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Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950
Jackson Pollock (American, 1912–1956)
Enamel on canvas; H. 105, W. 207 in. (266.7 x 525.8 cm)
George A. Hearn Fund, 1957 (57.92)
©1999 Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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Description
Jackson Pollock was perhaps the most celebrated member of the New York School and the Abstract Expressionist movement. Abstract Expressionism marked a radical shift in painting. Even today, a half-century later, a work like Autumn Rhythm is still challenging. Like his fellow Abstract Expressionists, Pollock rejected both the subject matter and methods of traditional painting. He developed a technique of pouring, dripping, and spattering paint directly onto the canvas. Pollock spread his large canvases on the floor and moved around them as he worked, putting his whole body into the process of painting.
Autumn Rhythm, one of Pollock's largest canvases, uses the very process of painting to convey meaning. There is no recognizable imagery. The content is born from the choreographed gestures of the artist, which are transformed into the painting's energetic field of sweeping arabesques. The rhythmic skeleton of black paint supports an intricate web of subtle color. The dense, all-over pattern of the painting is literally a visual record of the artist's creative act. Beholding the painting allows us to enter into the very drama of its making.
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