A major solo exhibition opens at Musée National Picasso–Paris in October 2024.
Jackson Pollock in East Hampton, NY, September 1953. Photo: Tony Vaccaro. © Tony Vacarro Archives
Kasmin announces exclusive global representation of the artwork of Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) through the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Pollock was an Abstract Expressionist painter and defining figure of postwar American art, whose paintings and visionary techniques rank among the most recognizable and influential in the 20th century. In just under three decades, Pollock revolutionized the modes of art making for generations to come.
Pollock’s representation marks an artistic reunion between his work and that of Lee Krasner (1908-1984), which Kasmin has represented through the Pollock-Krasner Foundation since 2016. This is the first time in a half century that these legendary American painters will share a gallery. Pollock joins the gallery’s roster alongside 20th-century artist estates and foundations including William N. Copley, JB Blunk, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, Barry Flanagan, Jane Freilicher, Lee Krasner, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, Robert Motherwell, George Rickey, James Rosenquist, and Dorothea Tanning.
This October, the Musée National Picasso–Paris will mount Jackson Pollock: The Early Years, 1934–1947 (October 15, 2024–January 19, 2025). This major exhibition, the first of Pollock’s work in France since 2008, focuses on the diverse array of influences in the artist’s early career as reflected in over 100 works including loans from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate, United Kingdom and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue.
Also in October, Kasmin will present a selection of previously unexhibited works on paper at Frieze Masters in London to foreground a pivotal chapter in the artist’s early career. Employing Surrealist techniques of automatic drawing, Pollock’s experimental works on paper reveal the psychological force driving his working method in the early 1940s and set the stage for the physiological drips that would define a major cultural breakthrough by the end of the decade. Pollock’s embrace of Carl Jung’s theories of the unconscious was at its strongest at this time, and his artistic output on paper documents a key technical transition in medium leading to a sophisticated mastery of the line. Rapid mark making in multicolored pencil and crayon become detailed linework and crosshatches in pen and ink, illustrating multiple images on a single support. Pollock’s imagery in these years reflects a myriad of formative influences, from Picasso to the Mexican Muralists and indigenous visual cultures. Pollock would soon cover entire surfaces to “veil the imagery,” in his words, giving way to powerful constellations that blur figure and ground as in his landmark painting Mural, commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim in 1943 and now held by the Stanley Museum of Art.
Ronald D. Spencer, Chairman & CEO of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, said: “We are pleased to continue our collaboration with Kasmin through their representation of the works of Jackson Pollock. The significance of Jackson Pollock’s contributions to the art historical canon cannot be overstated, and we look forward to Kasmin’s support in continuing to share his legacy with the world—in concert with our collective championing of the work and legacy of Lee Krasner.”
Eric Gleason, Head of Sales at Kasmin, says: “To unite Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock under the same gallery roof once again, and to be able to further strengthen the mission of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, is truly an honor. Jackson Pollock is the most iconic artist of the post-war era, and yet there are substantive elements of his life and oeuvre that remain thoroughly under-recognized. In the coming years, beginning with the revelatory exhibition set to open at the Musée National Picasso–Paris, Kasmin will work with the Foundation and a series of major institutions to develop exhibitions and scholarship that broaden our collective understanding of this titan of modern art.”
Nicholas Olney, President at Kasmin, says: “Kasmin’s representation of the work of Jackson Pollock through the Pollock-Krasner Foundation marks a keystone moment in the gallery’s history, exemplifying our commitment to rigorous artistic and intellectual inquiry. The forthcoming presentations of Pollock’s work offer a profound window into the artist’s early psyche as he processed the unconscious imagery that would go on to drive one of the greatest creative breakthroughs of the 20th century.”
Pollock’s work can be found in world-renowned collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Dallas Museum of Art; Glenstone, Potomac, MD; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Stanley Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA; Artizon Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fondation Beyeler, Basel; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; National Gallery of Art, Canberra, Australia; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Tate, London, and many others.
