Number 7 is part of a small group of paintings in which Pollock reintroduced references to the body in his gestural style of abstract painting. With its irregular ovoid shape consisting of extended drips, flicks, and puddles of paint, the composition suggests an overlarge head at three-quarter view. The shape encroaches on the edges of the canvas, creating a feeling of trapped energy distinct from the expansive and unconstrained effect of Number 28, 1950 (MMA 2006.32.51). Pollock characteristically left signs of the creative process in Number 7: footprints in the upper right corner, evidence that he worked on the painting on the floor and from all directions, and yellow and dark red splatters possibly deposited while he worked on a neighboring canvas.
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Lee Krasner Pollock, New York (1952–d. 1984; gift of the artist in 1952; her estate, 1984–85); The Pollock–Krasner Foundation, Inc., New York (1985–87; sold to MMA)
New York. Sidney Janis Gallery. "Jackson Pollock," November 10–29, 1952, no. 7.
London. Marlborough Fine Art Ltd. "Jackson Pollock: Paintings, drawings and watercolours from the collection of Lee Krasner Pollock," June 1961, no. 61.
Düsseldorf. Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen. "Jackson Pollock," September 5–October 8, 1961, no. 98.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Jackson Pollock," October 24–November 29, 1961, no. 116.
Milan. Toninelli Arte Moderno. "Jackson Pollock," November–December 1962, no. 59.
Moderna Museet, Stockholm. "Jackson Pollock," February–April 1963, no. 99 (same as Exh. Düsseldorf and tour 1961).
New York. Marlborough-Gerson Gallery. "Jackson Pollock," January–February 1964, no. 136.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Jackson Pollock," April 5–June 4, 1967, no. 70 (lent by the estate of the artist).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Jackson Pollock," July 19–September 3, 1967, no. 70.
New York. Marlborough-Gerson Gallery. "Jackson Pollock: Black and White," March 1969, no. 21.
New York. Sidney Janis Gallery. "Colossal Scale: The Appeal of the Gigantic Representational Image for Today's Artist," March 9–April 1, 1972, no. 29 (lent by Lee Krassner [sic] Pollock).
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. "Jackson Pollock: The Black Pourings, 1951–1953," May 6–June 29, 1980, unnumbered cat. (pl. 6; as "Number 7, 1952," lent by Lee Krasner Pollock).
Paris. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou. "Jackson Pollock," January 21–April 19, 1982, unnumbered cat. (p. 188; lent by Lee Krasner Pollock, New York).
Rome. Palazzo Venezia. "Jackson Pollock, opere 1930–1956," April–June 1983, unnumbered cat. (lent by Lee Krasner).
New York. Gagosian Gallery. "Jackson Pollock: Black Enamel Paintings," April–May 1990, no. 8 (as "Number 7, 1952).
Venice. Palazzo Grassi. "Biennale, 46 Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte. Identity and Alterity: Figures of the Body 1895–1995," June 11–October 15, 1995, no. VI 27.
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "Pintura Estadounidense Expresionismo Abstracto," October 11, 1996–January 12, 1997, no. 78.
St. Petersburg, Fla. Salvador Dalí Museum. "Pollock to Pop: America's Brush with Dalí," December 9, 2005–April 23, 2006, unnumbered cat.
Nagoya. Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. "Jackson Pollock: A Centennial Retrospective," November 11, 2011–January 22, 2012, no. 64.
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. "Jackson Pollock: A Centennial Retrospective," February 10–May 6, 2012, no. 64.
Royal Academy of Arts, London. "Abstract Expressionism," September 24, 2016–January 2, 2017, no. 74.
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. "Abstract Expressionism," February 3–June 4, 2017, no. 74.
Vienna. Albertina Modern. "Ways of Freedom. Von Jackson Pollock bis Maria Lassnig," October 15, 2022–January 22, 2023, unnumbered cat. (p. 37).
Bryan Robertson. Jackson Pollock. New York, 1960, colorpl. 22.
Lawrence Alloway. "Jackson Pollock." Paletten 1 (1961), ill. p. 82, calls it "Opus".
Yoshiaki Tōno. "Jackson Pollock, or the New Rite of Hate–Love for Image." Mizue no. 672 (April 1961), ill. p. 18.
Hugh Graham. "Trails of the Unconscious." Spectator no. 6936 (June 2, 1961), p. 797, references it as "No. 61" in text, its checklist number in Exh. London 1961.
