Page 27 - Studio International - December 1972

in the male unconscious. Pollock has traced the sometime before its exhibition in 1944 when with the legends of Romulus and Remus and the
theme of the progress of the Jungian hero from James Johnson Sweeney saw it and told Rape of the Sabine Women. Unfortunately these
conception through birth and fostering and, Pollock the story of Pasiphaë, but no repainting interpretations, although enlightening, are not
supported by anything except O'Hara's intuition.
with The Guardians of the Secret, his ordeals. followed the renaming." It is in fact the most However he is the sole interpreter of There Were
Pollock may have considered the imminent thinly painted and least reworked of the series, Seven in Eight and his intuitions are a guide to the
sort of meanings these pictures may have. See:
exhibition as an ordeal which would 'prove' his and the effect of multiple levels of imagery, and 'Jackson Pollock', by Frank O'Hara, New York,
status as an artist. The cryptic nature of hence, of meaning, has been achieved without 1959. pp. 17-18.
The Guardians of the Secret may be a reference the destruction of the web of paint. The layers 'Lawrence Alloway, Jackson Pollock Exhibition
Catalogue, Marlborough Fine Art, London, 1961.
both to the sources of the unconscious from are integrated and show a resolution of the No. 34.
which he felt he derived his art and to the need tension between foreground and background - "Two Essays on Analytical Psychology', written in
to protect himself from exposure. symbolic of the conscious and unconscious - and French in 1916 and translated into English by
Baynes in America in 1920 with a revision in 1928;
The show contained two other important the picture seems to sum up the whole series. Wanderlungen und Symbole der Libido', written in
works besides those which have already been The whale of the original title is not 1912 and translated by Hinkle in America as
discussed: Wounded Animal dated '43 and mentioned as such in Jung, but monstrous fish `The Psychology of the Unconscious' in 1916, with
a revision in 1921; and 'Modern Man in Search of a
Search for a Symbol dated 8.43. It is still unclear are.35 Pollock knew and admired Melville's Soul', a collection of lectures translated by Dell and
whether they were late additions or if they were book and after a year of almost exclusively Baynes in America in 1933.
originally in the show as Untitled. It has been Jungian images he seems to be applying Jungian 'Letter from Newman, Rothko and Gottlieb to
'Letters to the Editor', New York Times, June 13,
suggested that James Johnson Sweeney's theory to a specific example of a monstrous fish 1943, sec. 2, p. 9.
catalogue notes, which said that he lacked in which he was particularly interested. 'First published in Arts and Architecture, February
'self-discipline', may have provoked him into Jung's interpretation of monstrous fish and the 1944. Quoted by O'Connor in the Catalogue of the
Jackson Pollock Exhibition at the Museum of
adding them as examples of his more sea journeys associated with them is that they Modern Art, New York, 1967. pp. 31-33
disciplined work. Certainly Wounded Animal symbolize the all-devouring Mother, that is, the 'Quoted by S. Rodman, 'Conversations with
Artists', New York, 1957. p. 82.
was one of the more popular paintings," but it hero's 'anima'. To gain immortality the hero 'C. L. Wysuth, 'Jackson Pollock; psycho-analytic
is difficult to accept the date of 1943 which it must go back to the Mother in her aspect of drawings', New York, 1970. p. 12.
bears. It has more in common, stylistically and death and conquer her, and the fish is the symbol 'O'Connor, Catalogue of the MOMA New York
exhibition, 1967. p. 22.
inconographically, with Magic Mirror and Bird often chosen to represent her; the hero's eventual 'Ibid. p. 23.
of 1941 than with She-Wolf and The Moon emergence from its belly symbolizes his "C. L. Wysuth, op. cit. p. 19.
Woman Cuts the Circle. Magic Mirror, which is rebirth as an immortal. Hiawatha's struggle 11Frank O'Hara, op. cit. p. 17.
dated '41 and certainly was painted in 1941,31 with:the sea monster and his journey across the "C. L. Wysuth, op. cit. p. 19.
"Lawrence Alloway, Catalogue of Tate Gall. exh.,
lacked its signature and date up to a few days sea is discussed at length by Jung in his analysis January-March, 1965. No. 118.
before the exhibition because there is a of the legend." "The Mad Moon Woman was exhibited in the
professional photograph of it without the date.32 Pollock's acceptance of an alternative title November 1943 show, then at the Mortimor Brandt
Gallery, New York in December 1944 and
It is unlikely that Pollock had his work has been quoted as evidence that his titles were San Francisco in May and June 1945, after which it
professionally photographed before this and a merely evocative or deliberately misleading,37 seems to have disappeared.
card from Howard Putzel dated November but it may mean that he had worked his way "Lawrence Alloway, op. cit. No. 34.
