CHAPTER 1. Jackson Pollock's Drip Paintings: Tracing the Introduction of Alkyds Through Non-invasive Analysis of Mid-1940s Paintings

Abstract

The aim of the present chapter is to evaluate the introduction of oil-modified alkyd resins in the painting practice of Jackson Pollock. Using a non-invasive approach based on FT-IR reflection spectroscopy measurements, eleven works by the artist dated from 1942 to 1947 have been examined at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (PGC, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation) in Venice. The selected years represent a seminal period of experimentation for Pollock, which marked his evolution from a more figurative subject matter to full abstract painting, achieved with his unconventional dripping technique. The study of eleven works from the PGC has been integrated with previous data on other additional fourteen paintings representing Pollock's artistic production from 1943 to 1952. The results confirm that dripping paints appeared before the use of alkyds, Pollock in fact started experimenting with his new technique using both artists' and house paints. Oil-modified alkyds were introduced for the first time in two paintings of 1946, although offered Pollock the suitable binder for expansively expressing his action painting in works after 1947.