the artist, Springs, N.Y. (until d.1956; his estate, New York, 1956–62); Lee Krasner Pollock, New York (1962–d.1984; her estate, New York, 1984–90; sold to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Jackson Pollock: Early Sketchbooks and Drawings," October 21, 1997–February 8, 1998, no catalogue.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Jackson Pollock," November 1, 1998–February 2, 1999, no. 22.
Venice. Museo Correr. "Jackson Pollock in Venice," March 23–June 30, 2002, no. 14.
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "Surrealism: Dreams on Canvas," May 26–August 12, 2007, unnumbered cat. (p. 47).
Kunstmuseum Basel. "The Figurative Pollock," October 2, 2016–January 22, 2017, no. 20.
Bryan Robertson. Jackson Pollock. New York, 1960, pp. 97, 134, pl. 84, lists this work among those strongly influenced by modern Mexican art, especially Siquieros and Orozco, and exhibiting Pollock's first explorations in abstraction; additionally notes the influence of Scythian sculpture.
Francis V. O'Connor. "The Genesis of Jackson Pollock, 1912 to 1943." PhD diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1965, pp. 187–88, pl. 52, calls this one of Pollock's "Mexican" drawings.
Francis Valentine O'Connor and Eugene Victor Thaw, ed. Jackson Pollock: A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Drawings, and Other Works. Vol. 3, Drawings, 1930–1956. New Haven, 1978, p. 62, no. 467, ill., date it ca. 1938–39.
Lisa M. Messinger in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 1989–1990." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 48 (Fall 1990), p. 77, ill.
Lisa Mintz Messinger. "Pollock Studies the Mexican Muralists and the Surrealists: Sketchbook III." The Jackson Pollock Sketchbooks in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1997, pp. 71, 73–74, 79, 84 n. 36, p. 86, no. III:8r, relates the mechanical bull on the bottom half of this composition to Orozco's frescoes "The Horses" and "Mechanical Horse" (both 1938–39; Hospicio Cabañas, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico).
Kirk Varnedoe in Kirk Varnedoe Pepe Karmel. Jackson Pollock. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1998, p. 25, colorpl. 22.
Alexander B. Herman and John Paoletti. "Re–Reading Jackson Pollock's 'She–Wolf'." Artibus et Historiae 25, no. 50 (2004), p. 153 n. 17, relate the arrow piercing an animal in this drawing to the arrow depicted in Pollock's painting "She–Wolf" (1943; Museum of Modern Art, New York); remark that this composition can also be read upside–down, "in this rotated orientation a humanoid bird figure appears at the left".
Charles A. Riley II inSurrealism: Dreams on Canvas. Exh. cat., Nassau County Museum of Art. Roslyn Harbor, 2007, pp. 46–47, ill. (color).
Nina Zimmer inThe Figurative Pollock. Ed. Nina Zimmer. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Basel, 2016, pp. 98, 100, no. 20, ill. (color) pp. 67, 116.
Jackson Pollock (American, Cody, Wyoming 1912–1956 East Hampton, New York)
ca. 1938–39
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.