Chapter 1
The secret origins of the drip
View / Create
Answer
Chapter 2
Step out of the shadow
View / Create
Answer
Chapter 3
Staining and soaking the canvas
View / Create
Answer
Chapter 4
The historic Ninth Street show
View / Create
Answer
YOUR GOAL
Master of Abstract expressionism's forgotten women
Ch 1 · The secret origins of the drip
andy A hyper-masculine ideal in art history credited Pollock with the drip technique, erasing women like Sobel.
andy Pollock openly admired Janet Sobel's pioneering "all-over" painting technique at her 1944 exhibition.
andy Ukrainian-born Janet Sobel invented a radical wet-on-wet enamel drip painting technique by 1944.
andy Despite her revolutionary technique, art critics dismissed Janet Sobel as a mere "housewife" and "primitive" painter, halting her career.
Fun Fact
Janet Sobel's tools: Janet Sobel often used a vacuum cleaner's exhaust blow-pipe to scatter wet enamel paint across her canvases.
andy Renowned critic Clement Greenberg admitted that Jackson Pollock saw Janet Sobel's drip paintings in 1944 and was deeply influenced by them.
Glossary
drip painting (noun)
A style of abstract painting in which paint is dripped or poured onto the canvas. Ukrainian-born artist Janet Sobel pioneered this technique in her Brooklyn apartment during the early 1940s.
A style of abstract painting in which paint is dripped or poured onto the canvas. Ukrainian-born artist Janet Sobel pioneered this technique in her Brooklyn apartment during the early 1940s.
Gossip
If you invented a revolutionary technique, would you let a famous friend take credit?
Quiz
Which influential art critic admitted that Jackson Pollock was influenced by Janet Sobel?
Quiz
Which self-taught artist pioneered the "drip painting" technique before Jackson Pollock?
Quiz
What country was drip-painting pioneer Janet Sobel born in before immigrating to the US?