Abstract Expressionism Benjamin Jackson Block 4 1/18/17

Periodization Abstract expressionism is a post WWII art movement that began in the early 1943 and ended in late 1965. It originated in New York, replacing Paris as the center of the western art world. The movement spread mostly through the United States, most of the foreign artists came to the United States due to political instability in Europe in the 1930s and brought several leading Surrealists, who would further influence Abstract Expressionism.

Historical Context Early on, Abstract Expressionists looked to ancient cultures for expression, taking the ancient styles and mixing them with their own. Directness of expression was important, best achieved through a lack of planning. “To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world of the imagination which is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is critical.” Gottlieb In 1947, Jackson Pollock developed a new technique, pouring and dripping thinned paint onto raw canvas laid on the ground. (Gesture) The crisis of war, especially after WWII, and its aftermath are key to understanding the concerns of the Abstract Expressionists.

Goal Many of the young artists had made their start in the 1930s, during The Great Depression which yielded two popular art movements, Regionalism and Social Realism, neither of which satisfied this group of artists’ desire to find a content rich with meaning and redolent of social responsibility, yet free of provincialism and explicit politics. After being exposed to many different styles and art movements, this group of artists essentially decided to create what came to mind when thinking about a certain topic, to satisfy their artistic desires.

Characteristics Early artists created their works through a lack of planning until different methods of this style were created: Gesture: Pouring and dripping thinned paint onto raw canvas laid on the ground. The paintings were entirely non objective, in their seemingly lack of subject matter and the huge scale of the work. Lack of brush strokes. The authenticity or value of a work lay in its directness and immediacy of expression. A painting is meant to be a revelation of the artist’s authentic identity. The artist’s “signature,” is evidence of the actual process of the work’s creation. Color Field: Art based on simplified, large-format, color-dominated fields. Reflective and cerebral, with pictorial means simplified in order to create a kind of elemental impact. Going back to Edmund Burke in a drive for the grand, heroic vision in opposition to a calming or comforting effect. Similar characteristics can be found in sculptures made by artists as well, with a lack of planning.

Number 1 (Lavender Mist) (1950) Jackson Pollock

Red, Brown and Black (1958) Mark Rothko

Chief (1950) Franz Kline

Cubi XII (April 7, 1963) David Smith

Vir heroicus sublimis (1950-51). (“Man, heroic and sublime”) Vir heroicus sublimis (1950-51) (“Man, heroic and sublime”) Barnett Newman

Works Cited http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization. 7th ed. Belmont: Clark Baxter, 2009. Print. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm http://www.theartstory.org/movement-abstract-expressionism.htm http://www.theartstory.org/movement-abstract-expressionism-artworks.htm#pnt_2