The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 23, 2025
Myth of the Western Man (Head)
1986
(American, 1930–1992)
Overall: 221.6 x 161.3 x 150.5 cm (87 1/4 x 63 1/2 x 59 1/4 in.); Head: 51.4 cm (20 1/4 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1987.55.a
© Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Location: not on view
Description
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), the famous Abstract Expressionist painter, is the subject of Robert Arneson's Myth of the Western Man. This work is the largest of a series of 50 sculpted portraits, begun in 1982, in which Arneson explored the complexities of the life, death, art, and myth of Pollock, who died in an automobile accident in 1956. The piece is also part of a larger body of work that pays tribute to artists Arneson admired. Compelling and expressive, the huge portrait depicts Pollock with an unwavering stare that confronts the viewer. Cracks running throughout the ceramic head recall the random, all-over patterns characteristic of Pollock's "drip" compositions, in which he poured and splattered paint directly onto a canvas laid on the floor. Arneson's monumental sculpture sits atop a carved redwood pedestal and a painted platform that is littered with ceramic cigarette butts and bits of paper and paint—all meant to simulate the floor of Pollock's studio.- (Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York).
- "Robert Arneson: Portrait Sculptures," CMA (Sept. 15 - Nov. 1, 1987).
- {{cite web|title=Myth of the Western Man (Head)|url=false|author=Robert Arneson|year=1986|access-date=23 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.55.a