 8 years Pollock analyzed the work of Benton who revealed techniques as well as artists such as Albert Pinkham Ryder who strongly influenced him. Others influences include that of, Jose' Clemente Orozco, Joan Miro, and Pablo Picasso.
In 1937' Jackson was going trough treatment for alcoholism, and in 1938 was institutionalized for a nervous breakdown. Soon after his release his painting style became more abstract departing from his landscape style into his drip style. A few more years down the road he landed a job with the heris of the Guggenheim Museum, Peggy Guggenheim. He worked producing art for her gallery while getting paid 150$ a month.
In 45' Pollock married his wife Lee Krasner, who was also a painter. They moved to East Hampton where they lived on a farm with a garage that Jackson renovated into a studio. He would work outside with his canvas on the ground to be able to move around the painting to create a much more interactive approach. His studio allowed him to work in a more comfortable environment, allowing him to produce the vast amount of paintings that were show at different galleries between 1940 - 47'.
Pollock soon after began to spiral out of control. He became infamous mostly due to his dependency on alcohol. He also began an affair with a mistress who he would be with at the time of his death.
Although he died at an unstable part in his life, Pollock will always be remember by the foundation of art work he produced that led the way to such an influential movement in art. He laid the ground work for many artist to follow while gaining recognition as one of the first American artists to be famous in his time.

http://www.biography.com/articles/Jackson-Pollock-9443818

Richard Diebenkorn

Image of Ocean Park No. 24, Oil on Canvas by Richard Diebenkorn

"It wasn't art that I was interested in; it was drawing and painting...I had no real understanding of drawing and painting as art."- Richard Diebenkorn

For a man that was interested in art he most certainly acquired some kind of understanding of it because throughout Diebenkorn's life he became one of the most influential American Abstract Expressionists. Diebenkorn was born in Portland Oregon on April 22, 1922, his family relocated to San Francisco two years after that. Although is parents were not particularly supportive of his interest in the arts, Diebenkorn found encouragement in his grandmother, who fostered his visual imagination by giving him illustrated books, taking him to local galleries and impressing upon him a love for European heraldic imagery.

Diebenkorn disappointed his parents by choosing art as his major for his undergraduate studies at Stanford University in 1940. There he met Daniel Mendolowitz, one of his art history professors and mentors who introduced the aspiring painter to the work of modernists such as Henri Matisse and Edward Hopper, whose works would prove formative to Diebenkorn's artistic development. Diebenkorn married in 1943 and enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corps directly after, serving for two years. The young artist then returned to California and used his GI Bill to enroll in the California School of Fine Arts, and soon became a faculty member a year after. In the 1950s, Diebenkorn pursued his Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of New Mexico. Throughout the 1950s he moved between across the nation gaining inspiration from it all. While in the Southwest in acquired the use of bright planes of color in organic shapes and borrowed techniques from New York.

Diebenkorn was such a talent, but this only came from many years of study. He was truly influenced by Clyfford Still, Arshile Gorky, Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Edward Hopper. He was also inspired by some critics of the time- David Park and Daniel Mendelowitz. Another thing the pushed Diebenkorn in an international spotlight was his involvement in the San Fransisco-Bay Area School artists. Many of the artists involved were those who were mentioned above-his influences.

Richard Diebenkorn achiecved a rare feat in the life of an artist, which is to approach painting from many different angles and to take earnest inspiration from other artists while maintaining originality. Although Diebenkorn did not reach the level of fame of Abstract Expressionists of the New York School, his influence on artists of the latter half of the 20th century is undeniable.

Image of Diebenkorn in the 1950s

Information From:

A Concise History of American Painting and Sculpture by Matthew Baigell

www.theartstory.org/artist-diebenkorn-richard.htm Article written by Kara Fiedorek

Images From:

wallpapers-free.co.uk

www.theartstory.org

Mark Tobey

(Mark Tobey at Geyserville Baha'i school in 1944)

Photo taken by Arthur L. Dahl

The American painter, poet, and composer Mark Tobey was born in Centerville, Wisconsin in December 11, 1890. Tobey was the youngest of 4 siblings whose parents were George and Emma Tobey. George Tobey, Mark's father, was a capenter and house builder. Mark Tobey was mostly self-taught but did study at the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois. In 1918, Tobey converted to Bahaism. His Persian beliefs had a great impact on his life and his art as the following quote from Tobey explains:

"The root of all religions from the Baha'i point of view, is based on the theory that man will gradually come to understand the unity of the world and the oneness of mankind. It teaches that all prohets are one- that science and religion are based on two great powers which must be balanced if man is to become mature. I feel my work has been influenced by these beliefs. I've tried to decentralize and interpenetrate so that all parts of a painting are of a related value..Mine are the Orient, the Occident, science, religion, cities, space, and writting a picture."

Mark Tobey traveled all around the world and in one of his travels he was introduced to Chinese caligraphy and Arab and Persian writing. Because of these skills he picked up in his travels, Tobey was often compared to Jackson Pollock because of his style of painting. Tobey used a method he called "white writting" which is an overlay of white or light colored caligraphic symbols on an abstract field of thousands of small and interwoven brush strokes.

