Pollock and Lichtenstein

Question 1. What painter was named “someone who knocked you flat with his arbitrariness” (by Clement Greenberg)?

Answer: Jackson Pollock

Pollock (1912-1956) is a well-known 20th-century American Abstract Expressionist painter. Early in his career Pollock took advantage of the New Deal's work-relief projects. For eight years he was supported on the federal payroll through the Works Progress Administration program and could devote himself solely to his art. Much of his work done during this time is lost. Later he was influenced in part by experimental Mexican muralist, David Alfaro Siqueiros; it was in his workshop that Pollock first tried unorthodox techniques like pouring and flinging enamel paint for its spontaneous effects.

He was discovered by Peggy Guggenheim who encouraged him in his development of his unique style, who showed his work, and who helped him buy a homestead on Long Island. Soon here he created works using the all-over drip style for which he is today so well-known.

American art critic Clement Greenberg was particularly supportive of Pollock, considering him the greatest painter of his generation and calling him “the most powerful painter in contemporary America and the only one who promises to be a major one." He believed that creators of modern art were moving towards an emphasis on flatness. Evidently to him flatness of the picture plane symbolized a formal sort of purity he considered desirable over more traditional work done by the Old Masters (who had of course considered flatness undesirable when trying to show perspective, form, and naturalism in a painting).

One of Pollock's early paintings, “Male and Female” (1942), can today be seen in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Examples of his drip "action" paintings can be seen at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Question 2: What painter was named “the worst artist in the U.S.” (by Life Magazine)?

Answer: Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) is known as the great 20th-century artist of the pop art movement. His work was heavily influenced by comics. In fact, it is said that his children had provoked him by saying that "daddy could not paint as well as the images in the comic books," so it may have been his own kids who are responsible for the artist's fascination with the imagery of comics. He used stencils to produce the large Ben-Day dots that often make up his work, and also used a simple graphic style with black outlines and flat colors. He wanted his work to look machine-made. He did not want his brushstrokes to show. Critics praise Lichtenstein’s work by saying that the popular and iconic imagery used in his work like comic strips, ads, or dollar bills made his work “accessible.”

On January 31, 1964, Life Magazine published an article about Lichtenstein entitled, “Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?” discussing the controversial aspects of his work. One critic flat-out called him “no artist at all,” commenting that his work is “tedious copies of the banal.”

Lichtenstein was once a tenant in the huge nine-room bank building at 190 Bowery in New York City, of which the owner once stated that the homeless drunks who relieved themselves on his doorsteps were disgusting but typically chased away by the drug dealers. The owner bought the 35,000-square-foot building in 1966, which was a storage facility at the time, and says he bought it when nobody wanted it. Now 190 Bowery has been labeled a landmark by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Lichtenstein’s work today can be seen in the National Gallery and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.

Sources:

Bailey, Colin J. The Art Quiz Book: 2000+ Questions on Painters and Paintings. Station Press: Scotland, 1995.

Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press, 2007.

“Roy Lichtenstein.” Fondation Beyeler: Germany, 1998.

Print Article

Email Article

View All Articles

How to subscribe to feeds