Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2012

The 100th birthday of Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) provides the occasion to reassess the abstract expressionist movement the American painter helped found. Pollock is famous for his ‘any child could do that’ splatter technique, and is the artist most strongly identified with abstract expressionism by both its proponents and detractors. This show is the first major Pollock retrospective in Japan and presents some 70 canvasses representing the painter’s brief life, including a work that used to belong to the Empress of Iran.

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, until May 6 (listing).