The Course Project, Part 4: Research Paper History Essay

Course Project: Research Paper
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Course Project: Research Paper
Art has an imprint throughout the history of humanity, and it must be preserved bearing its value. Like the essence of creativity, art inhibits multiple forms that have consistently been exploited to satisfy different needs. Significant events that occur in human nature are accompanied by artistic inputs that normally instill advanced or newer perspectives in the occurrences of the world. One such occurrence was the Second World War that triggered a wave of new inputs in art. At the end of the war, artists changed their style and focused more on both personal and community experiences. This gave birth to some of the notable works of contemporary art galleries. This paper focuses on the works of Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock, the two contemporary artists who used their works The Three Flags and Autumn Rhythm to sway America into culturalism and timeless representation, albeit through different styles and techniques. The Three Flags and Autumn Rhythm are unique and important to contemporary America’s art bearing their exploration of the themes of timeless representation and culturalism through works that bore differences in backgrounds, features, feelings, and textures.
Jackson Pollock – Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)
Jackson Pollock – Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) (1950), Enamel paint on canvas: 266.7 cm (105.0 in) × 525.8 cm (207.0 in)
Features
Jackson Pollock is another one of the artists who revitalized the nature and perception of art in the post-war era. Pollock linked his works majorly with his personality and what he believed as a human. Pollock believed that painting is a state of being. Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he/she is. For Pollock, the paint was simply part of the process. It was not the only thing that mattered. Pollock exemplified what he said he represented through his artwork. A connection with one’s emotions was key. Everything was connected, including the process of painting. What is significant in terms of his work is that it represents a continuous organic whole in which opposites are in a constant process of being synthesized, reexamined, and resynthesized. While painting Autumn Rhythm, emotional expressions dominated the piece.[Meyer, Richard. What Was Contemporary Art? 2013.] [Hall, James. “The American Picasso.” New Statesman & Society, Dec 07, 1990, 26, https://search.proquest.com/docview/224414279?accountid=130654.]
Autumn Rhythm is a work that implied an onset of drip painting as a major element in artistic attributes in the post-war era. Autumn Rhythm was completed in October 1950, a few years after Pollock’s first drip painting. In his understanding, this was the new and acceptable approach to paint handling. The philosophy is implied throughout the work. In the un-representational Autumn Rhythm, a thinned paint was applied to unprimed un-stretched canvas that lay flat on the floor. That defied the flat lays propped on an easel. The pigment was applied in the most unorthodox means ever witnessed at the time. The artist splattered, flicked, stumbled, dribbled, dripped, and poured the pigment. The artist as well as used knives, trowels, and sticks to build up dense and lyrical compositions constituting composition in line. Intentionally, the artist avoided the expected input of the traditional painter’s implement. Pollock’s disregard for traditionalism in this work is further implied in the lack of a central point of focus, lack of a hierarchy of elements, and exploration of every surface as an important element of the work. With canvas on the floor, the artist moved all around it while applying the paint. There is a feeling of a complete representation of all the corners, considering the even distribution of the paint.[Thorn, Tracey. “Off the Record.” New Statesman, Oct 2018, 59,https://search.proquest.com/docview/2130260806?accountid=130654.]
The size was a matter of importance to Pollock going by the dimensions of Autumn Rhythm. The work is 207 inches wide. To Pollock, that was the expected representation that assumed the scale of an environment. The evolution of the work in such a large size is to give both the artist and the intended viewers an enhanced perception. Autumn Rhythm compliments its size with an intricate application of visual rhythms. The artist’s new methods are efficiently representative and can be seen in complicated applications. The pooling lines of color, swirling, arcing, graceful evidence, and buoyancy all showcase Pollock’s removal from the traditional artistic approaches. Pollock affirmed his control of the paint by indicating that the Autumn Rhythm bears no accident. That happens amidst the critical views that link the work to a lack of meditation.[Rose, Bernice. “Jackson Pollock, drawing into painting.” 1980. The Museum of Modern Art.] [Hall, James. “The American Picasso.” New Statesman & Society, Dec 07, 1990, 26, https://search.proquest.com/docview/224414279?accountid=130654.]
The theme of Timelessness Representation
Pollock’s lack of representation in Autumn Rhythm has been viewed as an element of significance both in the early days of the work and even contemporarily. Timeless representation implies the ability of a work to instill the emotions of its viewers without segregating them on the grounds of age, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic background. Autumn Rhythm bears a large commanding presence of resounding colors and size. One would expect a direct representation of a specific demographic into the work. That was not the case as Pollock did not instill any obvious representation in Autumn Rhythm. The work is made for every person, no matter their cultural background or age. With lack of representation comes the timelessness of Autumn Rhythm. Any person has the freedom to connect with the work without feeling alienated. Autumn Rhythm’s emergence at a time when the nation was recovering from the ills of the war commanded the desire for inclusivity. Also, at the time, emotions were high, sexual, race, and gender differences were heightening consistently, and Americans needed something to accord them a sense of belonging. Autumn Rhythm employed its timeless nature to represent all the individuals who would feel the isolation of socio-political and economic structures.
Theme of Culturalism
Autumn Rhythm tells America’s cultural story. America yearned for a cultural hero to revert its paths to the basics. They needed someone who would remind them of their ideals and the meaning of the nation to their prosperity. That is the void that Pollock filled with Autumn Rhythm. The hyper-masculine performance in Pollock’s work was his avenue of manifesting that he could fit into the post-war ideals of masculinity. From Autumn Rhythm, Pollock’s works would effectively be linked to heroic outputs. He represented a country that was at the brink of a cultural fallout at a time of need.
Culturalism is one of the most outstanding themes in Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm (Number 30). Culturalism is a thematic expression that emphasizes the value of culture as the primary organizing force in human affairs. In the construct of culturalism, individuals tend to eliminate binaries between opposing phenomena to create a common sense of purpose. Post-war artists employed culturalism from the inputs of Znaniecki who insisted on supporting realism between culture and nature. The multifaceted nature of culturalism makes it a theme that post-war artists found befitting to their needs. Instilling the value of culturalism would steer every person in society towards a common purpose. Remarkably, the war disintegrated American society. In Pollock’s understanding, people viewed themselves from the point of dissociation. Aspects such as culture were dissociated from nature, and multiple elements of culture showcased allegiance to diversion. Emphasizing the message of culturalism in Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm bore the possibi...