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Applied Humanities

Themes in Visual Art Seeing Connections By James Romaine 2 Module Two: Introduction to the Humanities, continued / Page 2.1.6 Seeing Connections On this page: 0 of 5 attempted (0%) | 0 of 2 correct (0%) Objective: Learn how to identify thematic and compositional connections both within and across works of art.

Jackson Pollock’s painting Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) proposes a particular way of looking and thinking. In its material and compositional construction, this work of art urges us toward a greater attentiveness to detail and awareness of interconnectivity. These are tools that we can also apply beyond the gallery.

Figure 1

This Jackson Pollock painting consists of many different splatters and streaks of black, white, and brown paint strewn densely across a beige background.

Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson Pollock. Enamel on canvas, 1950. 8′ 9″ × 17′ 3″.

Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm and the Art of Seeing Connections

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In this section, you will analyze an abstract painting by Jackson Pollock. Use the information and images provided to answer the questions below.

Creating Connections in the Studio

Looking at art is a process of seeing connections. However, the connection that we have as viewers with a painting is, in many ways, the result of the connections that the artist developed with the work of art while making it. As the painting took shape, the material began to create connections with itself. Material that was being applied established connections with other material that had already been applied. A mark in one part of the composition could have a relationship with a mark in another area of the painting. The entire painting thus became a network of these relationships. These connections are what we observe and engage with as we look at the finished work of art. They suggest that the process of us viewing a work of art is, in many ways, a reversal of the process of the artist creatively interacting with his or her materials. Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm exemplifies this reversal in how the painting so clearly evidences the process of its creation.

Figure 2

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In this black-and-white photo, Jackson Pollock uses a paint brush to fling black paint across a white canvas spread on the floor under his feet.

Jackson Pollock at work in his studio.

Autumn Rhythm was created with a method that some viewers might find unusual (Figure 2). Pollock would take a piece of unprimed canvas and lay it on his studio floor. Using brushes and sticks, he would then drip, pour, and fling paint onto the canvas. As Pollock himself explained:

My painting does not come from the easel.... On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting. This is akin to the method of the Indian sand painters of the West. (Pollock, 1948)

He elaborated on his immersive process:

When I am in my painting, I am not aware of what I’m doing. It is only after a sort of “get acquainted” period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well. (Pollock, 1948)

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Pollock’s statement emphasized his connection with the material. The creative process for the visual artist is one of taking material and giving it form in a way that communicates meaning. This engagement with the materials, as Pollock noted, is one of give and take. The successful result of this creative process is a work of art that has a life of its own.

Multiple-Choice Question

What do you think Pollock might mean by a work having “a life of its own”?

As a painting starts to take shape, Pollock feels his role is to help it fully take on that shape and identity. The painter is working mostly subconsciously and really has no control over how such works come out. Once painted, the art exists apart from the artist and becomes whatever the viewer sees. The paintings come to Pollock as a vision, and his job is to faithfully transcribe that vision.

Seeing Connections in the Gallery

Seeing connections in a work of art that we encounter in a gallery is, first of all, a matter of looking carefully and being open to the work. The finished work of art is composed of relationships. Our process of seeing and responding to these connections begins with a careful visual study of the painting itself. Initially, Autumn Rhythm may seem to be a weird and random web of paint. However, a close study of the painting’s details will reveal that the paint has been applied with a high level of technical precision. For example, if we look at a passage of paint near the center top (Figure 3 and Figure 3a), we can observe three parallel loops of paint.

Figure 3

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This Jackson Pollock painting consists of many different splatters and streaks of black, white, and brown paint strewn densely across a beige background. An arrow has been overlaid on the painting to indicate three parallel loops of black paint near the top of the painting.

Detail from Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm.

Figure 3a

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This image is a zoomed-in portion of the same Jackson Pollock painting portrayed in the previous image. An arrow has been overlaid on the painting to indicate three parallel loops of black paint near the top of the painting.

Detail from Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm.

