October 15, 2023
Source: Christie's
Photo / Image Source: Shidonna Raven Fine Art & Giclees, Abstract Watercolor #23. All Rights Reserved. Copyright.
Abstract Expressionism was a uniquely American art movement
The term Abstract Expressionism refers to the American artists working in abstraction in the 1940s and 1950s. As the first movement developed in the US, it is characterized by a rejection of traditional artistic standards and a focus on spontaneity and gesture. Often monumental in scale and grounded in the subjective experiences of the individual, Abstract Expressionist paintings exude a classically American sensibility.
The term ‘Abstract Expressionism’ was coined by Robert Coates, art critic for The New Yorker
These artists are also known as ‘the New York School.’ Some artists maintained that their work was not abstract but representative of the subconscious. The New York School encompasses the broad spectrum of styles and substantial artistic developments that emerged in New York City in the years following World War II.
The movement was a response to the turmoil of the era
Abstract Expressionism came about on the heels of one of history’s most tumultuous eras, and was informed by the Great Depression and the devastation of the Second World War. ‘We felt the moral crisis of a world in shambles, a world destroyed by a great depression and a fierce World War,’ wrote Barnett Newman, ‘and it was impossible at the time to paint the kind of paintings that we were doing — flowers, reclining nudes, and people playing the cello.’
Meanwhile, the American public was exposed to European modernism through groundbreaking exhibitions at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Living Art, New York’s first modern and contemporary art museum. Influenced by artists like Picasso and Matisse and seeking an apolitical medium of expression, the Abstract Expressionists created a revolutionary visual language based in interiority.
The movement marked the rise of New York City as the global arts center
The advent of Abstract Expressionism came with a shift of influence in the art world. Paris, once the undisputed center of culture, was recovering from the devastation of the Second World War. Many artists had already fled Europe for New York City in the 1930s as fascism raged across the continent, but even more came after the war.
Action painting is one of the central forms of Abstract Expressionism
The Abstract Expressionist movement is often divided into two broad groups: action painters and colour field painters. Action painters, like Pollock and de Kooning, focused on the ‘act’ of painting, conveying energy and motion through their gestural application of paint. As the critic Harold Rosenberg, who coined the term ‘action painting’ in a 1952 article for Art News, wrote, ‘What was to go on canvas was not a picture but an event.’
Though diverse in styles, the artists of the movement were united by their location and interests
The canon of Abstract Expressionism looks different than many other schools of painting because it wasn’t a united movement. Each artist’s response to their world was as different and complex as the next.
While the meditative feel of the so-called colour field painters may seem incongruous with the raw, gestural works of the action painters, these separate styles were related in their pursuit of depicting the subconscious. It is this desire to express the inner self and evoke emotion that unites them under the Ab Ex umbrella.
They were also united by time and place. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, many Abstract Expressionists lived in New York City’s Greenwich Village. They would congregate at local watering holes like the Cedar Tavern, where they would unwind, socialise and discuss art.
Abstract Expressionists drew inspiration from diverse movements across the history of art
While there was no one movement that Abstract Expressionism grew out of, Surrealism is often cited as a central influence. As fascism spread across Europe throughout the 1930s, many prominent artists escaped to New York. Among them were influential figures within the Surrealist movement such as Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy and André Breton.
The Surrealists’ interest in the subconscious and surrendering to the dream state had a direct effect on Abstract Expressionism’s spontaneous approach to creation. This is perhaps most obvious in Pollock’s ‘drip’ paintings, an offshoot of the surrealist notion of ‘automatism.’
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