Non- Representational/ Abstract Art Brandi McGhie and Chandler Carson

Vocabulary Non-representational: Non-representational art is work that does not represent or depict a being, a place, or a thing in the natural world. Abstract: Art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, and textures. Abstract Expression: Abstract Expressionism signaled a new age of American artistic expression in the immediate postwar period (the late 1940s and 1950s).

Vocabulary Color-Field Painting: A kind of Abstract Expressionism characterized by large areas of color that are more dominant than any particular shape. The New York School: A group of artists in New York City during the 40’s and 50’s paving the way for a new type of art.

Beginning of Abstract Art Political instability in Europe in the 1930s brought several leading Surrealists to New York, and many of the Abstract Expressionists were profoundly influenced by Surrealism's focus on mining the unconscious.

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris.

Abstract Expressionism It is often characterised by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity Artists used Abstraction to convey strong emotional content

Wassily Kandinsky Kandinsky is credited as the pioneer of abstract art. He was extraordinarily sensitive to color and could see music in colors. The latest physics discovery showed that energy held the universe together, and Kandinsky believed his color could show energy in his paintings.

Blue Mountain Landscape

Dominant Curve, Wassily Kandinsky

Piet Mondrian Mondrian wanted to create paintings that could be universally understood. All of his paintings avoided reference to the real world He only used primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), primary values (black and grey), and primary directions (horizontal and vertical) He started an art movement in 1917 called De Stijl (The Style) after World War 1, to integrate life and art.

Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow, Mondrian

Broadway Boogie Woogie, Piet Mondrian It was his last complete painting and his most famous one. This painting was inspired by the city grid of Manhattan and the Broadway Boogie Woogie music, which Mondrian loved.

Georgia O’Keeffe Carved out her own style apart from the chaotic art scene of the time. She took an inspiration from the world around her and then reworked it into a personal statement Sometimes they would turn out literally, but other times they would be totally abstract. She also paved the way for female artists

Abstraction White Rose, O’Keefe

Abstraction Blue, Georgia O'Keeffe

Jackson Pollock Pollock helped father the Abstract Expressionism movement He was widely noticed for his technique of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface, enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles It was called the drip technique Pollock was part of the New York School

Convergence, Pollock

Lavender Mist, Jackson Pollock

Willem De Kooning Like Pollock he was an Abstract Expressionist painter. His paintings were moving away from representational imagery towards pure abstraction. He used a signature style that fused vivid color and aggressive paint handling with deconstructed images of the female form He also was a contributor to the New York School

Women Singing, Willem de Kooning

Door to the River, Willem De Kooning

Mark Rothko Developed Color Field Paintings in 1947 He wanted to express basic human emotions through his paintings Found his place and New York, and also became one of the New York School painters

Untitled, Mark Rothko Orange and Yellow, Mark Rothko

Green on Blue, Mark Rothko

Hans Hoffman One of the most influential art teachers of the 20th century His influence was on the illusion of three-dimensional space, composition, and the optical effects of color. He explored the relativity of color, developing his “push-pull” theory and technique by which warm and cool colors interact to produce effects of movement, space, and depth. He believed in pure paintings, which had no reference to the real world

Pompeii, Hans Hoffman Cathedral, Hans Hoffman

Memoria in Aeternum, Hans Hofmann

Helen Frankenthaler Hans Hofmann's student Became famous with her color- stain technique She would apply thin washes of paint to her unprimed canvas Eventually became a part of the New York School

Provincetown Window, Helen Frankenthaler Canal, Helen Frankenthaler

Mountains and Sea, Helen Frankenthaler