One of the common criticisms of Pollock’s paintings is the “I could do that” response. While anyone could make a random mark by flinging paint, it would take a more skilled painter to make a fluid loop.1 But how many artists could make that exact same mark a second time? And could anyone, short of a painter of Pollock’s caliber, make a third nearly identical mark? But Pollock did. After making a mark, he made two parallel marks. This passage is not an isolated case. It, and others like it, demonstrate the skill with which Pollock worked. These three marks also demonstrate how the life of Autumn Rhythm emerges from the relationships of its material.

In looking carefully at Autumn Rhythm, we learn to trust the painting. In return, the painting rewards our investment of careful and detailed observation. Thus a connection is made between us and the painting.

Short-Answer Question

In your own words, summarize the above argument, which claims that where the paint lands is not random, and that the painting provides evidence of how the paint was thoughtfully and skillfully applied.

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Connecting the Parts to the Whole

While Autumn Rhythm was created by applying paint in a process that seems unusual to many viewers (Pollock might object to this assessment of his process as “nontraditional,” on the grounds that Native Americans have a tradition of making art by pouring material on the ground), the painting’s composition is, by contrast, fairly conventional.

The compositional structure that we find in Autumn Rhythm is principally created by Pollock’s use of visual density. As the paint lies across the surface of the unprimed canvas, which is visible throughout the painting, this paint is more compactly organized in some places, and more loosely applied in others. Also, since dark colors read as having more visual weight than light colors, the darker paint reads as solid and immobile, while the light paint reads as more fluid. By using the material density and visual weight of his colors, Pollock was able to create areas of the composition that are more visually solid, and other areas that are visually open. For example, the composition is more visually opaque across the bottom than across the top. More of the raw canvas is visible through the open areas across the top.

The compositional impact of this visual density becomes more apparent if we turn Autumn Rhythm upside down (Figure 4). Some of Pollock’s critics might suggest that Autumn Rhythm looks the same turned upside down, but this is clearly not the case. The visual solidity of the paint that Pollock placed across the bottom of his composition becomes an unsupported visual weight, one that threatens to crash down onto us.

Figure 4

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This Jackson Pollock painting consists of many different splatters and streaks of black, white, and brown paint strewn densely across a beige background. In this image, the painting has been turned upside down.

Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm, inverted.

However, if we return the composition to Pollock’s orientation, the visual weight across the bottom of the painting anchors the explosive composition.

Figure 1

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This Jackson Pollock painting consists of many different splatters and streaks of black, white, and brown paint strewn densely across a beige background.

Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm in normal orientation.

Through his use of visual density, Pollock was also able to create forms and movement within his composition. For example, in the painting’s lower left, the paint forms into a clockwise rotating circle (Figure 5).

Figure 5

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This Jackson Pollock painting consists of many different splatters and streaks of black, white, and brown paint strewn densely across a beige background. A circular arrow has been laid over the lower left area of the painting to indicate a perceived clockwise rotation of paint.

Detail from Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm.

Since, in Western art, we read an image starting from the lower left, this circle draws our eye into the composition. Also, some of the most visually dense areas of the composition are at the far right, especially the upper right (Figure 6).

Figure 6

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This Jackson Pollock painting consists of many different splatters and streaks of black, white, and brown paint strewn densely across a beige background. Arrows point to a box that has been laid over the rightmost quarter of the painting, indicating an area that is denser with dark paint.

Detail from Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm.

As we read the painting from left to right, this visual impenetrability at the right prevents us from visually exiting the painting and redirects us back into the composition. The upper center of Autumn Rhythm is the least densely painted area. This relative openness creates a visual core around which the rest of the composition turns. Our study of Pollock’s composition not only further evidences his artistic skills; it also demonstrates how the painting’s impact on us is born out of numerous connections between its material and visual elements.

As we continue to carefully study Autumn Rhythm, we should not let our attention to its details distract us from looking at the painting as a whole. A careful study of Pollock’s composition reveals how it is deliberately created out of a unity of its elements. Pollock has done a masterful job of interconnecting the parts of his composition without making any of them stand out from the rest. His achievement was so impressive that art historians created a term for his method: “all-over painting.” This means that our eye is drawn all over the composition rather than being directed toward a single focal point. While not every viewer will be familiar with the term “all-over painting,” seeing the connections that make up Autumn Rhythm does not require any special knowledge about the artist or art history. Seeing these connections requires only careful looking and visual literacy.