John Russell. "The Agony of Jackson Pollock." Sunday Times (May 28, 1961).
John M. Nash. "An Artist Who Flung His Paint at the Canvas." Yorkshire Post (May 30, 1961).
Ulf Linde. "Jackson Pollock." Louisiana Revy 4 (September 1963), ill. p. 9.
Kristian Romare. "Att Se Isommar." Sydsvenska Dagbladet (July 24, 1963).
C.H. Waddington. Behind Appearance: A Study of the Relations Between Painting and the Natural Sciences in this Century. Cambridge, Mass., 1969, pl. 89.
Lawrence Alloway. "Pollock's Black Paintings." Arts Magazine 43 (May 1969), p. 42, ill.
Alberto Busignani. Pollock. New York, 1971, fig. 33.
Italo Tomassoni. Pollock. New York, 1978, colorpl. 66.
Francis Valentine O'Connor and Eugene Victor Thaw, ed. Jackson Pollock: A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Drawings, and Other Works. Vol. 2, Paintings, 1948–1955. New Haven, 1978, pp. 176–77, no. 354, ill.
Francis V. O'Connor. Jackson Pollock: Black Pourings, 1951–1953. Exh. cat., Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Boston, 1980, p. 21, pl. 6.
Elizabeth Frank. Jackson Pollock. New York, 1983, p. 93, fig. 85 (color), states that this painting moves towards both figuration and abstraction wtih the head emerging from the "blotches, curves, and flecks" being "entirely nonspecific".
William S. Lieberman inJackson Pollock: Opere 1930–1956. Exh. cat., Palazzo Venezia. Rome, 1983, p. 11.
Flavio Caroli inJackson Pollock: Opere 1930–1956. Exh. cat., Palazzo Venezia, Rome. Venice, 1983, p. 96, ill. p. 71 (color).
Eugene Victor Thaw. "The Abstract Expressionists." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 44 (Winter 1986–87), p. 39, fig. 35 (color).
Lisa M. Messinger in "Twentieth Century Art." Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1987–1988. New York, 1988, pp. 64–65, ill., states that this painting is an example of Pollock's return to figurative images while still working in his signature drip style.
Ellen G. Landau. Jackson Pollock. New York, 1989, ill. p. 216.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inJackson Pollock: Zeichnungen. Exh. cat., Württembergischer Kunstverein. Stuttgart, 1990, p. 66, ill.
Ben Heller. Jackson Pollock: Black Enamel Paintings. Exh. cat., Gagosian Gallery. New York, 1990, p. 24, no. 8 (color).
Patrick Negri. "Signs of Being: A Study of the Religious Significance of the Art of Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko." PhD diss., Graduate Theological Union, 1990, p. 184, fig. 34, calls it "Number 7, 1952".
Nan Rosenthal. "The Pollock Sketchbooks: An Introduction." The Jackson Pollock Sketchbooks in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1997, p. 17, fig. 7, states that this work is an example of Pollock's third mature style in which figuration often returns; notes the spots of paints' resemblance to a helmeted head.
Philippe Monsel. Jackson Pollock, 1912–1956. Paris, 1997, colorpl. 39, as "Out of the Web, Number 7," 1949, in the collection of L.S. Pollock.
Michael Kimmelman. Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre and Elsewhere. New York, 1998, p. 201, calls it "No. 7".
Jordan Kantor inJackson Pollock's Blue Poles. Ed. Anthony White. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Australia. Canberra, 2002, p. 41, ill. p. 43 (color).
Marcia Brennan. Modernism's Masculine Subjects: Matisse, the New York School, and Post–Painterly Abstraction. Cambridge, Mass., 2004, pp.121–24, fig. 4.1 (color), cites this painting as an example of the artist's black and white paintings "poised between the veiling and the exposure of its imagery, and thus between abstraction and its potential for figuration".
William Jeffett inPollock to Pop: America's Brush with Dalí. Exh. cat., Salvador Dalí Museum. St. Petersburg, Fla., 2005, p. 61, ill. p. 62 (color).
Chelsea Pierce and Fabian Leyva-Barragan inJackson Pollock: Blind Spots. Ed. Gavin Delahunty. Exh. cat., Tate Liverpool. London, 2015, pp. 148–49, 156, ill. p. 79 (color), calls it "Number 7, 1952".
Jackson Pollock (American, Cody, Wyoming 1912–1956 East Hampton, New York)
ca. 1938–39
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