Easter and the Totem
Jackson Pollock
American, 1912–1956
1953
An oil painting in which Pollock moves beyond his famous drip technique to combine raw gestural brushwork with figural, totemic motifs that suggest ritual and memory.
At its large scale you’re struck by tall black vertical bands and a pale field pierced by a green stalk, animated by quick, looping black strokes and bold washes of orange, purple, and flesh tones that read like sketched figures and symbolic forms.
Made late in his career, this work marks Pollock’s reintroduction of imagery—merging Abstract Expressionist energy with primitive and mythic references—and points to how postwar American painting could fuse physical gesture with narrative and symbol.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
6' 10 1/8" x 58" (208.6 x 147.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Lee Krasner in memory of Jackson Pollock
Accession
425.1980
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