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Short-Answer Question

Composers use timbre, texture, pitch, and dynamics, among other tools, to create an impression on people who experience their work. List four of the tools described above that are used by painters to create their works.

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Seeing Connections Across Art History

In this section, you will compare aspects of Pollock’s work to those of works by other artists. Use the information and images provided to answer the questions below.

While it is possible to have a very rich experience looking at Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm without any knowledge of the artist or art history (only working with what we can observe by looking carefully at the painting), there are subtle connections that knowledge of the artist or art history can reveal. For example, Jackson Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming. The landscape of the American West, as well as how that landscape had been depicted in art, was an important influence on him.

Figure 7

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This painting depicts a broad landscape in the Rocky Mountains. A tall, snowcapped peak towers in the fading background over lesser mountains in the nearer distance and smaller foothills near the foreground. Amid these foothills, a waterfall tumbles into a lake. The foothills behind the lake and the flat ground to the left of it are covered in trees. A level plain stretches in front of the lake, covering the foreground, and there is a group of Native American people with tents and horses camped on the plain.

The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak by Albert Bierstadt. Oil on canvas, 1863. 6′ 1.5″ × 10′ 0.75″.

FineArt/Alamy

Therefore, if we compare (that is, pay attention to connections between) Autumn Rhythm by Jackson Pollock and The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak (Figure 7) by Albert Bierstadt, we can see Pollock’s painting in a new way.2 For example, both paintings are very large. That means that, as we stand in front of the painting, it encompasses our entire field of vision. Both paintings draw us into a pictorial space, a depiction of space within the painting, that is vast. Bierstadt’s landscape opens up with a group of Native Americans in the foreground area. Behind them is a large lake. As we travel (in our imaginations) further into the distance, we climb into the mountains. The landscape seems to extend endlessly, suggesting a sense of boundless possibility.

Likewise, Autumn Rhythm presents us with an immeasurable distance. Looking at this painting is like looking at the stars on a clear night. There is no point at which the space within the painting comes to a definitive end. While Bierstadt’s painting suggests the promise of a geographic, westward expansion, Pollock’s painting draws us into an inward journey (what Carl Jung called the “collective unconscious”). Although these

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two paintings are separated by nearly a century, they share a common spirit. Both of them visualize an ethos of limitless and inevitable possibility, a nod to the historical concept of manifest destiny. Recognizing the connections between Pollock’s art and a history of American aspiration and adventurism expands our appreciation of Autumn Rhythm.

Figure 8

Battle of the Naked Men by Antonio Pollaiuolo. Engraving, ca. 1465. 1′ 3.25″ × 1′ 11.25″.

Archivart/Alamy

Seeing Unintentional Connections

Our examination of Autumn Rhythm can also uncover connections that were unintentional. For example, walking through the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Pollock’s work fresh in our memory, we might encounter a print by the Italian Renaissance artist Antonio Pollaiuolo entitled Battle of the Naked Men (Figure 8). There is no evidence that Pollock knew this work (even though it is probably the most famous engraving of the Italian Renaissance) or that he used it as a model. And yet the

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compositional structure in both Autumn Rhythm and Battle of the Naked Men is similar. Both compositions have a circular, clockwise-moving form in the lower left (Figure 9). In both works, the center of the composition consists of a group of interconnected forms that revolve around an open core (Figure 10). At the right, in both works, there is a density of material that visually blocks our exit from the composition and redirects the eye toward the center (Figure 11).

Figure 9

This engraving depicts ten naked men fighting each other in front of a cornfield and what appears to be a crop of grapes. The men wield swords, axes, knives, and a bow and arrow. Shields, scabbards, and discarded weapons lie on the ground at the combatants’ feet. To the left of and just behind the leftmost man, there is a sign written in Latin. The words on the sign are not clear. Two circular arrows are laid over the image in the lower left corner, where two of the men are struggling with each other on the ground. The arrows indicate a clockwise movement in the poses of the two men.

Detail from Pollaiuolo’s Battle of the Naked Men.

