James Pollock (artist)
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1943 (age 82–83)
James Pollock | |
|---|---|
 Artist James Pollock watercolor painting on location along the breaks of Lake Oahe in South Dakota. | |
| Born | James Pollock 1943 (age 82–83) |
| Known for | Painter |
| Notable work | Looking Down the Trail, 1967, National Museum of the U.S. Army, Set of 5 Centennial Posters, 1983, South Dakota State Historical Society Dakota Survival, 1979, pen and ink drawing of three bison in a snowstorm |
| Movement | Plein air |
| Awards | Artist of the Year, South Dakota Hall of Fame, 1980 |
James Pollock (born 1943, South Dakota) is an American artist living in Pierre, South Dakota. Pollock has been characterized as a painter whose work is a bridge between the abstract and the concrete. His style varies widely, sometimes drawing on the abstract styles reminiscent of artists of the early 20th-century Bauhaus school, characterized by strong lines and bold colors, sometimes resembling ancient cave paintings, and sometimes straightforward renderings of landscapes and objects."[1] Pollock is an active plein air painter and member of the South Dakota Plein Air Artists movement.[2]
Pollock grew up in Pollock, a small town in north-central South Dakota, and was named after his great-grandfather Robert Y. Pollock. Pollock had an early interest in art which was encouraged by an aunt. In 1965 he graduated with a major in art from South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota.[3]
US Army Vietnam Combat Artists Program
In 1966 James Pollock was drafted into the US Army. In 1967 while working as a postal clerk at Camp Ames army base in South Korea Pollock applied for assignment to the U. S. Army Vietnam Combat Artists Program. He was accepted into the program and from 15, August 1967 through December 31, 1967, he served on U. S Army Vietnam Combat Artist Team IV (CAT IV). Art completed by Pollock during his assignment as a Vietnam soldier-artist is in the permanent U.S. Army Art Collection, maintained by the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH), Washington, D.C.[4] Pollock's art has been included in traveling exhibits organized by the U.S Army Center of Military History.[5] The collection of the Emil A. Blackmore Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana also includes a piece of Pollock's art from the Vietnam Era.[6]
From October 27, 2000, through January 7, 2001, Pollock's work produced while a member of the Vietnam Combat Artists Program was exhibited in THE ART OF COMBAT: Artists and the Vietnam War, Then and Now, mounted by the Indianapolis Art Center in Indiana.[7]
In 2003 James Pollock presented a lecture about the U. S. Army Vietnam Combat Artists Program at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. sponsored by the Library of Congress Professional Association (LCPA) Veterans Forum in the Mary Pickford Theater.[8] This was the first public presentation where the historical collection of Vietnam War art was presented in the context of individual artists and their particular teams and time frames.[9]
In 2010 the National Constitution Center in partnership with the U.S. Army Center of Military History and the National Museum of the United States Army presented a major exhibit entitled Art of the American Soldier that included pieces done by Pollock during his service in the Vietnam Combat Artists Program.[10]
