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2019 Jackson statement 14x11 Laurence de

Jackson's Statement, 2019, 

Acrylic on canvas, 14" x 11" (36 x 28 cm)

2019 Roys brushstroke 14x11 Laurence de

Roy's brushstroke, 2019, 

Acrylic on canvas, 14" x 11" (36 x 28 cm)

#storybehindtheart

Jackson Pollock

In July 1943, Peggy Guggenheim commissioned Jackson Pollock to create an 8-by-20-foot painting: Mural for her new townhouse, at the suggestion of her friend and advisor Marcel Duchamp. The legend is that the artist painted it in one night after weeks of hesitation but recent research have now proven that the artwork was finished in November and done in several stages.

His comments are based on the following quotes “Every good painter paints what he is », « It doesn't make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement », « a reviewer wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but it was ».

On November 27, the art critic Clement Greenberg who will be key in Pollock success, wrote that his works "are among the strongest abstract paintings I have yet seen by an American”.

Roy Lichtenstein

On November 20 1965, Roy Lichtenstein had an exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery and Brushstrokes was used on the poster of the show. The artist made a series of works depicting enlarged brushstrokes taken from a comic book.
His comment is based on his quote “The importance of art is in the process of doing it, in the learning experience where the artist interacts with whatever is being made ». Lichtenstein painted in the style of abstract expressionists before switching to his comics inspired paintings, and considered that his work was like abstract artists, stating that the subject is secondary to the interpretation.
Andy Warhol asked “How can you say one style is better then another ? (…) an artist ought to be able to change his style without feeling bad”.

 

Sources: "Conservation as a Connoisseurship Tool: Jackson Pollock's 1943 Mural for Peggy Guggenheim, A Case Study"

Jackson Pollock’s Mural for Peggy Guggenheim, Francis O’Connor. 

Lichtensteinfoundation.orgPop Art Redefined, John Russell and Suzi Gablik (eds.), London, 1969

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