1943 suggests that Pollock bring his work to the through this particular theme and moved "Ibid. No. 34.
"C. G. Jung, 'Symbols of Transformation', London,
gallery for photographing.33 So it appears that on to other pre-occupations. Pasiphaë 1956. pp. 317-18.
Magic Mirror was unsigned and undated a few demonstrates Pollock's ability to deal with a "O'Connor, op. cit. p. 27.
"In a letter dated April 2nd, 1972, says that the
days before the exhibition. If Wounded Animal Jungian theme in terms of an incident which collage exhibited is not known, and that the one
was already in the show, or was a late entry it Jung does not specifically discuss. It seems to be with the inverted signature is not it.
may also have received its date at this late hour, the point at which he freed himself from the "Quoted in Sidney Janis, 'Abstract and Surrealist Art
in America', New York, 1944. p. t 12.
and Pollock may have brought the date forward need of a consciously Jungian programme for "Frank O'Hara, op cit. pp. 17-18.
to show that he was still capable of 'self- his work and interiorized or transcended the 22Wysuth points out (op. cit. pp. 24-25) that the wolf
discipline'. letter of Jungian theory and embraced its is a rare image in Pollock's art but he concludes that
She-Wolf is not a wolf at all but a cow. The image is
Search For a Symbol is dated 8.43 twice, spirit. veiled but cows (as opposed to bulls) are as rare as
once as part of the painting and again with the It is not necessary to assert that Pollock wolves in Pollock's work.
signature at the lower right. I am inclined to planned the series from the outset, nor to "In conversation, February 1972.
"C. G. Jung, op. cit. p. 318.
doubt the date in the calligraphic marks; there accept Jung's theories. Pollock had previously "C. G. Jung, op. cit. p. 328.
are no precedents in Pollock's work for such a used the basic themes of birth, relationships, "In conversation, February 1972.
dating method and Pollock himself has dated death, ritual and the threat of the feminine, and "In conversation, February 1972.
"C. G. Jung, op. cit. pp. 372-3.
it independently of them. Also the marks can be he was familiar enough with Jungian analysis "C. G. Jung, op. cit. I% 374.
read as 8.43 or 8.93, and there are frequent to be able to apply the results to his own "Clement Greenberg wrote: 'The smaller works are
examples of random numbers in his work, for situation. Pasiphaë is the end of the cycle, much more conclusive: the smallest one of all,
Conflict, and Wounded Animal, with its chalky
instance '34' in Stenographic Figure, '64' in Pollock has traced the hero's conception, birth, incrustations are among the strongest abstract
Wounded Animal and '49' and '89' in Male and upbringing, trials and death-and-rebirth, and paintings I have yet seen by an American'. Nation,
Female. The style too seems to argue against a each stage of his own emergence as an November 27,1943. Also Robert M. Coates:
'. . I had the satisfied feeling that in such pieces as
date as late as 8.43, the monochrome background independent artist he matched with the The Magic Mirror and The Wounded Animal he had
links it with Moon Woman, and its stylistic appropriate Jungian image, until the final leap succeeded pretty well and pretty clearly in
place is very early in 1943 or even 1942. into artistic immortality freed him from even achieving just what he was aiming at.' New Yorker,
November, 201 943.
The date with the signature may be the result this dependence. q "Jeanne Reynal has said that it was seen and bought at
of the same factors which may have affected Pollock's studio in 1941, although not received until
1942.
Wounded Animal. "In Jeanne Reynal's possession.
Pasiphaë, originally Moby Dick, the last in "O'Connor, op. cit. p. 28.
the 'mythological' series, was painted too late in "In conversation with Lee Krasner, February 1972.
1943 to be included in the November show and "C. G. Jung, op. cit. p. 330; p. 331; pp. 346-48, etc.
"Ibid. p. 331; PP.346-48.
it was first exhibited at the 'Art:of This Century' "Lawrence Alloway, op. cit. No. 34, also
'O'Hara associates She-Wolf, Male and Female,
in April and May 1944. It was renamed The Guardians of the Secret and Wounded Animal C. L. Wysuth, op. cit. p. 25.
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