For a moment Pollock had attenuated line almost to the point of its being free of
representation, but this was an extreme moment of style, with which he was deeply troubled, as it cut him off from his earlier inspirations, and from which he returned to allow abstract line to morph into
figurative signs in the
black paintings of 1952.
Twentieth century
black experience, and some of its most important
figurative representations, are central to the show.