This drawing is a near duplicate of another. Pollock placed two sheets of thin rice-paper on top of one another and dripped black and red ink onto the first so that much of it bled through to this second sheet; he then added touches of white gouache. The drawings were probably done on 16 January 1951 at a birthday party for the artist's friend, chief supporter and great champion of Abstract Expressionism, the critic Clement Greenberg. Pollock gave the other version to Greenberg.
Jackson Pollock (American, 1912 - 1956)
Born in Wyoming, Pollock became the figurehead of the American Abstract expressionist movement. It was partly because of him and his revolutionary style that the centre of interest of the art world shifted from Paris to New York after the Second World War. His fascination with Jungian psychology and the technique of automatism advocated by the Surrealists (many of whom moved to New York during the war) influenced him to abandon traditional methods of composition and technique. He developed what became known as an 'all-over manner', avoiding a compositional focus. Pollock often preferred to drip paint with the aid of sticks or a basting syringe, earning him the nickname 'Jack the Dripper'.