About Jackson Pollock
Best known for the drip painting technique he innovated in the late 1940s, Pollock’s work rerouted the trajectory of art history. Often covering the entirety of the canvas with house paint dripped and splattered from all angles, Pollock achieved international renown for his powerful abstractions that traced poured lines of paint, disregarding conventions of composition. In recent years, his early and late figurative works have received renewed critical attention, revealing a constant interplay between abstraction and figuration in his paintings.
Pollock drew from his varied interests, ranging from Picasso and the European avant-garde to Mexican muralism, Indigenous symbolism, Jungian psychoanalysis, and jazz. He gravitated toward Surrealist automatism early in his career, a hallmark of his sketchbook drawings including those created while undergoing psychoanalysis. Echoing the formal developments of his canvas paintings, Pollock’s works on paper capture key innovations throughout his career
Among the first Americans to be considered on the same tier as the European modern masters, Pollock paved the way for wider institutional recognition for his Abstract Expressionist contemporaries and his legacy stretches the globe. The work and writing of the next generation of artists, including Allan Kaprow, Donald Judd, the Gutai group in Japan cemented his wider influence and placed him amid the most influential artists of the 20th century.
Born in Wyoming and raised in Arizona and California, Pollock arrived in New York in 1930 and studied with muralist Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League before working for the WPA Federal Arts Project and in David Alfaro Siqueiros’ workshop over the next decade. In 1945, two years after his first solo exhibition, Pollock married artist Lee Krasner and moved to Springs, NY, where he made many of his landmark paintings on the floor of his barn studio. With crucial support from Krasner, gallerist and collector Peggy Guggenheim, influential critic Clement Greenberg, and others, Pollock’s international recognition would rise to an unprecedented height for an American artist by the 1950s, despite his struggle with alcoholism. After Pollock’s unexpected death in a car accident in 1956, Krasner would continue to champion his art, facilitating major exhibitions and acquisitions of his work.
In his lifetime, Pollock was the subject of solo exhibitions at Art of This Century, New York; Arts Club of Chicago; Betty Parsons Gallery, New York; Sidney Janis Gallery, New York and Museo Correr, Venice, among other venues. He participated in influential group exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1948, 1950, 1956) and the historic Ninth Street Show (1951). Following his death, solo exhibitions of his work have been staged at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1956, 1967, 1968, 1998, 2015-16), IV Bienal de São Paulo (1957, circulated by MoMA International Council through 1959), Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1963), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1982); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1997-98), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2005-06, 2020), National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (2012), Tate Liverpool (2015), Kunstmuseum Basel (2016) and Musée National Picasso–Paris (2024-25), among many other museums.
About the Pollock-Krasner Foundation
For nearly four decades, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation has supported working artists and cultural organizations internationally. Established in 1985 through the generosity of Lee Krasner, one of the foremost abstract expressionist painters of the 20th century, the Foundation is a leader in providing resources to emerging and established artists. To date, the Foundation has awarded more than 5,100 grants totaling over $90 million in 80 countries. The Foundation continues to accept applications for its individual grant program year-round; for more information, including guidelines for grant applications, visit the Foundation’s website: www.pkf.org. To learn more about Pollock-Krasner Foundation grantees, and the artistic legacies of Krasner and Pollock, visit the Foundation’s Instagram (@pollockkrasnerfoundation).
About Kasmin
Founded in New York in 1989, Kasmin represents over 40 international artists and estates, revealing through lines across generations and disciplines. The gallery has long championed artists with an independent vision, and its commitment to innovative painting, sculpture and photography has anchored its mission through an evolution in leadership, with Kasmin appointing long-standing director Nicholas Olney as President, Eric Gleason as Head of Sales, and Edith Dicconson and Mariska Nietzman as Executive Directors. Situated in the heart of Chelsea since 2000, Kasmin’s two primary galleries accommodate major exhibitions and inaugurated the rooftop Kasmin Sculpture Garden in 2018, expanding its history of engaging the public with monumental projects. Kasmin participates in leading international art fairs, and its artists regularly exhibit at premier museums and institutions. The gallery encourages critical discourse through its publishing programs, Kasmin Books and The Kasmin Review.
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