Untitled
1951
Jackson Pollock American, 1912–1956
United States
In 1951, a pivotal year for Jackson Pollock, the artist made a body of work that reincorporated aspects of the natural world that were absent from his purely abstract work of the previous four years. Typical of this new style, Untitled exhibits vigorous, spiraling gestures, but also forms that suggest written language or pictograms.
That same year, Pollock was given a supply of highly absorbent handmade paper made of pure fiber, with no sizing or glues. The ink he used to make Untitled, which he applied with an eyedropper, spread out in all directions as it seeped into the paper, in a manner that mimicked his famous drip paintings.
Brown ink, dripped, with touches of pen and black ink, on mottled, tan wove paper