Untitled (Figure Composition)

ca. 1938–41

Not on view

Here, Pollock has created a hybrid of the human body and a bird skeleton, suggesting an urge for flight. A hooded figure at right lends the scene a subtly religious or cultic atmosphere. The artist’s sketchbooks of the early 1940s contain a number of original compositions that show him working through the influence of Mexican muralists and Surrealism. The scenes of ritual and transformation that appear in his art at this time draw upon José Clemente Orozco’s distinctive combination of Mesoamerican myths and iconic symbols of industrialization. Pollock’s use of these motifs was also inflected by his entrance into Jungian psychotherapy in 1939; drawing was a component of his treatment.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: Untitled (Figure Composition)
Artist: Jackson Pollock (American, Cody, Wyoming 1912–1956 East Hampton, New York)
Date: ca. 1938–41
Medium: Colored pencils and graphite on paper
Dimensions: 15 in. × 10 1/16 in. (38.1 × 25.5 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Lee Krasner Pollock, 1982
Object Number: 1982.147.40
Rights and Reproduction: © 2010 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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Untitled, Jackson Pollock American, Black ink on paper — Untitled
Jackson Pollock
ca. 1950

Untitled (Page from a Lost Sketchbook), Jackson Pollock American, Brush and ink on paper (recto); brush and ink on paper (verso) — Untitled (Page from a Lost Sketchbook)
Jackson Pollock
ca. 1939–42

Untitled (Figure Composition), Jackson Pollock American, Gouache on paper — Untitled (Figure Composition)
Jackson Pollock
ca. 1938–41

Untitled, Jackson Pollock American, Colored pencils, pen and black ink on paper — Untitled
Jackson Pollock
ca. 1934–37

Sheet of Studies, Jackson Pollock American, Pen and black ink on paper — Sheet of Studies
Jackson Pollock
ca. 1947

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