Jackson Pollock: A Revolutionary of American Abstraction Born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1912, Paul Jackson Pollock—the name he initially carried before adopting his stepfather’s surname—emerged from a transient childhood marked by frequent moves across the American West and Southwest. His early life, steeped in the rugged landscapes of Iowa and the burgeoning artistic communities of California and Arizona, instilled within him a restless spirit and an acute sensitivity to the world around him. This nomadic upbringing, coupled with his family’s Presbyterian faith—a foundation that would later be s…