On Around And Beyond Jackson Pollock'S

Anastute,beautifullyillustratedexaminationoftherecentlyrestoredtouchstoneofmodernartJacksonPollock’smajorearlyworkMural(1943)wascommissionedbyPeggyGuggenheimfortheentrancehallofherEast61stStreetNewYorkresidence.Mural-sized,thoughnotactuallyamural―theworkispaintedonasix-meter-longcanvas,notdirectlyontothewall―thisvast,frieze-likepanoramawouldbehugelyinfluentialintwentieth-centuryAmericanart.InJacksonPollock'sMural:EnergyMadeVisible,DavidAnfamexploresthepaintinganditsimpactbywayofthedifferentthemesitincorporates,includingtheimageryofactionandprocess,thebigpicture,the“gothic,”thebody,dance,andRomanticism,relatingthemtoarthistoricalprecedents,AbstractExpressionism,Pollock’spsychology,andthecontextofAmericanartandcultureinthepre-andpostwaryears.ThisanalysisisaccompaniedbyreproductionsofPollock’sworkaswellasimageryfromtheperiodthatshedslightontheartist’sdevelopment.GiftedtotheUniversityofIowaMuseumofArtin1948,Muralhasrarelytraveled,anditisnowthefocusofatravelingexhibitioncuratedbyAnfam.ThisaccompanyingvolumeofferscrucialanalysisandhistoricalbackgroundononeofPollock’smostsignificantworks.106illustrations,67incolor