“Painting is self discovery. Every good artist paints what he/she is.”
~ Jackson Pollock
(1912-1956)
Wow last night someone paid $181. 2 million for a Jackson Pollock at a Christies auction in New York. I promise you I was not the underbidder. I love Pollock paintings but in life one has to sometimes be somewhat practical. I wish I owned a Modigliani or a Degas or a Francis Bacon. That is not reality either for me, but I do love great portraits of artists I revere. This is without doubt the greatest portrait of Pollock ever taken by the great Life Photographer Martha Holmes.
It deservedly made the August 8th 1949 cover with the headline “Is he the greatest living painter in the United States ?” Yesterday’s buyer obviously felt very much the same.