Pollock Died 50 Years Ago Today

By
Katrina Scott
WNYC News | Jul 12, 2010

New York, NY —

Fifty years ago today, the painter Jackson Pollock died when he crashed his car on a road near Easthampton, Long Island, killing himself and a young woman passenger, Edith Metzger.

Pollock had worked as a WPA artist here in the city and palled around with fellow artists Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline at bars like the Cedar Lounge. In 1945, he and his wife, painter Lee Krassner moved to the Island where developed his style of abstract drip painting in his barn studio.

An exhibit of his smaller canvasses is currently on view at the Pollock-Krassner house in Springs, Long Island. The Guggenheim Museum also has a show titled, "No Limits, Just Edges: Jackson Pollock Paintings on Paper," on view through September.

Pollock was 44 when he died.

Profile Image
Katrina Scott

WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations

Top Stories

America at 250: A View from Britain, with “The Rest Is History”

The historian-podcasters Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland explain why losing the thirteen colonies “annoyed” the British, but “it could have been a lot worse.”
The New Yorker Radio Hour |

NYC Rent Guidelines Board approves 2-year rent freeze, fulfilling Mamdani campaign pledge

About 1 million rent-stabilized apartments will be shielded from rent increases for the next two years after the historic vote.
Gothamist |

Are Carriage Horses a Thing of the Past?

Liam Quigley talks about the latest efforts to ban carriage horses in Central Park.
The Brian Lehrer Show |

Feds indict former Mayor Adams adviser Frank Carone in migrant housing bribery scheme

One of former Mayor Eric Adams' oldest and closest allies was arrested Wednesday on federal corruption charges, joining a growing roster of Adams aides facing prosecution.
Gothamist |
YOU ARE ONLINE