Jackson Pollock One of the leading artists of the post–World War II revolution in painting, Jackson Pollock often worked with the canvas on the floor, dripping paint onto it with sticks, turkey basters, and hard brushes, prompting Time magazine to dub him “Jack the Dripper.” He struggled with alcohol and died in 1956, at the age of forty-four, crashing his car while drunk and speeding near his Long Island home. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.