JACKSON POLLOCK
“Number 9A - Summertime”, 1948
oil on canvas, 84.8- 555 cm. - London, Tate Gallery (www.tate.org.uk) © Jackson Pollock Foundation
Pollock is the most important figure of the American abstract expressionism, and he has recently been considered as the artistic figure that marks the two halves in which the 20 th century is traditionally divided: the modern and the contemporary.
“Summertime” is one of the most brilliant works of Pollock's splendour, that we could locate between 1946 and 1950. With a remarkable horizontal format, Pollock gives the composition a sensational rhythm and movement, which many critics have identified with a series of dancing figures. As in many of his masterpieces, Pollock has used the drip - the direct application of the enamel on the canvas, forming nervous outlines- along with the spots of pure colour. While in many occasions Pollock's works are rather disappointing, often falling into a senseless figuration, in works like “Summertime”, the “Lavender Mist” (Washington, National Gallery), the “Out of the Web” or “Lucifer”, to mention some of its masterpieces, Pollock is revealed as the dynamic and colossal genius able to canalize the tremendous energy of his psyche and transforming it into gesture.
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