Jackson Pollock

Betty Parsons Gallery, New York
Steingrim Laursen, Copenhagen
C & M Arts, New York

Oxford, Museum of Modern Art; Städtische Kunstahalle Düsseldorf; Lisbon, Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian; Museée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum; New York, Museum of Modern Art, Jackson Pollock: Drawing into Painting, April 1979 - March 1980, cat. no. 116 (New York), cat. no. 61, p. 26, illustrated and p. 51, illustrated (Amsterdam)
Bern, Kunstmuseum, Lee Krasner - Jackson Pollock, November 1989 - February 1990, cat. no. 59, p. 138, illustrated
Paris, Artcurial, Centre d'Art Plastique Contemporain, Quelque Chose de Tres Mysterieux - Intuitions Esthetiques de Michel Tapié, March - May 1994

Francis V. O'Connor and Eugene V. Thaw, Jackson Pollock: A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Drawings and Other Works, Vol. 3, New Haven & London, 1978, cat. no. 840, p. 315, illustrated

This work is in very good condition overall. There is evidence of yellowing and surface soiling along the extreme lateral edges, presumably from a prior framing. There is a slight ripple to the sheet, inherent to the fibrous nature of the rice paper. Otherwise, there are no apparent condition problems with this work. Hinged at the top two corners and mounted archivally to linen. Framed under Tru-Vue Museum Glass in a carved dark wood frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

1951 was by many accounts, Jackson Pollock's most important and productive year as a draftsman. Infamously obsessed with draftsmanship, 1951 marks the first and only time in his career where the styles and preoccupations of painting and drawing merge both technically and aesthetically. In the present work, Untitled, 1951, we see evidence of Pollock assuming a radical method of drawing: pouring.  In this groundbreaking process, Pollock poured, dripped and stained ink onto stacked sheets of rice paper. The ink was absorbed by the fibrous paper so that Pollock could remove a sheet and subtly alter the composition, working between drawings without losing sight of the original poured drawing. Therefore, the very paper he chose was a deliberate part of the aesthetic process for Pollock, who seemed to carefully choose paper for their absorbent properties. As Bernice Rose noted, these drawings were "a new kind of stimulus to Pollock, a new kind of 'automatic' or hallucinatory drawing in which the remnants of one image suggested the others. Sometime the second or third sheet is more elaborated, in other cases it is less material. In both cases the works acquired a new kind of ambiguity that is both optical and metaphysical." (Bernice Rose, Jackson Pollock: Drawing into Painting, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1980, p. 23).