Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock

Series of paintings by Art & Language

Background

The proposal for a Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock was first discussed in a spirit of irony as a possible topic for a (written) essay. A sense of the practical unpracticality of the proposal gave rise to a practical essay. The essay developed into an exhibition of color xeroxes at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. At the time of production the conventionally aesthetic properties of the 'original' paintings were seen as accidental and possibly unavoidable residue of the project. In the event of xeroxed images at Eindhoven was evidence of a paradox: the suppression of the aesthetic, and indeed any act of suppression, could itself be aestheticised insofar as it entered the circle of the Institutional Theory. The critique of the painted fetish was in fact to be driven more efficiently if the viewer could be lured into an experience of the paintings that would be a real match for the experience to be had before a (real) Pollock. In discovering a portrait of Lenin, the aesthetic 'loss' would be all the greater.

Further reading: its chapter in Charles Harrison's "Essays on Art & Language"

In 1980 the concept was adapted into two songs:

A biographical sketch of Pollock: Portrait of V. I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock, Part I
A biographical sketch of Lenin: Portrait of V. I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock, Part II

Works

Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock

	Year	Title	Materials	Dimensions		Photo printed in
1	1979	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock	Pencil on paper and polyester colour prints on paper	126 × 177 cm
2	1980	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock II	Oil and enamel on board mounted on plywood	210 × 239 cm		Art & Language: Confessions: Incidents in a Museum (1986)
3	1980	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock III
4	1980	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock IV	Enamel on paper	66 × 63 cm	^[2]
5	1980	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock V	Enamel on canvas	239 × 210 cm	^[3]
6	1980	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock VI
7	1980	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock VII	Enamel on canvas mounted on board	105 × 100 cm	^[4]
8	1980	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock VIII		63 × 52.5 cm, 20 × 19 cm	^[5]

Joseph Stalin Gazing Enigmatically at the Body of V. I. Lenin as it Lies in State in Moscow, in the Style of Jackson Pollock

	Portrait	Map	Photo	Year	Title	Materials	Dimensions		Photo printed in
1				1979	Joseph Stalin Gazing Enigmatically at the Body of V. I. Lenin as it Lies in State in Moscow, in the Style of Jackson Pollock	Oil and enamel on board mounted on canvas	126 × 177 cm	^[6]	Art in America (1988)

The Dying Trotsky, in the Style of Jackson Pollock

	Portrait	Map	Photo	Year	Title	Materials	Dimensions
1				1979	The Dying Trotsky, in the Style of Jackson Pollock		126 × 177 cm

Portrait of V.I. Lenin with Cap, in the Style of Jackson Pollock

	Year	Title	Materials	Dimensions
1	1979	Portrait of V. I. Lenin with Cap, in the Style of Jackson Pollock		126 × 177 cm	^[7]
2	1980	Portrait of V. I. Lenin with Cap, in the Style of Jackson Pollock II	Oil and enamel on board mounted on plywood	210 × 239 cm
3	1980	Portrait of V. I. Lenin with Cap, in the Style of Jackson Pollock III		242.4 × 213.4 cm	^[8]
4	1980	Portrait of V. I. Lenin with Cap, in the Style of Jackson Pollock IV		239 × 210 cm

'V.I. Lenin' by V. Charangovitch (1970), in the Style of Jackson Pollock

Vasily Sharangovich

	Year	Title	Materials	Dimensions		Photo printed in
1	1980	'V.I. Lenin' by Charangovitch (1970), in the Style of Jackson Pollock	Oil and enamel on board mounted on plywood	210 × 239 cm
2	1980	Portrait of V. I. Lenin by V. Charangovitch (1970) in the style of Jackson Pollock II				"Art & Language Paints a Landscape" Critical Inquiry (1995)
3	1980	Portrait of V. I. Lenin by V. Charangovitch (1970) in the style of Jackson Pollock III	Enamel paint on canvas mounted on wooden panel	105 × 100 cm	^[9]

Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Winter of 1920, in the Style of Jackson Pollock

