Jackson Pollock 51 (1951)

The photography of German photographer Hans Namuth is largely credited for Pollock’s rise to fame, and as the painter gained a higher profile, along with Abstract Expressionism in general, Namuth returned to capture Pollock’s “action painting” on video for the short documentary below. In a cinematically brilliant move, Namuth asked Pollock to create a painting on glass, so that he could film underneath, giving the viewer the experience of actually being the canvas. Lacking a lighting crew, they shot in the cold Long Island expanse of grassland outside of Pollock’s home.

Released July 19, 1951 11 min None+

Genres: Biography, Documentary, Short

Keywords: tmdb.art, tmdb.short-film, mdblist.imdb-short, mdblist.one-actor, imdb.art-documentary, imdb.painter, imdb.canvas + 3 more, imdb.glass, imdb.painting, imdb.artist