Fourth encounter with Jackson Pollock's 'Summertime Number 9A' at 'Tate Modern'

Here I stand in front of Jackson Pollock’s ‘Summertime Number 9A’ for the fourth time. This piece is still buzzing at me and giving off so much energy. These bold gestures sweep across the canvas in such a rhythmic way, and almost feels like the action is on a loop. The gestures feel so fluid and have a signature look about them. Looking at these marks, I can feel the kind of movement that Jackson Pollock would have had to make with his arm and body to get this result. The dance-like movement that Jackson Pollock would of made to create this painting shows through the marks, as they themselves look like they are dancing too.

Third encounter with Jackson Pollock's 'Summertime Number 9A'

On my third encounter , I realised yet again that there were parts of this piece that I hadn’t noticed on the first and second encounter. This time, I realised there were purples and reds in the piece, hiding behind the blues and the large gestures. My attention also was drawn yet again to the large gestures. These fluid marks now appear to be more controlled than I first thought. I have been working on the drip technique in my own work, and discovered that you can have great control over these marks. As I stared at this painting I started to see dancing figure-like shapes from the marks.

Review of the Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern

In 1958 Rothko was commissioned to paint a series of murals for the Four Seasons restaurant. He started this work in a studio that he had just rented that would allow him to simulate the proportions of the dining room. Eventually, Rothko withdrew from the commission. In 1960, the director of the Tate Gallery discussed with Rothko the possibility of displaying a group of the murals. He provided Rothko with a small paper maquette of the space so that he could decide where he would like his paintings to be hanged. This maquette can be seen in the first room of the exhibition. Rothko had never decided on a final order of the paintings, but he did want the Seagram Murals to be hung high, slightly apart, and with a warm background colour.

The Seagram Murals are at the centre of the exhibition, and displayed in the largest room. This includes eight paintings from the Tate’s own collection and a selection from Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Sakura and the National Gallery of Art, Washington. The five paintings that Rothko identified as ‘Mural’ are displayed in consecutive order here. These paintings are hung quite high, as Rothko requested, and are shown in a dim, yet warm light. This light adds to the vibrant and sombre colour. Standing in this room you feel almost overwhelmed and amazed by the surrounding paintings. As you stand in front of one of them, you get the sense that you could be inside the painting. As you move further away from a painting, the ‘floating frame’ would get either more or less visible due to the light in the room.

The next room shows Rothko’s technique through photos of a painting that have been place under UV light. These show the individual layers that Rothko applied, and where he reworked his paintings. This sheds more light onto the process of his painting as Rothko never liked to be watched while working, and photographs of him in his studio show him looking at a painting rather than actively taking part in it. Saying this, Rothko did leave clues in his work, such as the drips around the paintings, showing that they had been rotated and worked on from different angles.

The next significant room is the sixth room, where the black form paintings are displayed. Rothko had named the black form paintings numbers one to eight, and number five curiously appeared twice. At a first glance, the paintings look solid black, but as you look closer you can see that there has been a build up of colour and there is a frame around a black middle. These paintings invite the viewer to take a closer look at these paintings. This room, like many of the others, is laid out so that the paintings surround the viewer, which is something that was important to Rothko.

In another room is Rothko’s Brown on Gray works, which show two fields of colour. To make these, Rothko had taped large pieces of paper onto wooden boards. When he was done, he would remove the tape, which would reveal the unpainted areas. Nearby there are also some of his works on paper to compare to. The last room of the exhibition is home to Rothko’s Black on Gray works, his last series. These consist of a dark upper and a light lower section. There is a painted white edge around these paintings, which is different from his other works in which he would stretch the colour all the way round the wooden frame. This white edge makes a flatter picture plane. Another difference to this series is that the paintings vary in size and orientation, which gives them each a unique scale and weight

As each room contains a different series of Rothko’s works, they give out and invoke a different kind of atmosphere. Each room is packed with viewers trying to view his work and somewhere in this bustle, we as reviewers have to nestle ourselves and cancel the rush of people in order to get a deeper feel of the work in the gallery space. You do get a certain gratification once the lighting and gallery space fuses with the Rothko works.

Overall after getting over the sheer amazement of Rothko’s canvases, boards and not to forget the large amount of visitors that Rothko still gets everyday, you leave gallery with a greater understating and appreciation.

Second Encounter of Jackson Pollock's 'Summertime Number 9A'

Viewing this painting a second time, the first thing that struck me was the length of it. On my first encounter I had been so absorbed by the large drip-like gestures that it hadn’t come to mind the odd size if the painting. It’s not the general kind of rectangle canvas, but instead isn’t very tall at all, but is extremely long lengthways. It reminds me of a letterbox shape. One other thing I hadn’t really paid much attention to the first time was the smaller marks. There were small green marks all over the painting. Also, I began to notice the grey dripped gestures beneath the black ones. As I stood there looking at this amazing piece, I had just noticed that this painting had more layers than I cared to notice on my first encounter.

Encounter with Jackson Pollock's 'Summertime Number 9A'

I was filled with excitement as I looked at this painting. For two years I have admired Jackson Pollock’s work and have even adopted the ‘dripping technique’ within my own work, so I could barely contain myself when I got the chance to see his work in real life. My eyes kept darting back and forth between the bright blues and yellows, and along the swift, dripped marks. I got a huge sense of energy, which gave me a buzzing feeling when looking at the piece. I could almost feel the large movement in the large gestures, which made me think back to a previous piece of work that I had done myself. I connected with the movement of the piece as I had experienced the energy of making a piece using the same technique. This painting made me feel inspired and reminded me that art as much about the making of a piece as well as the finished outcome.