"A painting should be a textile, a texture. That's enough! Perhaps I was influenced by my mother. She used to sew and sew. I can still see that needle going. Maybe that's what I'd rather do than anything with the brush-like stitching over and over and over, laying it in, going over, bringing it up, bringing it up. That's what is difficult."

Sources: Google images, and biography.com

Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler, born in New York City, in 1927, is considered to be a transitional artist between Abstract Expressionism and Color-Field painting. Color-Field Painting is similar to Abstract Expressionism and emerged in New York City in the 1940's and was inspired by European modernism.

Frankenthaler attended Dalton School where she studied under Rufino Tamayo as well as Bennington college. After college, she returned to her native land where she met Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollack and Arshile Gorky where she was inspired to join the generation of Abstract Expressionism. Frankenthaler receives a lot of credit for being one of the first Abstract Expressionists as well as the first female to focus on Abstract Expressionism. Eventually, Frankenthaler had great impact on many artists such as Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis, and many more.

Throughout the years, Frankenthaler has received many awards; her most recent awards were the National Medal of Arts, which she obtained in 2001, and the Skowhegan Medal for Painting (2003). She currently resides and works in Connecticut.

(Above: Madame Butterfuly, Helen Frankenthaler)

Sources: www.biography.com www.flikr.com

Haida Tribe Masks / Bill Reid: The Raven and the First Men

Haida Masks - Ethnological Museum in Berlin

The Haida were one of many Northwest Coast Native American tribes that revered the Raven as a trickster and transformer. They believed that this particular bird set into motion the world as it was. Such examples of the Raven's deeds would be his releasing of the sun from a wooden chest, thus granting light to the world, and by opening a clam shell in order to coax the first men out so that he could play. To the Haida, the Raven became a common figure throughout all of their art forms. In the picture above, the Raven is shown in the form of masks, which were most likely worn in ceremonies in order to pay homage to it.

The Raven and the First Men by Bill Reid, 1980. Vancouver, British Columbia.

As with before, the story of the Raven coaxing the first men out of a clam shell in order to play is a powerful story of the Raven's deeds to shape the world. In this particular piece, Bill Reid portrays just that. Bill Reid is a contemporary Haida sculptor who still uses a style not unlike his ancestors did in ages past. His heritage is clearly important to him, and thus he shares the stories of those who came before him to modern audience.

Picture 1: www.flickr.com from quinet's photostream
Picture 2: www.flickr.com from goldberg's photostream

Paul Revere:The Bloody Massacre (1770)

The Bloody Massacre. 1770. Hard-colored engraving. 8 15/16 x 10 11/14 in. Currently at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York, NY.

The picture above was created by Paul Revere (who in turn copied this after artist Henry Pelham) which depicted the Boston Massacre of 1770 as a brutal attack on the American colonists by the British. It started when the Americans started to rebel against the British troops, causing them to open fire ultimately kill five people. This Massacre and later pictures which represented it fueled the idea that the British were heartless brutes who would kill in the face of turmoil and conflict.

However, in the later years it is looked at as propaganda, depicting the Americans as poor, helpless victims, while the British gun them down--even with a random dog between them to garner sympathy.In truth Americans were protesting the British against their taxes, to which violence arose and the British shot, mainly in self defense. The five deceased--Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Patrick Carr, and Crispus Attucks--are shown either on the ground or being carried by survivors (except for Attucks, who as a freed African slave had to be "replaced" in the picture by a dead white man).

This type of propaganda fueled the idea of Britons being ruthless, killing fiends, while the Americans were pure, true and only fighting for what was right. Both sides had flaws and both sides needed support any way they could. When The Boston Massacre happened, it gave critics of England and the crown to verbally attack them for their hold on America. Although legend says this depiction of the Boston Massacre started the Revolutionary War, in truth it had started long ago. This just helped pour more gasoline onto the flames.

Source:(photo and information) Library of Congress www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661777

Thomas Cole: View on the Catskill, Early Autumn

Thomas Cole. Oil on canvas, 1836-37, 39 x 63 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Thomas Cole was well known for his breathtaking paintings of landscapes. In 1825, Cole discovered the beauty of the Catskill wilderness which he depicts in the painting "View on the Catskill, Early Autumn". The painting was in response to the construction of the Canajoharie and Catskill Railroad through his much loved Catskill wilderness. The painting, however, does not include the construction of the railroad. Cole wanted to paint the landscape the way he knew it before the deforestation. Cole wrote about the deforestation:

"The copper-hearted barbarians are cutting all the trees down in the beautiful valley on which I have looked often with a loving eye—this throws quite a gloom over my spring anticipations—tell this to Durand, not that I wish to give him pain, but that I want him to join with me in maledictions on all dollar-godded utilitarians."

Even though the Cole chose to omit the construction of the railroad he still leaves a small warning in the left corner of a stump of a tree that has been cut down. The people in the foreground are enjoying nature without disrupting it "showing a healthy relationship between human beings and the natural environment, one which Cole hoped would be preserved despite the onslaught of technology"

Source: http://www.thomascole.org