Jackson Pollock was an American artist of the 1930s and 1940s who created his own style of painting that brought him notoriety and fame. The artist's unhappy personal life, alcoholism, and untimely death in a car accident contributed to his legendary status (Pioch). Pollock's style in the second half of his career might best be described as action painting and although this is what the artist is best known for, he also produced paintings comparable to those of Picasso during from the first half of his career. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Jackson Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming in 1912 and raised in Arizona and California (Lapidus and Doughty). Pollock believed that "the vast expanses of these western regions greatly influenced his vast works of art" (Lapidus and Doughty). In 1929, Pollock moved east to study at the Student League of New York under regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton ("Jackson Pollock"). Pollock spent some years studying with Benton, painting images of everyday life (Lapidus and Doughty). In his late twenties, Pollock suffered a mental breakdown caused in part by depression and his alcoholism (Lapidus and Doughty). An expert who works to understand the unconscious, dreams and emotions treated Pollock and influenced how his inner world would soon become the subject of his paintings (Lapidus and Doughty). In 1945, Pollock married American painter Lee Krasner and together they moved to East Hampton to get away from the busy life of New York and concentrate on their art (Lapidus and Doughty). It was here that Pollock began using the drip style that made him famous. At the height of his fame, Pollock abandoned the drip style and began using darker colors and reintroducing figurative elements ("Jackson Pollock"). Collectors demanded new paintings and this pressure along with personal frustration led to the artist's ("Jackson Pollock") growing dependence on alcohol. On August 11, 1956, at the age of forty-four, Pollock died in a car accident while driving under the influence of alcohol. Pollock and his mistress, Ruth Kilgman, died instantly (“Jackson Pollock”). During the 1930s, Pollock painted in a regionalist style, learned from Benton, with influence from Mexican mural painters and some aspects of surrealism ("Jackson Pollock"). . The works he produced during this period were typical of this period and resembled the works of other artists like Picasso. Pollock's play "The Moon-Woman", produced in 1942, illustrates his earlier style learned from Benton. “The Moon Woman” shares similarities with Picasso’s “Dora Maar Seated.” Both images use a range of bright colors and depict a woman, although the two women are depicted in different ways. Each of these women has the frontal eye and streamlined nose that Picasso was famous for during his Cubist period, although only one of these paintings is by Picasso himself. Early in the film Pollock, a documentary about the artist's life, a disgust toward Picasso is evident when Pollock drunkenly rants about how his work is better than Picasso's, but Picasso is the one who gets all the fame , fame and money. This rant ends with a cry of “FUCK PICASSO!” SHIT PICASSO! (Pollock). Although this film is only a documentary starring Ed Harris and not a biography of the artist himself, Pollock's feelings.