Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist)
1950
Artist, American, 1912 - 1956
Black, blue, white, silver, russet, and orange paint are here, but no lavender. The title, suggested by a critic who championed the artist, points our attention to light and color effects. Jackson Pollock’s untraditional method of dripping, flinging, and pouring paint seemed random to a doubting public in the 1940s, but his technique was controlled. (“I deny the accident,” he once said.) Moving over and around huge canvases spread on the floor, he aimed to be at one, physically and emotionally, with the process. Pollock’s large, lyrical compositions are groundbreaking examples of abstract expressionist art in the mid-20th century.
NGA, East Building, EU-407-B, W
Artwork overview
-
Medium
oil, enamel, and aluminum on canvas
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 221 x 299.7 cm (87 x 118 in.)
framed: 223.5 x 302.3 x 3.8 cm (88 x 119 x 1 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1976.37.1
More About this Artwork
Video: Jackson Pollock's "Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist)" (ASL)
This video provides an ASL description of Jackson Pollock’s drip painting technique, which played a crucial role in the development of action painting, a key method of the abstract expressionist style.
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Purchased 1951 from the artist through (Betty Parsons Gallery, New York) by Edward F. Dragon and Alfonso A. Ossorio [1916-1990], East Hampton, New York; purchased 1976 through (Thomas Gibson Fine Art Ltd., London) by NGA.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1950
Jackson Pollock Exhibition, Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, 1950.
1961
Jackson Pollock, Kunsthaus, Zurich, 1961, no. 8, repro.
1967
Jackson Pollock, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1967, no. 45, repro.
1978
American Art at Mid-Century: The Subjects of the Artist, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1978.
1982
Jackson Pollock, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1982, no. 264, repro.
1996
Abstraction in the Twentieth Century: Total Risk, Freedom, Discipline, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1996, fig. 106.
1998
Jackson Pollock, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Britain, London, 1998-1999, no. 174, repro.
2013
Angels, Demons, and Savages: Pollock, Ossorio, Dubuffet, The Phillips Collection, Washington; Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York, 2013, no. 4, repro. (shown only in Washington).
2014
Make it New: Abstract Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, 1950-1975, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, 2014, no. 4, repro..
Bibliography
1959
O'Hara, Frank. Jackson Pollock. New York, 1959:26, repro. 53
1960
Robertson, Bryan. Jackson Pollock. New York, 1960: 20, repro.
1962
Ashton, Dore. The Unknown Shore: A View of Contemporary Art. Boston, 1962: repro. 125
1965
Sawyer, Kenneth B. "The Artist as Collector: Alfonso Ossorio." Studio International 196, no. 863 (March 1965):109
1971
Plessix, Francine du. "Opulence and Discrimination: Alfonso Ossorio." in Lipman, Jean, ed. The Collector in America. New York, 1971:202, repro.
1973
Johnson, Ellen. "Jackson Pollock and nature." Studio International 185, no. 956: 262, repro.
1974
Blake, Peter. "Ossorio." Architecture Plus. 2, no. 1 (January/February 1974):68, repro.
1977
Richard, Paul. "The Field Painting As a Metaphor For the Mind of Modern Man." The Washington Post. (May 29, 1977): E2, repro.
1978
King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 116, pl. 75., as Lavender Mist.
1979
Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 134, pl. 120.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 210, repro.
Rosenzweig, Phyllis. The Fifties: Aspects of Painting in New York. Washington, DC:13, repro.
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 18, 19, no. 63, color repro.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 222, detail 232,
1982
Hughes, Robert. "An American Legend in Paris." Time (1 February 1982): 70-71, repro. [exhibition review]
Wilson, Simon. "Jackson Pollock at the Beaubourg." The Burlington Magazine (May 1982): 316.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 614, no. 949, color repro.
1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 192, no. 73, color repro.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 263, color repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 263, repro.
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 266, repro.
Fiero, Gloria K. The Global Village of the Twentieth Century The Humanistic Tradition 6. 1st ed. [7th ed. 2015] Dubuque, Iowa, 1992: 89, repro.
1997
Hughes, Robert. _ American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America_. New York, 1997: 486-487, color fig. 287.
2000
Torres, Louis and Michelle Marder Kamhi. What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand. Peru, Illinois, 2000: 407, nt. 159.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 436-439, no. 360, color repros.
2009
Gariff, David, Eric Denker, and Dennis P. Weller. The World's Most Influential Painters and the Artists They Inspired. Hauppauge, NY, 2009: 172-173, color repro.
Cooper, Harry. The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2009: 7.
2010
Monet y la abstracción. Exh. cat. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2010: 33, 34 fig. 16.
2022
Conservation Division's Fiftieth Anniversary Committee. "Innovation and Collaboration: Fifty Years of Conservation at the National Gallery." Art for the Nation no. 66 (Fall 2022): 14-15, fig.16-17.
Inscriptions
lower left: Jackson Pollock '50
Wikidata ID
Q3828038