Illustration by Maria Manhattan
Jackson Pollock was born on January 28, 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. He spent most of his childhood in Arizona and California. In 1929, Pollock moved to New York City to attend the Art Students League. Although he never again lived in the West, he frequently dressed in cowboy clothing and was thought to have personality traits like those of legendary cowboys. He tended toward melancholy and was a quiet loner. Pollock achieved notoriety in 1943 when his friend Peggy Guggenheim, of The Guggenheim Museum, gave him a contract and his first solo show. He is best known for his mural-size works and technique involving the application of paint with sticks, trowels, knives, and dripping paint.
