If you had to choose one artist who personified Abstract Expressionism—someone who put New York on the map as the epicenter of the art world in the post–World War II era, and whose passion literally exploded the restrained, modernist mind-set of abstract art in general—that artist would be Jackson Pollock. When his celebrated “drip” paintings arrived on the scene in the late 1940s, the eyes of art lovers around the world widened with awe and excitement, and a burst of creative energy was released. Pollock became an overnight superstar, a 20th-century icon, and once his vision imprinted we would never be able to look at art the same way again.
Last spring, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, with a Pollock collection unrivaled by any other museum worldwide, presented an exhibit of highlights from that collection, representing all the stages of his career, including the massive One: Number 31, 1950 (at top of page), widely considered his masterpiece. Below is a PROVOKR showcase of some of our favorite gems.
