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Catalog Data

Creator:
Pollock, Charles C.  Search this
Names:
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this
Extent:
3.1 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Sketches
Cartoons (humorous images)
Date:
1875-1994
Summary:
The papers of painter, muralist, and educator Charles Pollock measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1875 to 1994. Found within the papers are biographical materials; family and personal correspondence; subject files on art and professional topics; writings; printed material; artwork, including political cartoons and figurative sketches; and photographs of Pollock, his family and friends, and his work.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter, muralist, and educator Charles Pollock measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1875 to 1994. Found within the papers are biographical materials; family and personal correspondence; subject files on art and professional topics; writings; printed material; artwork, including political cartoons and figurative sketches; and photographs of Pollock, his family and friends, and his work.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series. Missing Title Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1945-1988 (7 folders; Box 1) Series 2: Correspondence, 1927-1994 (1 linear foot; Boxes 1-2) Series 3: Subject Files, 1931-1988 (0.8 linear feet; Box 2) Series 4: Writings, 1935-1965 (2 folders; Box 2) Series 5: Printed Material, 1930-1990 (4 folders; Box 2) Series 6: Artwork, 1925-1949 (0.7 linear feet; Box 3, OV 5-8) Series 7: Photographic Materials, 1875-1987 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 3-4)
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, muralist, and educator Charles Pollock (1902-1988) lived and worked in East Lansing, Michigan, New York City, Detroit, and Paris, France and painted in a social realist style early in his career before transitioning to abstract works in the 1940s. He is also the eldest brother of the abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock. Born in Denver, Colorado to Stella McClure and LeRoy Pollock, Pollock received his early art training at the Otis Institute in Los Angeles, California. In 1926, he moved to New York City to attend the Art Students League where he studied under Thomas Hart Benton, with whom Jackson also studied after joining Charles in New York in 1930. In New York, he met and married his first wife, Elizabeth Feinberg Pollock, in 1931. Pollock moved to Washington, D.C. in 1935 to work for the Resettlement Administration, and after two years, accepted a position as the political illustrator for the United Automobile Workers' newspaper in Detroit. After a short stint as the illustrator and layout editor for the paper, Pollock served as the supervisor of the Michigan WPA Mural Painting and Graphic Arts division from 1938 to 1942. Upon completion of a three panel mural for Michigan State University in 1942, Pollock was invited to join the faculty of the art department, where he taught lettering, printmaking, typography, and design. During his twenty-five year tenure at the University, he also served as a book designer for the University's Press and continued to develop his abstract painting style. He met and married his second wife, Sylvia Winter Pollock, in 1957. Pollock served as the University of Pennsylvania's artist in residence in 1965 and 1967, and was the recipient of a National Foundation of Arts Grant (1967) and a Guggenheim Grant (1967-1968). The Pollocks moved to Paris in 1970, where Charles died of complications from a stroke in 1988.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Elizabeth Feinberg Pollock memoirs and the Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner papers.
Separated Materials:
Nine works of art included in the 1975 gift from Elizabeth Pollock were transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, formerly the National Collection of Fine Arts, in 1976.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in 1975 by Pollock's first wife, Elizabeth Feinberg Pollock, with assistance from Charles Pollock on the selection of items. Additional materials were donated in 1988 by his second wife, Sylvia Winter Pollock. From 1991 to 1994, Elizabeth Pollock gifted additional correspondence and photographs to the Archives.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- France  Search this
Muralists -- France -- Paris  Search this
Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art teachers -- Michigan  Search this
Muralists -- Michigan  Search this
Painters -- Michigan  Search this
Topic:
Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Painters -- France -- Paris  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Expatriate painters -- France -- Paris  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Sketches
Cartoons (humorous images)
Citation:
Charles Pollock papers, 1875-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.pollchar
See more items in:
Charles Pollock papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e0a28c09-daf6-4919-b503-d625e833fcef
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-pollchar