No. 5, 1948
No. 5, 1948 | |
---|---|
Artist | Jackson Pollock |
Year | 1948 |
Type | Oil on fiberboard |
Dimensions | 2.4 m × 1.2 m (8 ft × 4 ft) |
Location | Private collection, New York |
No. 5, 1948 is a 1948 painting by
Composition
The painting was created on
"You spent money on 'that'?" The initial reaction of Ted Dragon, Ossorio's partner.[4]
Damage and rework
The painting was modified by Pollock after it was originally created. During January 1949, it was being shown in a solo Pollock show at the Betty Parsons gallery. It was from here that Alfonso A. Ossorio decided to purchase a "paint drip" composition; he chose No. 5, 1948 and paid $1,500. It was the only canvas sold from the show.[4] At some point, presumably during the moving process, the painting became damaged, according to Grace Hartigan.[5] "Home Sweet Home [the shipping company] came in with a painting in one hand and a lump of paint from the center of the painting in the other hand." Hartigan gave Pollock some paint and he patched the painting before it went to Ossorio, saying "He’ll never know, never know." When the painting was subsequently delivered to Ossorio, he claimed that he noticed "a portion of the paint - actually the skin from the top of an opened paint can - had slid"[6] leaving a "nondescript smear amidst the surrounding linear clarity," as he explained in a 1978 lecture at Yale. Pollock offered to rework the painting but, according to Hartigan, he "repainted the whole thing again" and stated that "He'll never know. No one knows how to look at my paintings, he won’t know the difference." After three weeks, Ossorio visited Pollock's studio to inspect the painting. Ossorio was confronted with an artwork which was repainted onto fiberboard, with "new qualities of richness and depth" as a result of Pollock's "thorough but subtle repainting." It was clear that Ossorio still liked the painting despite the rework, and continued to attest that the "original concept remained unmistakably present, but affirmed and fulfilled by a new complexity and depth of linear interplay. It was, and still is a masterful display of control and disciplined vision." Pollock repaired the damage to the painting by completely repainting the original, in contrast to how other artworks are repaired. The reconstruction had not only retained but reinforced the metaphysical concept of the painting, and has become what Ossorio calls "a wonderful example of an artist having a second chance".
Ownership
- Jackson Pollock: 1948 – January 1949
- Alfonso A. Ossorio: January 1949 – Unknown
- Samuel Irving Newhouse, Jr.: Unknown
- David Geffen: Unknown – November 2006
- Efthimios Hatzis
According to a report in
Popular references
The lyrics of The Stone Roses song "Going Down" include a reference to the painting: "(There) she looks like a painting - Jackson Pollock's Number 5..." The Stone Roses' guitarist John Squire created cover artwork for many of the band's releases on Silvertone Records in a style similar to that of Jackson Pollock.
The painting played a central role in the film Ex Machina (2015), in which billionaire tech firm CEO Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) owns the painting and uses it as an object lesson for the protagonist Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), noting that No. 5, 1948 would never have come into existence if Jackson Pollock only painted what he already knew. This is contrasted to the way an AI comes to know, thus emphasizing the problem of consciousness and epistemology.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ The Intricate Style in No. 5 Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- ^ "What Paint Did Pollock Use?" Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- ^ Jackson Pollock's No.5, 1948 - More than a Dense Birds Nest Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- ^ ISBN 9780316309417.
You spent money on 'that'?
- ^ Oral history interview with Grace Hartigan, 1979 May 10 Retrieved 31 August 2014
- ^ Landmarks Preservation Retrieved 31 August 2014
- ^ Vogel, Carol (November 2, 2006). "A Pollock Is Sold, Possibly for a Record Price". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ "Pollock work 'earns record price'". BBC News. November 3, 2006.
- ^ "The Week in Mexico". San Diego Union-Tribune. November 12, 2006.
- ^ "Art Market Watch". Artnet. November 3, 2006. Retrieved November 8, 2006.