Who was the First Drip Painting Artist? Not Jackson Pollock
When you think of drip painting, the first name that probably comes to mind is Jackson Pollock. With his splattered abstract expressionist masterpieces, Pollock has long been considered the pioneer of the drip painting technique.
But what if I told you that a relatively unknown drip painting artist actually originated this iconic style years before Pollock?
It’s true – the real innovator behind drip artwork was a woman named Janet Sobel (1893-1968).
Yet somehow, she has remained obscure and unrecognised over the decades. Meanwhile, Pollock gets all the glory as the supposed father of drip painting!
In this post, I want to spotlight the life and career of Janet Sobel – an overlooked genius in the world of dripping artwork.
Her story serves as a fascinating case study of how women artists have often been denied credit for their revolutionary ideas.
My goal is to make the case that Sobel deserves acknowledgement as a pivotal early practitioner of the drip painting technique. She was experimenting with this signature abstract style long before the likes of Pollock!
So get ready to discover the untold story of Janet Sobel, the true pioneer of drip painting. It’s time this drip painting artist finally gets her due!
Background on Janet Sobel
To understand Janet Sobel’s pioneering role as a drip painting artist, we first need to learn a bit about her early life and artistic origins.
Sobel was born way back in 1893 in Ukraine. As a young child, she emigrated with her family to the United States, settling down in Brooklyn, New York.
Throughout her life in Brooklyn, Sobel worked all sorts of jobs to make ends meet – from dressmaker to grocery clerk.
It wasn’t until 1938 that she began making art, at the ripe old age of 45! With no formal training, Sobel was completely self-taught. She initially just painted as a hobby while raising her son.
Influenced by the natural scenery on her walks around Brooklyn, Sobel started out creating representational works depicting figures, landscapes and still lifes.
Sobel’s Artistic Development
As mentioned, Janet Sobel started out creating representational artwork – drawings and paintings of figures, landscapes and other real world scenes.
But by the early 1940s, she began experimenting more with abstraction, mixing media and incorporating found objects into her drip paintings. Sobel was clearly breaking new creative ground with her dripping artwork.
It was between 1943-1946 that Sobel really pioneered her signature drip painting style. Her innovative process involved tilting the canvas and then pouring thinned paint over it, blending the pigments to create those colourful drips.
Some of Sobel’s exhibitions
- In 1943, Sidney Janis was a notable art dealer who became an avid supporter of Janet Sobel. He exhibited her paintings at the exhibition “American Primitive Painting of Four Centuries” at the Arts Club of Chicago.
Janis also predicted that Sobel “will probably eventually be known as one of the important Surrealist artists in this country“.
- Janis also included her work in a prominent exhibition “Abstract and Surrealist Painting in America” that toured the country in 1944.
- That same year, Sobel had her first solo exhibition at the “Puma Gallery” in New York City. This exhibition gave Sobel a chance to showcase her groundbreaking drip painting style before the wider art world. Reviews from the Puma Gallery show helped put her radical abstract works on the map.
- Then in 1945, the renowned gallery owner Peggy Guggenheim featured Sobel’s pieces in a show called “The Women” at her Art of This Century gallery. Sobel exhibited amongst art world luminaries like Lee Krasner, Louise Bourgeois and Kay Sage.
- Guggenheim clearly saw Sobel’s raw talent, because the next year she gave Sobel her own solo exhibition. This 1946 show at Guggenheim’s gallery was a real career peak, further spreading awareness of Sobel’s expressive abstract style.
Her abstract pieces featured Sobel’s distinctive use of the drip painting technique to produce almost lyrical, musical effects. The drips and rivulets of paint trace hypnotic paths down the canvas.
For a self-taught drip painting artist who came to creativity so late, Sobel was definitely attracting attention. If only she had gotten her full due as the pioneer of the drip painting style!
Sobel’s drip artworks were energetic and rhythmic, emphasising motion and emotion over concrete representation. Little did she know, this dripping artwork was a harbinger of the abstract expressionist movement to come!
Music and creative inspiration
Music was a major creative inspiration for Janet Sobel’s pioneering drip painting works. Sobel herself cited music as one of her core inspirations, describing how it stimulated intense feelings that she aimed to directly pour onto the canvas.
She was highly influenced by the emotional power and energy of music and consciously tried to tap into that as a catalyst for her radically new approach to abstract art.
In particular, Sobel discussed how improvisational jazz and dynamic classical music pieces were important in igniting her uninhibited creative spirit.
Sobel attempted to channel the rhythms, textures and emotions of music into a flowing, lyrical visual form.
Her innovative dripping technique sought to mimic the energetic swirls of musical notes dancing across a score.
Sobel drew heavily on her deep connection with melodies and songs to pioneer a bold new painting style emphasising fluidity, spontaneity and feeling over-representation.
Music’s raw expressiveness fundamentally shaped Sobel’s aesthetic, giving her the inspiration to revolutionise abstract art with her profoundly original drip paintings.
Connection to Pollock and Abstract Expressionism
It’s evident that Janet Sobel’s drip painting technique directly influenced the work of Jackson Pollock. Though Pollock didn’t begin his famous drip paintings until 1947, this was still several years after Sobel originated the style.
