Number 14: Gray, 1948
Enamel over gesso on paper, 22 7/16 x 30 7/8 in. (57 x 78.5 cm)
The Katharine Ordway Collection
1980.13.74
© 2004 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Jackson Pollock's classic poured paintings, made from 1947 to 1950, include several works in enamel on gesso-covered paper. Number 14 is a particularly striking example. Pollock dripped the black enamel paint onto the surface while the gesso was still wet, so that the paint bled into the chalky white ground, creating a silver-gray halo around the lines and pools of black. Pollock's pouring method was a breakthrough in his quest to avoid the illusionist space of traditional painting in order to create a total visual effect. Number 14 epitomizes Pollock's new working method, since the paint literally merges with the ground where enamel and gesso meet. Similarly, in this period Pollock strove to free line from the representational image and make it a function of pure movement.
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