Jackson Pollock
Antonia Critien
The solid and spatial world of traditional naturalism, once it was flattened by the fauvists, atomized and disintegrated by the cubists, could no longer serve as an objective foundation. Having reached this point the painter was confronted with an abyss from which he had either to retreat or leap over and start on a new plane. The new plane is ‘abstract art’.
(Victor Pasmore, The Sunday Times, 1961).
It would have been disappointing not to find any books on Jackson Pollock in Pasmore’s collection, as he had much in common with the leading exponent of American Abstract Expressionism. Both post war artists, they had to navigate a new territory whilst searching for new artistic means of expression. They share a deep interest in philosophy and spirituality, their love for music and its reflection in their art, and of course their embrace of abstraction as the truest form of expression. Pollock’s ‘drip paintings’ or ‘action paintings’ have a life of their own and Pollock admits to being barely (mentally) present whilst painting. Actively moving around a large canvas placed on the floor, dripping paint onto it, he went through the motions with no expectations – the paint leading the way. Similarly, Pasmore’s paintings from the 60s have this freedom of expression, a break with form and structure and an aptitude for larger scale. With his prints, Pasmore could regulate the flow of the paint, moving it around until he was satisfied with the image formed, just as Pollock could control the paint being poured directly onto the canvas. Many of Pasmore’s works from this phase have the word ‘development’ in the title. This, he says was used ‘to imply the intrinsic and organic process by which they have been brought into being.’ (Interview with Dennis Duerden, 1970). For both Pollock and Pasmore, it is the process of creation that surpasses the end result.
This book in Pasmore’s collection is one of five books he had on the artist. The exhibition catalogue entitled simply Jackson Pollock, is of an exhibition that took place at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1982. Slipped inside the book is an article on Pollock cut out from the magazine Modern Painters as well as a column piece titled Jack the Dripper by David Cohen.
In 2018, Victor Pasmore’s children, John Henry Pasmore and Mary Ellen Nice, donated over 500 books and exhibition catalogues to the University of Malta, Archives and Rare Books Department
The Victor Pasmore Gallery is open to visitors at APS House, 274 St Paul Street, Valletta.
