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Untitled No. 2, poured media on board, 10 by 15½ inches, private collection.

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Untitled No. 8, poured media on board, 145/8  by 97/8  inches, private collection.

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2 cuts sent 8-20 naomi

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‘POLLOCK MATTERS’ OPENS AT MCMULLEN MUSEUM w/2 cuts

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CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. — The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College presents a groundbreaking exhibition, “Pollock Matters,” on view September 1–December 9. On Sunday, September 2, an opening celebration will be held at the museum from 8 to 10:30 pm. To arrange attendance, call 617-552-8587.

The exhibition is the first to explore the personal and artistic relationship between American Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock and Swiss-born photographer and graphic designer Herbert Matter.

“Pollock Matters” reveals the aesthetic connections between Pollock and Matter, and the crucial role that Matter’s technical innovations played in helping stimulate Pollock’s radical artistic conception of “energy made visible.”

Guest curated by Ellen G. Landau, Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University, in collaboration with Claude Cernuschi, professor of art history at Boston College, “Pollock Matters” has been organized by the McMullen Museum of Art.

“Boston College is uniquely suited to present this scholarly exhibition, which draws on the resources of our university as well as scholars from other institutions,” according to Nancy Netzer,  McMullen Museum director and professor of art history. “We view the artistic relationship between Pollock and Matter as an important interdisciplinary research project and a significant teaching opportunity.”

This exhibition also debuts 25 recently discovered experimental works found in 2002 by Matter’s son in a storage facility belonging to his late father. The paintings — although identified as “Jackson experimental works” by an inscription in Herbert Matter’s hand — have been the subject of controversy, scientific study and scholarly analysis.

According to Netzer, in preparing for this exhibition, the scholars involved discovered new art by all four protagonists: Pollock and Matter and their wives, painters Lee Krasner and Mercedes Matter.

“Pollock Matters” comprises more than 150 works, including paintings, drawings, sculpture, works on paper and other documentation — such as previously unseen photographs and letters. It compares Matter’s experimental abstract photos with known works by Pollock, and highlights their significant stylistic, technical and thematic connections.

“Part of the McMullen exhibition is devoted to ‘the state of the questions’ of the recently discovered paintings; it aims to bring together and present to the public the known evidence concerning the attribution of the newly discovered works,” Netzer says. “We hope that the exhibition encourages dialogue and further research by art historians and scientists who will now recognize Matter’s artistic impact on Pollock and view the mysterious suite of works found in his estate for the first time.”

“Pollock Matters” is accompanied by a fully illustrated scholarly catalog published by the McMullen Museum.

The Museum is in Devlin Hall on Boston College’s Chestnut Hill campus, at 140 Commonwealth Avenue. For information, 617-552-8100 or www.bc.edu/artmuseum.