Men of Fire: José Clemente Orozco and Jackson Pollock

In 1936, Jackson Pollock traveled to Dartmouth College to view José Clemente Orozco’s mural The Epic of American Civilization, which had been unveiled in Baker Library two years earlier. The deep impact that the imagery of these frescoes had on the young artist is demonstrated by the drawings and oil paintings that Pollock made after this visit. In these works Pollock explored myth, ritual, and the creative and destructive power of fire in ways directly inspired by Orozco’s art. The essays in this volume will examine the importance that Orozco’s work had for Pollock during this pivotal moment in his career and bring together for the first time the work of two of the most famous artists of the twentieth century.