Male and Female by Jackson Pollock

Jackson lived a troubled and short life which ended at the age of 44. In 1942, he developed male and female. During this time, Jackson was going through intense psychoanalysis.

Many people believe that therapists treating him encouraged him to do art as a means of treatment. Male and Female was a part of this exercise.

Jackson was influenced by Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro, who are fellow painters. It is quite obvious that the distortion of the human form shown in Male and Female comes from the same Surrealist and Cubism art forms of Joan and Pablo.

In November 1943, Male and Female by Jackson Pollock was included in his magnificent solo exhibition at Art of This Century. Art of this Century is an innovative New York art gallery led by Peggy Guggenheim.

Just as the title suggests, this painting depicts a curvy female figure on the left, with amazing catlike eyelashes and a male figure on the right with a mysterious arithmetic graffiti.

The figure on the right looks like it has a blackboard type surface as a body displaying mathematical symbols and numbers. The image to the left is not as identifiable.

Both figures stand on tiny triangular feet and are surrounded by smeared and splashed oil paint that increases the sense of energy depicted in the two vertical forms.

The shapes shown in the painting; the half, crescent and full moons, bring Jungian ideas to mind. The moon is likened to a dark side.

References to the moon shapes can be seen on both heads. The head on the left has a dark half moon while the head on the right has both a full moon with a shadow across one side and a crescent moon.