Unit 4 Reading and Vocabulary Quiz

A Painter for His Times

Section I
It has become a cliché, but many of the greatest artists die unrecognized. This applies in few other areas more than painting, where new movements tend to have an unsettling effect on the establishment. Yet arguably the greatest painter of the post-war period, an artist that turned not just the commercial art world on its head, but also schools of art worldwide, was firmly established as a master well before his death at the age of just forty-four.

Section II
How did Jackson Pollock manage this feat? First, by virtue of his location: he was perhaps the first all-American master, trained and practicing in the States rather than heading over to France like his predecessors. America was the land of advertising, of marketing, and gallery owners and artists alike had a firm grasp of what it took to get recognition. The post-war period was when the center of the art world moved from Paris to New York, and it was from there that a new style began to emerge called Abstract Expressionism.

Section III
Abstract Expressionism took many forms, but it rejected any kind of figurative motive – artists were not meant to be representing anything on their canvas, but rather meant to be inspired by the process of painting itself, the operation of applying paint to canvas. Pollock developed a version of this that was revolutionary in the extreme; he would tack a canvas to the floor of his studio and move around it, throwing, dripping, and squirting paint onto it rather than using a brush. People who saw him at work described a man who appeared to be in a kind of trance, dancing around the piece applying layer after layer until it satisfied some inner voice.

Section IV
What this produced were a series of pieces that have been dubbed “drip paintings” and that arrived on the art scene like a bomb. Critics were divided, some condemning them as the confused and random daubs of an inferior painter, others hailing Pollock as the new American Picasso. Pollock always maintained that he worked far less from instinct and used more craft and technique than was believed.

Section V
The “drip period” lasted just three years, in fact, after which he moved to a new style, but it is for those paintings that he is popularly remembered. His painting No. 5, 1948 was sold in 2006 to an anonymous buyer for the then-record sum of $140,000,000, and his artwork has graced album covers and T-shirts, as well as influenced generations of artists that followed him.

Section VI
There are critics today that put Pollock’s success down to politics. He emerged at the time of the Cold War, where the USA was in conflict with the Soviet Union. Part of this struggle was certainly a cultural one, and both governments channeled money towards their native artists in an attempt to promote a national vision. Yet this does not explain Pollock’s unique talent, and there is certainly nothing establishment about his art. It is more likely his anarchic, chaotic canvases appealed to an atomic-age audience, living as they were in a world on the verge of self-destruction.

 

A Painter for His Times

Section I
It has become a cliché, but many of the greatest artists die unrecognized. This applies in few other areas more than painting, where new movements tend to have an unsettling effect on the establishment. Yet arguably the greatest painter of the post-war period, an artist that turned not just the commercial art world on its head, but also schools of art worldwide, was firmly established as a master well before his death at the age of just forty-four.

Section II
How did Jackson Pollock manage this feat? First, by virtue of his location: he was perhaps the first all-American master, trained and practicing in the States rather than heading over to France like his predecessors. America was the land of advertising, of marketing, and gallery owners and artists alike had a firm grasp of what it took to get recognition. The post-war period was when the center of the art world moved from Paris to New York, and it was from there that a new style began to emerge called Abstract Expressionism.

Section III
Abstract Expressionism took many forms, but it rejected any kind of figurative motive – artists were not meant to be representing anything on their canvas, but rather meant to be inspired by the process of painting itself, the operation of applying paint to canvas. Pollock developed a version of this that was revolutionary in the extreme; he would tack a canvas to the floor of his studio and move around it, throwing, dripping, and squirting paint onto it rather than using a brush. People who saw him at work described a man who appeared to be in a kind of trance, dancing around the piece applying layer after layer until it satisfied some inner voice.

Section IV
What this produced were a series of pieces that have been dubbed “drip paintings” and that arrived on the art scene like a bomb. Critics were divided, some condemning them as the confused and random daubs of an inferior painter, others hailing Pollock as the new American Picasso. Pollock always maintained that he worked far less from instinct and used more craft and technique than was believed.

