''Convergence'' is a 1952 oil painting by
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...
.
Composition
Convergence is one of the paintings by American artist
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...
, who is known as a representative of
abstract expressionism. The composition was created on canvas, measuring 93.5 inches by 155 inches. It is an oil painting, which constitutes a wide range of colors, lines and shapes, made by a method of dripping and pouring paint onto a canvas.
Reception and analysis
These lines, spots, circles splattered on a canvas unintentionally convey the artist's emotions. The painting was made during the
Cold War with Russia, and it is considered that the painting represents the idea of freedom of speech.
Other scholars, including
Yve-Alain Bois, have posited that this type of individualistic interpretation fails to account for how Pollock allowed the forces of
gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
and fluidity--not his own hand--to direct the pooling and mixing of the paint.
[Bois, Yve-Alain. “Whose Formalism?” ''The Art Bulletin'' 78, no. 1 (March 1996): 11–12.]
Influence
Springbok Editions made the
jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture.
In t ...
called Convergence in 1964 based on the Pollock's painting. The puzzle consisted of 340 pieces and it was claimed as the most difficult puzzle in the world. The puzzle gained popularity in 1965 when hundreds of thousands of Americans acquired the puzzle.
See also
*
''No. 5, 1948'' – Jackson Pollock
References
External links
Convergence by Jackson Pollock*
Abstract expressionism
Paintings by Jackson Pollock
1952 paintings
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