Thursday, January 16, 2020

Mural: Jackson Pollock & Katharina Grosse at the MFA Boston

Stretching nearly twenty feet wide by eight feet high, Mural (1943) is the largest painting Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) ever made, and it proved a breakthrough for the artist. Across the painting’s dense and vibrant surface, Pollock’s bold brushstrokes appear to dance rhythmically. Today, Mural is recognized as one of the pivotal achievements of Pollock’s career, the moment when he left figuration behind, expanded the scale of his work, and started to develop his signature drip technique. “I took one look at it,” the critic Clement Greenberg later said, “and I knew Jackson was the greatest painter this country had produced.”
Mural: Jackson Pollock & Katharina Grosse at the MFA Boston


At the MFA, Mural is presented alongside a newly commissioned work by German painter Katharina Grosse (b. 1961). Known for her large-scale site-related installations, Grosse is one of the most important painters of her generation. Since the late 1990s, she has used an industrial paint-sprayer to apply prismatic swaths of color to a variety of surfaces, eroding the distinction between two and three dimensions to create immersive visual experiences.
Mural: Jackson Pollock & Katharina Grosse at the MFA Boston

Mural: Jackson Pollock & Katharina Grosse at the MFA Boston

An interesting juxtaposition of large scale abstract works are on view at the MFA in Boston through February 23rd (2020). Taking up an entire gallery for themselves are Jackson Pollock's sixty-five foot "Mural" from 1943 along side a newly commissioned work from contemporary German artist Katharine Grosse. Grosse's large scale canvas hangs from mid-air along the center of the gallery and drapes to the floor. 

Stretching nearly twenty feet wide by eight feet high, Mural (1943) is the largest painting Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) ever made, and it proved a breakthrough for the artist. Across the painting’s dense and vibrant surface, Pollock’s bold brushstrokes appear to dance rhythmically. Today, Mural is recognized as one of the pivotal achievements of Pollock’s career, the moment when he left figuration behind, expanded the scale of his work, and started to develop his signature drip technique. “I took one look at it,” the critic Clement Greenberg later said, “and I knew Jackson was the greatest painter this country had produced.
Jackson Pollock "Mural" from 1943. 

Pollock's "Mural" is the largest work he ever created and records the moment the artist breaks away from representational art all together and into pure abstraction. Pollock might be seen as the defacto leader of an art movement now remembered as “Abstract Expressionism” a predominantly male, predominantly American group of painters, predominately located in New York City in the 1940’s and 50’s. Also known at times as “Gestural” Painting and, especially when applied to Pollock, “Action” Painting.



In "Mural" Pollock has yet to give up his paint brush in favor of the iconic "drip" style he would create about four years later, but the fluid style is easily seen in this composition.

Jackson Pollock "Mural" (Detail)

“Mural” has travelled far and wide to arrive on the walls of the MFA. Originally offered to Yale by Pollock’s benefactor Peggy Guggenheim- Yale rejected the gift citing little value to its students. Instead the painting was gifted to the University of Iowa where it hung in the library for many years, eventually moving to the University’s Art Museum when it was established in 1969. When flood waters devasted Iowa in 2008, the art museum was hit hard but “Mural” was spared and has been on continuous tour at museums around the world since that time. 

Katharina Grosse at the MFA Boston
Katharina Grosse's large canvas hangs from the ceiling and bisects the gallery with prismatic color. Created using an industrial-sprayer the piece is set at 90 degrees to the Pollock in a way that a viewer can see both at once. 




Mural: Jackson Pollock & Katharina Grosse at the MFA Boston is on view through Febuary 23rd. 
Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)