Archivart/Alamy

Figure 10

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This engraving depicts ten naked men fighting each other in front of a cornfield and what appears to be a crop of grapes. The men wield swords, axes, knives, and a bow and arrow. Shields, scabbards, and discarded weapons lie on the ground at the combatants’ feet. To the left of and just behind the leftmost man, there is a sign written in Latin. The words on the sign are not clear. Two circular arrows are laid over the image in the upper central area, where four men are battling. The arrows highlight how the poses of the four men create a counterclockwise motion around an open central space between them all.

Detail from Pollaiuolo’s Battle of the Naked Men.

Archivart/Alamy

Figure 11

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This engraving depicts ten naked men fighting each other in front of a cornfield and what appears to be a crop of grapes. The men wield swords, axes, knives, and a bow and arrow. Shields, scabbards, and discarded weapons lie on the ground at the combatants’ feet. To the left of and just behind the leftmost man, there is a sign written in Latin. The words on the sign are not clear. Vertical arrows are overlaid on the right side of the engraving, where one man is crouched over another, stabbing him, and a third man stands tall with an axe raised over his head. The arrows indicate that this side of the image is very densely packed with the men’s figures.

Detail from Pollaiuolo’s Battle of the Naked Men.

Archivart/Alamy

In Pollaiuolo’s print, these “forms” are figures in action. In Pollock’s painting, these forms are abstract accumulations of fluid paint. Therefore, at least at first, the two works might not “look” similar, especially if we are focused on what the image depicts rather than how it is depicted. Nevertheless, as compositions, the structures of these works are alike.

If, as we noted, Pollock was not using Pollaiuolo as a model, what accounts for these compositional similarities? Both artists were aware that we would be reading their composition starting from the lower left and moving toward the right. Both artists wanted to create a dynamic and free-flowing composition that did not have only one focal point. The fact that they arrived at comparable solutions is an interesting observation, one that has the potential to further enrich our reading of both works.

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This comparison of Pollock and Pollaiuolo demonstrates how we have permission to look for connections that the artist did not deliberately create. So long as these connections are rooted in careful observation of the work of art itself and do not directly contradict what we know about the artist and art history, we are at the point where the connections find completion.

Multiple-Choice Question

When composing their works, what did both Pollaiuolo and Pollock assume about their viewers?

Viewers would base their judgments of the works primarily on the colors used. Viewers would be appreciative of the visual arts. Viewers would read the composition from left to right. Viewers would take time to discover the connections between the two works.

Conclusion

Jackson Pollock’s painting process was spontaneous and personal, but it was not subjective or random. Autumn Rhythm cultivates in us a similar approach to viewing art. Like Pollock’s method of painting, looking at art and seeing connections is a process of practiced intuition. Our attentiveness to how meaning emerges from relationships begins with a careful visual examination of the work of art. Here we should pay attention to the internal connections, the relationships between the material and the visual elements of the work of art. For some viewers, this is where the process ends. It is possible to have a rich engagement with the work of art by simply noticing these internal connections.

Of course, a richer understanding of the work can develop if we have some knowledge of the artist and art history. Countless relationships are possible between two or more works of art. In some cases, two works of art can even have a relationship that was not deliberately created. However, each new connection adds another layer of meaning to the work.

Response Board What can you now see in this painting that you couldn’t see before?

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Figure 1

This Jackson Pollock painting consists of many different splatters and streaks of black, white, and brown paint strewn densely across a beige background.

Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson Pollock. Enamel on canvas, 1950. 8′ 9″ × 17′ 3″.

1 There is a famous story about the Renaissance artist Giotto in which he was approached by representatives of the pope. The pope sought to commission some art and wanted to know whether Giotto was skillful. The representative asked Giotto for a drawing that would demonstrate his skills. Giotto took a piece of paper and drew, freehand, a perfect circle. The representative was indignant, assuming that Giotto was mocking his request. But the pope, who recognized that only a great artist could draw a perfect circle without a compass, was impressed.

2 While we can’t definitively say that Pollock had seen Albert Bierstadt’s The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak, it is one of the best examples of a type of American landscape painting with which Pollock would have been familiar.