Drawing was always an independent medium for Pollock, so his sheets are never studies for paintings. Nevertheless, with its collection of reductive, simply outlined animals and human figures, some of which seem to morph from one into the other, this drawing relates to a number of Pollock's key paintings from the 1940s, including Stenographic Figure (c. 1942) and The She-Wolf (1943). The vibrantly colored lines that he laid on top impose a pictographic unity on what is otherwise a loose collection of free-associative doodles. Fusing two different layers was a strategy Pollock would continue to develop over the next several years.

Gallery label from

Jackson Pollock: A Collection Survey, 1934-1954, November 22, 2015–May 1, 2016.

Medium Gouache and ink on paper
Dimensions 22 1/2 x 29 7/8" (57.1 x 76 cm)
Credit Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Straus Fund
Object number 12.1958
Department Drawings and Prints

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Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock

American, 1912–1956 86 works online

In 1947 Jackson Pollock arrived at a new mode of working that brought him international fame. His method consisted of flinging and dripping thinned enamel paint onto an unstretched canvas laid on the floor of his studio.

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