Janet Sobel

A pioneer of Abstract Expressionism, outsider artist Janet Sobel began experimenting with drip painting long before the style was made famous by Jackson Pollock. Sobel was self-taught and made her paintings on scraps of paper and cardboard boxes, often blowing paint around the canvas or using glass pipettes in lieu of brushes. Her work soon caught the attention of critic Clement Greenberg, dealer Sidney Janis, and collector Peggy Guggenheim, who included her work in a 1945 show at her gallery Art of This Century. Most notably, Sobel made a strong impression on Pollock, who has cited her influence. Her best-known work, Milky Way (1945) —now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art —was created a year before Pollock made his first drip painting. Though Sobel’s renown faded, her impact on Pollock and the Abstract Expressionist movement secured her place in art history.