Gothic by Jackson Pollock

Gothic, executed in 1944, is a prime example of Pollock’s developing style but also his influences

Inspiring visions of gothic architecture and stained glass, Gothic uses a palette of bold green, yellow, rust and black against a blue background that evokes the sky behind it.

These bold colours seem to dance and twirl as they draw the eye around the painting. The viewer may call to mind one of Picasso's works (Three Dancers, 1925) and indeed it is recorded that Pollock himself gave credit to Picasso’s work as an influence.

The work conjures up images of swirling somewhat abstracted forms of the human body and its constituent parts, much in a similar fashion as the work of Picasso. The style, however, leans towards the abstract.

Known as one of the most famous contemporary artists of the twentieth century and an action painter, Jackson Pollock’s work encompassed other styles and forms before he made firm that style of Abstract Expressionism that utilised dripping and pouring paint directly onto a medium.

The medium is oil on canvas, and is clearly not executed in the manner Pollock went on to develop, characterised by pouring and dripping paint directly onto the canvas or paper.

Is does, nonetheless, hint at the bold, swirling forms that would grace the artist's later work and abstraction is strongly dominant.

Gothic is a large piece, over seven feet high and almost six feet wide, again very much suggesting the dimensions of a gothic cathedral window of stained glass.

Jackson Pollock’s work was influenced, as was other Abstract Expressionist artists, by an appreciation of the work of Carl Jung, whose psychoanalytical studies provided containment and a linking mechanism for the mythic and primitive symbolism that fascinated Pollock and others.

It is not surprising that Pollock’s first encounter with Jung was when the artist was sixteen years old and when viewing his work it is helpful to reflect upon his journey from there, a journey that would encompass several styles before that for which he is best known today.