Artists of the WPA & Their Styles

By: Timothy Vermette

Parallelism to the Murals in Coburn 205

Arshile Gorky • Born Vostanig Manoog Adoyan near Turkey around 1904 (actual date is

debated)• Important artist in shaping the abstract expressionism movement • Survivor of the Armenian Genocide• Self-taught artist before enrolling in New School of Design in Boston• Moved to New York and enrolled at the National Academy of Design and

Grand Central School of Art• Died in 1948

Gorky’s Art Style

• Used his personal trauma of the Armenian Genocide to create beautiful pieces of art

• Combined elements of surrealism with expressionism

The Artist and His Mother, 1926-1936

The Liver is the Cock’s Comb, 1944

Jackson Pollock

• Born in Wyoming in 1912• Attended Manual Arts High School in LA• Studied under Thomas Hart Benson in NY• Driven by alcoholism• Died in 1956

Pollock’s Art Style• Primarily focused on nature, focusing on previous areas of his life before

turning to Surrealism and Cubism later on• Was mostly known for abstracts, as well as art sparked by his therapy

sessions

Going West, 1935Mural, 1943

Sources• www.theartstory.org• www.wikipedia.org• www.wikiart.org• www.museum.state.il.us• www.discussions.mnhs.org• www.flickr.com• www.nytimes.com• www.biography.com• www.wpamurals.com