(b Cody, WY, Jan 28, 1912; d Springs, East Hampton, NY, Aug 11, 1956). American painter. Pollock was the leading exponent of a spontaneous, intuitive approach to painting that placed America in the forefront of international modernism after World War II. His distinctive use of liquid paint applied directly, without preliminary planning, broke decisively with European precedents. He embodied the individualism, subjectivity, and freedom of expression that represented democratic values in the postwar era, when the art world’s center of gravity shifted from Paris to New York. Yet initially, at least, he seemed an unlikely candidate for such a momentous role. Born in Cody, WY, he was the fifth and youngest son of LeRoy McCoy Pollock (1876–1933) and Stella McClure Pollock (1875–1958), both of whom came from Tingely, IA. The family left Cody when Pollock was less than a year old, and he was raised in Arizona and California. It was a hardscrabble life as the family was constantly uprooted in search of better opportunities. After a series of unsuccessful farming ventures, his father became a surveyor and worked on road crews at the Grand Canyon and elsewhere in the Southwest. Pollock sometimes joined his father on these jobs, and later remarked that memories of the panoramic landscape influenced his artistic vision....