Introduction

Summary

In his 1947 essay “The Present Prospects of American Painting and Sculpture,” the New York art critic Clement Greenberg pronounced Jackson Pollock “the most powerful painter in contemporary America.”¹ Around the time this essay appeared, thanks in prominent part to Greenberg’s own efforts, Pollock’s canvases had begun to attract considerable attention. The German-American photographer Hans Namuth’s iconic 1950 photograph cycles and short films of Pollock dripping paint onto canvases stretched on the ground would only add to the artist’s fame.