Section V
The “drip period” lasted just three years, in fact, after which he moved to a new style, but it is for those paintings that he is popularly remembered. His painting No. 5, 1948 was sold in 2006 to an anonymous buyer for the then-record sum of $140,000,000, and his artwork has graced album covers and T-shirts, as well as influenced generations of artists that followed him.

Section VI
There are critics today that put Pollock’s success down to politics. He emerged at the time of the Cold War, where the USA was in conflict with the Soviet Union. Part of this struggle was certainly a cultural one, and both governments channeled money towards their native artists in an attempt to promote a national vision. Yet this does not explain Pollock’s unique talent, and there is certainly nothing establishment about his art. It is more likely his anarchic, chaotic canvases appealed to an atomic-age audience, living as they were in a world on the verge of self-destruction.

A Painter for His Times

Section I
It has become a cliché, but many of the greatest artists die unrecognized. This applies in few other areas more than painting, where new movements tend to have an unsettling effect on the establishment. Yet arguably the greatest painter of the post-war period, an artist that turned not just the commercial art world on its head, but also schools of art worldwide, was firmly established as a master well before his death at the age of just forty-four.

Section II
How did Jackson Pollock manage this feat? First, by virtue of his location: he was perhaps the first all-American master, trained and practicing in the States rather than heading over to France like his predecessors. America was the land of advertising, of marketing, and gallery owners and artists alike had a firm grasp of what it took to get recognition. The post-war period was when the center of the art world moved from Paris to New York, and it was from there that a new style began to emerge called Abstract Expressionism.

Section III
Abstract Expressionism took many forms, but it rejected any kind of figurative motive – artists were not meant to be representing anything on their canvas, but rather meant to be inspired by the process of painting itself, the operation of applying paint to canvas. Pollock developed a version of this that was revolutionary in the extreme; he would tack a canvas to the floor of his studio and move around it, throwing, dripping, and squirting paint onto it rather than using a brush. People who saw him at work described a man who appeared to be in a kind of trance, dancing around the piece applying layer after layer until it satisfied some inner voice.

Section IV
What this produced were a series of pieces that have been dubbed “drip paintings” and that arrived on the art scene like a bomb. Critics were divided, some condemning them as the confused and random daubs of an inferior painter, others hailing Pollock as the new American Picasso. Pollock always maintained that he worked far less from instinct and used more craft and technique than was believed.

Section V
The “drip period” lasted just three years, in fact, after which he moved to a new style, but it is for those paintings that he is popularly remembered. His painting No. 5, 1948 was sold in 2006 to an anonymous buyer for the then-record sum of $140,000,000, and his artwork has graced album covers and T-shirts, as well as influenced generations of artists that followed him.

Section VI
There are critics today that put Pollock’s success down to politics. He emerged at the time of the Cold War, where the USA was in conflict with the Soviet Union. Part of this struggle was certainly a cultural one, and both governments channeled money towards their native artists in an attempt to promote a national vision. Yet this does not explain Pollock’s unique talent, and there is certainly nothing establishment about his art. It is more likely his anarchic, chaotic canvases appealed to an atomic-age audience, living as they were in a world on the verge of self-destruction.

A Painter for His Times

Section I
It has become a cliché, but many of the greatest artists die unrecognized. This applies in few other areas more than painting, where new movements tend to have an unsettling effect on the establishment. Yet arguably the greatest painter of the post-war period, an artist that turned not just the commercial art world on its head, but also schools of art worldwide, was firmly established as a master well before his death at the age of just forty-four.

Section II
How did Jackson Pollock manage this feat? First, by virtue of his location: he was perhaps the first all-American master, trained and practicing in the States rather than heading over to France like his predecessors. America was the land of advertising, of marketing, and gallery owners and artists alike had a firm grasp of what it took to get recognition. The post-war period was when the center of the art world moved from Paris to New York, and it was from there that a new style began to emerge called Abstract Expressionism.

