The cigar box in the Museum of Modern Art.

[El Presidente]

Great read 

 

Jackson Pollock Out of the Box

A Depression-era cigar box reveals Pollock before the drips.

Alexander Nemerov

Aug 5, 2024

 

A lone cattle-herder sits at the base of a cactus. It is the Depression. Jackson Pollock has recently arrived in New York at age 18, come from the west to study with Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League. Pollock’s famous drip paintings are more than a decade in the future. Right now the young artist is just trying to get up to speed, finding out what he has to say, on any surface he can find. In cash-strapped times an empty cigar box will do.

 

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