Baker-Nord Distinguished Faculty Lecture: “Thomas Hart Benton, Jackson Pollock and the Secrets of El Greco”

Henry Adams, the Ruth Coulter Heede Professor of Art History and recipient of the 2018 Baker-Nord Center Award for Distinguished Scholarship in the Humanities, will present a lecture on Jackson Pollock’s early work and the teacher that inspired it. The lecture, titled “Thomas Hart Benton, Jackson Pollock and the Secrets of El Greco,” will take place Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 4:30 p.m. in Clark Hall, Room 206. Register online.

Talk details

Many of those who have been skeptical about Jackson Pollock’s work have done a double-take when they’ve encountered Pollock’s early drawings after El Greco, which employ an analytical approach he learned from his first and only teacher, Thomas Hart Benton. They reveal that Pollock’s mature work was based on a deep understanding of the compositional methods of the old masters. Interestingly, they also shed light on El Greco’s own working methods, and on the factors that led to the invention of El Greco’s signature artistic style.

Award details

The Baker-Nord Center Award for Distinguished Scholarship recognizes the outstanding scholarship of Case Western Reserve University faculty in the humanities and their contribution to the university’s reputation.