In 1946, Pollock encountered Sobel’s drip artwork on display at Peggy Guggenheim’s studio, where Sobel exhibited that year.
Clearly, the energetic flow and lyrical quality of Sobel’s innovative dripping artwork resonated with Pollock. He was profoundly inspired by her drip painting style and her influences are obvious in his own iconic drip pieces.
Yet somehow Sobel remains an obscure figure in art history, while Pollock became the face of the abstract expressionist movement. Even though she pioneered the drip painting technique before him, Pollock received all the fame.
Sobel’s important role as an early innovator of dripping artwork has been unfairly minimised and forgotten.
This glaring omission reveals how women drip painting artists like Sobel were frequently denied proper credit for their revolutionary artistic contributions.
It’s past time we recognise that Sobel’s dripping artwork catalysed the whole abstract expressionist fascination with drip painting. She belongs in the canon as a true pioneer of the drip painting technique before Pollock.
Sobel’s Later Life and Legacy
Despite her groundbreaking innovations in drip painting, Janet Sobel unfortunately remained largely unknown during her lifetime.
She exhibited dripping artwork in several shows in the 1940s and early 1950s but never achieved wider recognition.
Later in life, Sobel suffered from mental illness and eventually stopped painting completely. She died in 1968 with no acknowledgement of her pivotal contributions to abstract art and the drip painting technique.
It is only recently that art historians have rediscovered the importance of Janet Sobel’s role as an early pioneer of dripping artwork. Scholars now cite her as the true innovator who originated the drip painting style years before Pollock.
However, Sobel still does not get the full credit she deserves for being the first drip painting artist. She brought great originality and expression to her art through her experiments with tilting the canvas and dripping paint.
Sobel’s legacy as the mother of drip artwork deserves to be more widely known and celebrated.
The obscurity Sobel faced reveals the struggle many women artists have faced in getting recognition for their revolutionary creativity.
Let’s make sure this groundbreaking drip painting artist and her dripping artwork get their proper due at last!
Final Thoughts About the First Drip Painting Artist – Janet Sobel
In summary, the story of Janet Sobel reveals how this pioneering drip painting artist originated the drip painting technique years before Jackson Pollock, yet died in obscurity with no recognition for her important innovations in dripping artwork.
Sobel brought great creativity and expression to her groundbreaking drip artworks in the 1940s. But as a woman artist experimenting with abstract styles, she did not get her proper due for bringing radical new approaches like tilt painting into the visual lexicon.
Unfortunately, Sobel’s experience reflects a wider pattern of women artists having their contributions minimised or erased.
Like so many other women abstract artists at that time, Sobel was underrecognised and underrated during her lifetime.
We must ensure these oversights are corrected by giving innovators like Sobel full credit for spearheading revolutionary techniques like drip painting.
Janet Sobel belongs in the canon as one of the most visionary early abstract expressionists.
Let us honour her legacy as the true originator of the drip painting style and finally acknowledge her pivotal role in the history of dripping artwork.
Sobel represents a prime example of the vital creative breakthroughs women artists have always been capable of when given the chance.
Outside of art history circles, most people have probably never heard of Janet Sobel or seen her drip paintings. But lately, it seems like she is starting to make a comeback into the story of American modern art!
For example, New York’s Museum of Modern Art recently unveiled a new gallery featuring work by notable Ukrainian-born artists. And right there, hanging on the wall, was one of Janet Sobel’s drip canvas masterpieces – her 1945 piece “Milky Way.”
Sobel’s innovative dripping artwork was exhibited alongside icons like Louise Nevelson, Kazimir Malevich and Sonia Delaunay.
It’s so exciting to see Sobel and her abstract drip paintings included prominently in such an important showcase.
Moments like this give me hope that this pioneering drip artist is beginning to get more of the recognition she deserves as an innovator who contributed so much to modern abstract styles.
Slowly but surely, the art world is re-discovering the immense creativity and vision of Janet Sobel!
And there you have it – the long-overdue story of Janet Sobel, drip painting pioneer! I hope this article has shed some light on Sobel’s overlooked importance as the original innovator of the drip painting technique.
Her contributions to abstract art deserve much wider recognition.
What do you all think about Sobel’s legacy? Should she be celebrated as a trailblazer of dripping artwork?
I’d love for you to share your thoughts and reactions in the comments. Let’s keep the conversation going and make sure this influential drip painting artist gets her full due!
If I missed any key details about Sobel’s life and career, please chime in and add your knowledge. The more we can learn about this obscure but groundbreaking creative figure, the better.
With your help, we can continue rediscovering forgotten innovators like Janet Sobel, the first drip painting artist!
Other related articles:
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Female Pioneers of Abstract Expressionism
Women in Abstract Art: A History of Female Artists and Feminist Perspectives
The Enduring Legacy of Women Abstract Artists
Paving the Way to Fame: The Inner Circle of Famous Abstract Artists
Brushstrokes of Resilience: The Challenges of Abstract Artists
