Was Jackson Pollock the Greatest Modern American Painter? A Quantitative Investigation / David W. Galenson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Galenson, David W.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w8830.

NBER working paper series no. w8830

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Painting, American--20th century.

Painting, American.

Realism in art.

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956.

Pollock, Jackson.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2002.

Cambridge, Massachusetts : National Bureau of Economic Research, 2002.

Summary:

A survey of the illustrations in textbooks of modern art demonstrates that scholars do consider Jackson Pollock the most important modern American painter, but not by a wide margin over Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol, the leading artists of the following generation. The distribution of the illustrations furthermore reveals a sharp contrast in the careers of the major artists of these two generations: the Abstract Expressionists produced their most important contributions late in their careers, whereas their successors innovated early in theirs. This difference resulted from the differing approaches of the artists, for the Abstract Expressionists were experimental innovators, who developed new visual images by a process of trial and error, while the leading artists of the 1960s were conceptual innovators, whose work embodied new ideas.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2002.