American Art Collaborative

A rare example of Jackson Pollock’s representational work, "Hayride" dates from the period when the artist was working as a muralist for the Works Progress Administration. The twisty figures recall the influence of Thomas Hart Benton, with whom Pollock had studied at the Art Students League in New York. At the same time he was working on this image, however, Pollock joined the Experimental Workshop of David Alfaro Siqueiros, where he was exposed to the use of industrial paints that would ultimately culminate in his groundbreaking drip paintings of the late 1940s and early 1950s.