Jackson Pollock: A Life from Beginning to End

by Hourly History

Jackson Pollock was without a doubt one of the twentieth century’s most controversial painters. He started out painting abstracts in the style of Pablo Picasso but soon branched out, establishing the “drip” method, which entails dripping or flinging paint directly onto the canvas. For this, he was both praised and demonized; still, he persisted on his own chosen path.

While art was his life, alcohol ruled it. At age 44, Pollock died while driving under the influence down a winding road. It was only after his death that Jackson Pollock gained mainstream notoriety and became one of America’s most celebrated painters. This was certainly made clear in 2015 when one of his pieces, known as Number 17A, sold for $200 million, making it the fifth most expensive painting ever sold.

Discover a plethora of topics such as
Born on the Prairie
Inside the Psychiatric Institute
Working for Peggy Guggenheim
First Major Breakthrough
Struggling to Survive
Late Life and Death
And much more!

49 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 28, 2022

About the author

At Hourly History, we focus on publishing history books that are concise, straightforward and take no longer than one hour to read.

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Reviews

[Murray ᛘᚢᛦᛦᛅᛁ]

the extremist

I knew nothing of Pollock’s life before reading this essay although I knew about his art. Alcoholism was the demon that brought out his worst side and eventually claimed his life in a DUI. His paintings are worth millions now and he is credited with leading the way into the creation of art not subject to any restrictions, designs or limitations. But his life was a life of lostness and pain with infrequent periods of happiness and any sort of artistic or life satisfaction.

[D. Thrush]

This 49-page bio gave me a quick overview of the artist Jackson Pollock. He struggled with alcoholism, depression, and poverty and didn’t see much success during his lifetime. I saw one of his huge abstract paintings at MoMA. I think it was #30. It was dark and sort of mesmerizing. I can’t say I understand him much better but I do like some of his paintings, especially Blue Poles.

[William C. Sneed]

Jackson Pollack and his struggles to survive during hard times

A great read about the struggles that a young upcoming artists must overcome. Sadly Pollack made bad choices and died at an early age.

[Neera Kapahi]

The book is concise but informative and very enjoyable. There was a lot of information about Jackson Pollock in such a short book.

We learn about his upbringing, addictions, struggles and growth as an artist and his eventual fame.

[George Polansky]

For the specialist.

[Emma Dargue]

Good outline of Jackson Pollack 's life and work but not a detailed biography.

[William O. Robertson]

Although a short read, this book provides a good insight as to the painting method that was to become Jackson Pollock' signature style.

[yothebooklover]

It would be good enough for those who want to know Jack more. Nevertheless, some subjective judgement and adjectives should be avoided as it supposed to be a biography.

[Lynda Rodisch]

JACKSON POLLOCK

This book is a good synopsis of Jackson’s life and artistic style. I do wish there were photographs of his paintings.

[Grant Knuckles]

.. 'its just a walk in the park'