Black and White (Number 20) - Jackson Pollock
Archival giclée
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Description
A stark, monochromatic work from 1951, featuring fluid black gestural marks on raw canvas, characteristic of Pollock's mid-career period.
Produced in 1951, Black and White (Number 20) represents a specific period in the career of Jackson Pollock. During this time, the artist moved away from his earlier, multi-coloured drip compositions to focus on the stark contrast between black pigment and raw, unprimed canvas. This shift allowed him to explore the graphic potential of his gestural technique without the distraction of a complex palette.
The work displays a series of fluid, calligraphic marks. Pollock applied the paint using sticks and hardened brushes, allowing the medium to flow directly onto the surface. The resulting forms appear both spontaneous and controlled. Some areas feature dense, overlapping webs of ink-like black, while others reveal the negative space of the canvas. This interplay creates a sense of movement across the surface, as the eye follows the path of the artist's hand.
Unlike his earlier works that relied on layers of colour to build depth, this piece maintains a flatter, more immediate presence. The composition lacks a traditional centre, encouraging the viewer to scan the entire surface. The forms suggest organic shapes, perhaps hinting at figurative elements, yet they remain resolutely abstract. By stripping his process down to these two elements, Pollock emphasised the physical act of painting. The work documents the speed, pressure, and rhythm of his movements at the time of creation. It remains a clear example of his departure from the conventions of easel painting, favouring a direct engagement with the material.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
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- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Black and White (Number 20) - Jackson Pollock
Artist Biography
Jackson Pollock
He drank heavily from his teens onwards. He was in and out of psychiatric treatment, tried Jungian analysis, and spent time working for the WPA Federal Art Project during the Depression. The early paintings are dark, tangled, influenced by Picasso and by the Mexican muralists Orozco and Siqueiros, whose experimental techniques (including pouring paint) Pollock encountered in a workshop.
The drip paintings started in 1947. He laid canvas on the floor of his barn in Springs, Long Island, and poured household enamel paint from tins, flicking and dripping it with sticks, trowels, and hardened brushes. He moved around the canvas, working from all four sides. No easel, no brushes touching surface, no predetermined composition. 'I am nature,' he told an interviewer, which sounds grandiose but describes the method accurately: the paintings record physical movement through space.
The drip period lasted roughly four years. By 1951 he had largely stopped, returning to figurative work that nobody wanted. His marriage to the painter Lee Krasner deteriorated alongside the drinking. He died in a car crash in 1956, at forty-four, drunk at the wheel. Krasner spent the next three decades managing his legacy and making her own paintings, which were excellent and consistently overlooked.
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