Forgeries of Jackson Pollock’s iconic, splatter-like paintings are always dripping out into the art world.
But a new scientific analysis of the American artist’s works may let experts to confirm which are real — and which are simply ‘Pollocks’.
Pollock created his most quintessential works not with a brush, but by pouring paint onto canvas from above, weaving filaments of colour into abstract masterpieces.
Experts analysing the physics of Pollock’s technique have shown that the artist had a ‘keen understanding’, if unconscious, of a classic phenomenon in fluid dynamics.
Forgeries of Jackson Pollock’s iconic, splatter-like paintings are always dripping out into the art world. But a new scientific analysis of the American artist’s works may let experts to confirm which are real — and which are simply ‘Pollocks’
The team found that Pollock’s technique seems to intentionally avoid what is known as ‘coiling instability’ — the tendency of a viscous fluid to form curls and coils when poured onto a surface.
‘Like most painters, Jackson Pollock went through a long process of experimentation in order to perfect his technique,’ said paper author and engineer Roberto Zenit of the Brown University in Rhode Island.
‘What we were trying to do with this research is figure out what conclusions Pollock reached in order to execute his paintings the way he wanted.
‘Our main finding in this paper was that Pollock’s movements and the properties of his paints were such he avoided this coiling instability.’
Prof Zenit said Pollock’s technique typically involved pouring paint straight from a can or along a stick onto a canvas lying horizontally on the floor, often referred to as the ‘drip technique.’
But he said that’s a bit of a ‘misnomer’ in the parlance of fluid mechanics when ‘dripping’ means dispensing the fluid in a way that makes discrete droplets on the canvas.
Prof Zenit said Pollock largely avoided droplets, in favour of unbroken filaments of paint stretching across the canvas.
To understand exactly how the technique worked, Prof Zenit and colleagues from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico analysed extensive video of Pollock at work, taking careful measure of how fast he moved and how far from the canvas he poured his paints.
The research team then used an experimental set-up to recreate his technique.
Using the set-up, the researchers could deposit paint using a syringe mounted at varying heights onto a canvas moving at varying speeds.
Pollock created his most iconic works not with a brush, but by pouring paint onto canvas from above, weaving filaments of colour into abstract masterpieces
The experiments helped to zero in on the most important aspects of what Pollock was doing.
Prof Zenit explained: ‘We can vary one thing at a time so we can decipher the key elements of the technique.
‘For example, we could vary the height from which the paint is poured and keep the speed constant to see how that changes things.’
The researchers found that the combination of Pollock’s hand speed, the distance he maintained from the canvas and the viscosity of his paint seem to be aimed at avoiding coiling instability.
Prof Zenit said that anyone who’s ever poured a viscous fluid – such as honey on toast – has likely seen some coiling instability. When a small amount of a viscous fluid is poured, it tends to stack up like a coil of rope before oozing across the surface.
Study senior author Professor Roberto Zenit, of Brown University in the United States, said: ‘Like most painters, Jackson Pollock went through a long process of experimentation in order to perfect his technique’
In the context of Pollock’s technique, Prof Zenit explained that the instability can result in paint filaments making pigtail-like curls when poured from the can.
Some previous research had concluded that that the curved lines in Pollock’s paintings were a result of this instability, but the new study shows the opposite.
Prof Zenit said: ‘What we found is that he moved his hand at a sufficiently high speed and a sufficiently short height such that this coiling would not occur.’
He says the findings could be ‘useful’ in authenticating Pollock’s works. Too many tight curls might suggest that a drip-style painting is not a Pollock.
Prof Zenit said the findings could also inform other settings in which viscous fluids are stretched into filaments, such as the manufacture of fibre optics.
But he says his main interest in the work is that it’s simply a ‘fascinating’ way to explore interesting questions in fluid mechanics.
Prof Zenit added: ‘I consider myself to be a fluid mechanics messenger.
‘This is my excuse to talk science. It’s fascinating to see that painters are really fluid mechanicians, even though they may not know it.’
The full findings of the study were published in the journal PLOS One.