Jackson Pollock
Moon Vessel

Moon Vessel

© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Moon Vessel
Moon Vessel
ArtistAmerican, 1912–1956
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Moon Vessel
Datec. 1945
PlaceUnited States
MediumOil and enamel on canvas mounted on board
DimensionsOverall: 33 3/8 × 17 1/2 in. (84.8 × 44.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Alice Pratt Brown Museum Fund
Object number96.1756
Not on view

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Object Type
Provenance[Art of This Century Gallery, New York, until 1946]; purchased by Lydia Winston Malbin, Birmingham, Michigan, 1946–1989; sold through [Sotheby's, New York, until 1990]; [Jason McCoy Inc., New York, until 1996]; purchased by MFAH, 1996.
Exhibition History“Jackson Pollock,” Art of This Century, New York, April 2–20, 1946.

"20th Century Painting & Sculpture from the Winston Collection," University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, October 30–November 27, 1955.

"Collecting Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston," Detroit Institute of Arts, September 27–November 3, 1957; Virginia Museum of Art, Richmond, December 13, 1957–January 5, 1958; San Francisco Museum of Art, January 23–March 13, 1958; Milwaukee Art Institute, April 11–May 12, 1958; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1958.

"American Paintings & Drawings from Michigan Collections," Detroit Institute of Arts, April 10–May 6, 1962.

“Jackson Pollock,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 5–June 4, 1967; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, July 19–September 3, 1967.

"Detroit Collects," Detroit Institute of Arts, May 15–June 22, 1969.

"Selections from the Lydia & Harry Winston Collection," Detroit Institute of Arts, 1972–1973.

"Futurism, A Modern Focus: The Lydia & Harry Winston Collection (Dr. & Mrs. Barnett Malbin)," Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, November 15–February 6, 1974.

“Jackson Pollock: Pollock in the Mid-Forties: A Close-up,” Jason McCoy Inc., New York, October 22–November 28, 1992.

“Jackson Pollock: Defining the Heroic,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 2–June 30, 1996.

"American Master: Jackon Pollock, Paintings, Drawings & Prints 1930-1951," Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, June 17–25, 1994; Hakone Open-Air Museum, Tokyo, July 13–August 14, 1994.

"1945: The End of the War," Annely Juda Fine Art, London, June 28–September 16, 1995.

"Pollock/Siqueiros," Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Germany, September 29–December 3, 1995.

"Art at Midcentury: Spotlight on the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 13–September 3, 2001.

"Modern and Contemporary Masterworks from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 8, 2007–March 2, 2008.

"Jackson Pollock: A Retrospective," Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, Japan, November 11, 2011–January 22, 2012; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, February 10–May 6, 2012.

"The Abstract Impulse: Selections from the Modern and Contemporary Collections," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 3–May 5, 2013.

"The Figurative Pollock," Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland, October 2, 2016–January 22, 2017.

"The Marzio Years: Transforming the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1982–2010," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 25, 2020–January 10, 2021.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscription: In pencil, on frame verso: "paint Semi matte grey color (TBS) 6/15 Karen Suafer." Labels, verso of backboard: "JASON McCoy Inc. 41 East 57 Street, New York 10022 212/319.1996 Fax 212/319.4799/Jackson Pollock/MOON VESSEL/oil & enamel on canvas/mounted on board/33 3/8 x 17 1/2 inches/c. 1945 signed lower center:/Jackson Pollock/CR# 130/JP232", "Yamato Transport C., L.T.D./Fine Arts Division/EXHIBIT: (Japanese) Case No. 13 Catal. No. II-9", "Ollection of #124/Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston/483 Aspen Road, Birmingham, Michigan/Pollock, Jackson (Amer.)/1912-1952/Painting-Oil on canvas/Moon Vessel 1945/34 1/8 x 18 1/8/Signed l.c. Jackson Pollock", "Collection of 124./MRS. BARNETT MALBIN (THE LYDIA AND HARRY LEWIS WINSTON COLLECTION)/483 Aspen Road, Birmingham, Michigan 48009/POLLOCK, Jackson (American)/1912-1956/oil & Enamel paint on composition board/Moon Vessel 1945/33 7/8 x 17 1/2", "1969/Friends of Modern Art/Exhibition/Name Mrs. Malkin/Address 483 Aspen/Birmingham Mich/Artical Moon Vessel/Artist Pollock", "Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston/483 Aspen Road, birmingham, Michigan/Jackson Pollock/Moon Vessel 1945", "Name H. Winston/ Receipt & Itam No. M094721 #78" and in black ink, "Box - 25 23 67.425 eat #19", in red ink "ALL S #2 400.73."
Catalogue raisonnéO’Connor, Francis Valentine and Eugene Victor Thaw. Jackson Pollock: A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Drawings, and Other Works. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1978, vol. 1, no. 130, p. 129, illus. p. 129.

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