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Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

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Jackson Pollock

Sleeping Effort

1953

On View in James M. Kemper Gallery, Room 1

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Recently conserved with funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. 

An iconic figure of postwar painting in New York, Jackson Pollock produced this work when he returned to a form of abstracted figuration after creating his completely nonrepresentational drip paintings in the late 1940s. In works like Sleeping Effort Pollock synthesized the expressive handling of his drip paintings with the psychological interests of his work from earlier in the 1940s. He was influenced by the theories of Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung and Surrealist notions of the human unconscious, both of which focus on dreams and desires as conduits to the psyche. Sleeping Effort itself suggests a dreamlike state: a reclining figure in the foreground is surrounded by unidentifiable imagery floating in an amorphous blue background. Built up into a thick impasto of rich colors, Pollock’s brushwork is typical of Abstract Expressionist gestural painting, in which visible brushstrokes are seen as physical traces of the creative act. [Permanent collection label, 2017]

  • Artist Jackson Pollock (American, 1912–1956)
  • Title Sleeping Effort
  • Date 1953
  • Medium Oil and enamel on canvas
  • Dimensions unframed | 49 7/8 x 76 in.
  • Credit line University purchase, Bixby Fund, 1954
  • Object number WU 3842
  • Currently on View James M. Kemper Gallery, Room 1

Frederick Hartt and American Abstraction in the 1950s: Building the Collection at Washington University in St. Louis
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/04/2012 - 08/27/2012

Picasso to Pollock: H.W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis
Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum (San Antonio, Texas), 08/17/2004 - 10/24/2004

Collecting Patterns
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/05/2003 - 12/07/2003

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/30/2002 - 12/08/2002
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (New York, New York), 03/12/2002 - 04/06/2002

International Abstraction: Art of the 1950s from the Washington University Collections
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/22/1999 - 03/28/1999

Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/12/1998 - 04/05/1998

Abstract Expressionism: American Art in the 1950s and 1960s
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/17/1997 - 04/06/1997

A Gallery of Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/09/1994 - 10/16/1994

Twentieth Century Art from the Washington University Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/28/1994 - 03/27/1994

Modernism at Midstream: From Europe to America and Back Again
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/04/1983 - 11/06/1983

Cubists, Surrealists, and Expressionists

Cubist, Expressionist, and Surrealist Paintings and Sculptures

Jackson Pollock
Museum of Modern Art, New York, 04/03/1967 - 06/04/1967
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 07/19/1967 - 09/03/1967

Washington University Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture from Daumier to Pollock
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 04/06/1966 - 05/08/1966

Expressionism: Force of the Fifties
Charlotte Crosby Kemper Gallery, Kansas City Art Institute (Kansas City, Missouri), 01/13/1965 - 02/04/1965

Jackson Pollock: 1912–1956
Marlborough-Gerson Gallery (New York, New York), 01/14/1964 - 02/15/1964

American Painting 1910–1960: A Special Exhibition Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Association of College Unions
Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), 04/19/1964 - 05/10/1964

Opening Exhibition of Mark C. Steinberg Memorial Hall
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 04/29/1960

IV Bienal de Museu de Arte Moderna-U.S. Section
Museu de Arte Moderna (Sao Paolo, Brazil), 09/01/1957 - 12/01/1957

Jackson Pollock, New Oils
Sidney Janis Gallery (New York, New York), 02/01/1954 - 02/27/1954

Collector's Choice [traveling exhibition]

Frederick Hartt and American Abstraction in the 1950s: Building the Collection at Washington University in St. Louis 2012

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art 2002

1954
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York

Inscription [LL:] Jackson Pollock '53

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.

Related Content

go to Jackson Pollock, Sleeping Effort, 1953 page
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Essays

Jackson Pollock, Sleeping Effort, 1953

Grade: High, University
go to Abstract Expressionism: American Art in the 1950s and 1960s page
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Exhibitions

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April 19, 1964–May 10, 1964
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September 05, 2003–December 07, 2003
go to Collector's Choice [traveling exhibition] page
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Exhibitions

Collector's Choice [traveling exhibition]

go to Cubist, Expressionist, and Surrealist Paintings and Sculptures page
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Exhibitions

Cubist, Expressionist, and Surrealist Paintings and Sculptures

September 20, 1980–November 02, 1980
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Exhibitions

Cubists, Surrealists, and Expressionists

May 15, 1983–September 04, 1983
go to H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis page
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Exhibitions

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis

March 12, 2002–December 08, 2002
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Exhibitions

International Abstraction: Art of the 1950s from the Washington University Collections

January 22, 1999–March 28, 1999
go to IV Bienal de Museu de Arte Moderna-U.S. Section page
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Exhibitions

IV Bienal de Museu de Arte Moderna-U.S. Section

September 01, 1957–December 01, 1957
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Exhibitions

Jackson Pollock: 1912–1956

January 14, 1964–February 15, 1964
go to Expressionism: Force of the Fifties page
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Exhibitions

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January 13, 1965–February 04, 1965
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Exhibitions

Modernism at Midstream: From Europe to America and Back Again

September 04, 1983–November 06, 1983
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Exhibitions

Jackson Pollock

April 03, 1967–September 03, 1967
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Exhibitions

Jackson Pollock, New Oils

February 01, 1954–February 27, 1954
go to Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism page
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Exhibitions

Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism

January 12, 1998–April 05, 1998
go to Twentieth Century Art from the Washington University Collection page
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Exhibitions

Twentieth Century Art from the Washington University Collection

January 28, 1994–March 27, 1994
go to Washington University Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture from Daumier to Pollock page
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Exhibitions

Washington University Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture from Daumier to Pollock

April 06, 1966–May 08, 1966
go to Picasso to Pollock: H.W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis page
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Exhibitions

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August 17, 2004–October 24, 2004
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Exhibitions

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August 09, 1994–October 16, 1994
go to Opening Exhibition of Mark C. Steinberg Memorial Hall page
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Exhibitions

Opening Exhibition of Mark C. Steinberg Memorial Hall

April 29, 1960
go to Frederick Hartt and American Abstraction in the 1950s: Building the Collection at Washington University in St. Louis page
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Exhibitions

Frederick Hartt and American Abstraction in the 1950s: Building the Collection at Washington University in St. Louis

May 04, 2012–August 27, 2012

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