Section III
Abstract Expressionism took many forms, but it rejected any kind of figurative motive – artists were not meant to be representing anything on their canvas, but rather meant to be inspired by the process of painting itself, the operation of applying paint to canvas. Pollock developed a version of this that was revolutionary in the extreme; he would tack a canvas to the floor of his studio and move around it, throwing, dripping, and squirting paint onto it rather than using a brush. People who saw him at work described a man who appeared to be in a kind of trance, dancing around the piece applying layer after layer until it satisfied some inner voice.

Section IV
What this produced were a series of pieces that have been dubbed “drip paintings” and that arrived on the art scene like a bomb. Critics were divided, some condemning them as the confused and random daubs of an inferior painter, others hailing Pollock as the new American Picasso. Pollock always maintained that he worked far less from instinct and used more craft and technique than was believed.

Section V
The “drip period” lasted just three years, in fact, after which he moved to a new style, but it is for those paintings that he is popularly remembered. His painting No. 5, 1948 was sold in 2006 to an anonymous buyer for the then-record sum of $140,000,000, and his artwork has graced album covers and T-shirts, as well as influenced generations of artists that followed him.

Section VI
There are critics today that put Pollock’s success down to politics. He emerged at the time of the Cold War, where the USA was in conflict with the Soviet Union. Part of this struggle was certainly a cultural one, and both governments channeled money towards their native artists in an attempt to promote a national vision. Yet this does not explain Pollock’s unique talent, and there is certainly nothing establishment about his art. It is more likely his anarchic, chaotic canvases appealed to an atomic-age audience, living as they were in a world on the verge of self-destruction.

A Painter for His Times

Section I
It has become a cliché, but many of the greatest artists die unrecognized. This applies in few other areas more than painting, where new movements tend to have an unsettling effect on the establishment. Yet arguably the greatest painter of the post-war period, an artist that turned not just the commercial art world on its head, but also schools of art worldwide, was firmly established as a master well before his death at the age of just forty-four.

Section II
How did Jackson Pollock manage this feat? First, by virtue of his location: he was perhaps the first all-American master, trained and practicing in the States rather than heading over to France like his predecessors. America was the land of advertising, of marketing, and gallery owners and artists alike had a firm grasp of what it took to get recognition. The post-war period was when the center of the art world moved from Paris to New York, and it was from there that a new style began to emerge called Abstract Expressionism.

Section III
Abstract Expressionism took many forms, but it rejected any kind of figurative motive – artists were not meant to be representing anything on their canvas, but rather meant to be inspired by the process of painting itself, the operation of applying paint to canvas. Pollock developed a version of this that was revolutionary in the extreme; he would tack a canvas to the floor of his studio and move around it, throwing, dripping, and squirting paint onto it rather than using a brush. People who saw him at work described a man who appeared to be in a kind of trance, dancing around the piece applying layer after layer until it satisfied some inner voice.

Section IV
What this produced were a series of pieces that have been dubbed “drip paintings” and that arrived on the art scene like a bomb. Critics were divided, some condemning them as the confused and random daubs of an inferior painter, others hailing Pollock as the new American Picasso. Pollock always maintained that he worked far less from instinct and used more craft and technique than was believed.

Section V
The “drip period” lasted just three years, in fact, after which he moved to a new style, but it is for those paintings that he is popularly remembered. His painting No. 5, 1948 was sold in 2006 to an anonymous buyer for the then-record sum of $140,000,000, and his artwork has graced album covers and T-shirts, as well as influenced generations of artists that followed him.

Section VI
There are critics today that put Pollock’s success down to politics. He emerged at the time of the Cold War, where the USA was in conflict with the Soviet Union. Part of this struggle was certainly a cultural one, and both governments channeled money towards their native artists in an attempt to promote a national vision. Yet this does not explain Pollock’s unique talent, and there is certainly nothing establishment about his art. It is more likely his anarchic, chaotic canvases appealed to an atomic-age audience, living as they were in a world on the verge of self-destruction.