	Portrait	Map	Photo	Year	Title	Materials	Dimensions
1				1980	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Winter of 1920, in the Style of Jackson Pollock	Enamel on paper on panel	239 × 210 cm	^[10]

Portrait of V.I. Lenin in July 1917 Disguised by a Wig and Working Man's Clothes, in the Style of Jackson Pollock

	Portrait	Map	Photo	Year	Title	Materials	Dimensions
1				1980	Portrait of VI Lenin in July 1917 Disguised by a Wig and Working Man's Clothes in the Style of Jackson Pollock	Enamel on paper on panel	239 × 210 cm	^[10]
2				1980	Portrait of V.I. Lenin in July 1917 Disguised by a Wig and Working Man's Clothes, in the Style of Jackson Pollock II	Enamel on board mounted on canvas	210 × 239 cm

Art in America

Picasso's Guernica in the Style of Jackson Pollock

	Portrait	Map	Year	Title	Materials	Dimensions
			1980	Picasso's Guernica in the Style of Jackson Pollock	Enamel paint on board	360 × 782 cm

Related works

Letters to the Jackson Pollock Bar in the Style of the Red Krayola

Later Pollock portraits

Year	Title
	Portrait of George Bush as a Baby in the Style of Jackson Pollock	^[10]
2006	Portrait of President George W. Bush in the Style of Jackson Pollock
	Portrait of President George W. Bush Wearing a Cowboy Hat in the Style of Jackson Pollock
	Portrait of Vladimir Putin in the Style of Jackson Pollock	^[10]
2013	Portrait of President Barack Obama in the Style of Jackson Pollock	^[11]

Exhibitions


Start	End			Gallery	Title	Notes
1980		NL	Eindhoven	Van Abbemuseum		The paintings were first exhibited as photocopies, some with scrambled versions
1980-03-07	1980-04-03	UK	London	Lisson Gallery	Art & Language: Portraits of V.I. Lenin and Others in the Style of Jackson Pollock^[12]
1980		UK	Leeds	University Gallery
1980-06	1980-08-31	BE	Ghent		Kunst in Europa na '68
1981		BE	Antwerp	Jan Sack
1981		CH	Geneva	Centre d’Art Contemporain
2013	2013-06-16	BE	Deurle	Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens	^[10]

References

[1] ttps://unoriginalsins.co.uk/product/art-language-portrait-of-v-i-lenin-in-the-style-of-jackson-pollock-lecture/

[2] ttps://sanchezubiria.com/portfolio-item/la-idea-en-un-signo-4/

[3] ttps://www.artsy.net/artwork/art-and-language-portrait-of-vi-lenin-in-the-style-of-jackson-pollock-v

[4] ttps://www.artsy.net/artwork/art-and-language-portrait-of-vi-lenin-in-the-style-of-jackson-pollock-vii

[5] ttps://www.artsy.net/artwork/art-and-language-portrait-of-vi-lenin-in-the-style-of-jackson-pollock-viii

[6] ttps://grupaok.tumblr.com/post/20476427087/art-language-joseph-stalin-gazing-enigmatically

[7] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/ClyuKeooEuw/

[8] ttps://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/art-language-portrait-of-v-i-lenin-with-cap-in-the-style-of-jackson-pollock-iii-t12406

[9] ttps://www.phillips.com/detail/art-language/UK010311/175

[:0-10] 10.0 ^10.1 ^10.2 ^10.3 ^10.4 http://www.lost-painters.nl/museum-dhondt-dhaenens-art-language/

[:1-11] ttps://www.artnet.com/auctions/artists/art-language/portrait-of-president-barack-obama-in-the-style-of-jackson-pollock

[12] ttps://www.lissongallery.com/exhibitions/art-language--6

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v t e The Red Crayola with Art & Language
Albums	Corrected Slogans Kangaroo? Black Snakes Baby and Child Care Sighs Trapped by Liars Five American Portraits
Videos	Nine Gross and Conspicuous Errors And Now for Something Completely Different Letters to the Jackson Pollock Bar in the Style of the Red Krayola
Other	Victorine Karaoke Bar Art & Language Sings a Song Interview with Mayo Thompson Letters to the Red Crayola