ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Abstract Expressionism

The first truly American visual art form that helped put New York as a cultural capital (perhaps even above Paris).

Drawing from Surrealism, they developed the NEW YORK SCHOOL, which comprised action painting, Jazz, abstract expressionism and improvisional theatre.

This period of art was special because it was the first to recognize art with NO identifiable subject matter!

Jackson Pollock, No. 5, 1948, 1948.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Two Categories for Abstract Expressionism:

Action Painting Color-Field Painting

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Jackson Pollock

Affected by surrealism and also by Picasso, he moved toward a highly abstract art in order to express, rather than illustrate, feeling.

His experimentations led to the development of his famous "drip" technique, in which he energetically drew or "dripped" complicated linear rhythms onto big canvases, which were often placed flat on the floor.

Jackson Pollock

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

He sometimes applied paint directly from the tube, and at times

also used aluminum paint to achieve a glittery effect. His

vigorous attack on the canvas and intense devotion to the very act of

painting led to the term "action painting."

Jackson Pollock

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

On the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more a part of the

painting, since this way I can walk around in it, work from the

four sides and be literally `in' the painting.

Jackson Pollock, 1947.

Died in a drunk driving accident in 1956

Jackson Pollock

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Jackson Pollock, Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952.

Jackson Pollock

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm: Number 30, 1950.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Willem de Kooning(1904-1997)

Dutch-born American Action painter

Attempted to combine the expressiveness of Abstract Expressionism with recognizable objects

Willem de Kooning

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM Willem de Kooning, Asheville, 1948.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Willem de Kooning,Woman V, 1952-53.

Willem de Kooning

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Willem de Kooning,Woman I, 1952.

Willem de Kooning

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Mark Rothko(1903-1997)

Emigrated to the United States fromRussia in 1913

Part of the New York School

Used bands of color as the only truemeans of capturing feeling

Mark Rothko

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Rothko paintings on display

Mark Rothko

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Mark Rothko, No.10, 1950.

By 1950 Rothko had reduced the number of floating rectangles to two, three, or four and aligned them vertically against a colored ground, arriving at his signature style.

Mark Rothko

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Mark Rothko, White Center, 1950.

From that time on he would work almost invariably within this format, suggesting in numerous variations of color and tone an astonishing range of atmospheres and moods.

Mark Rothko

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

In 1954 he asked that his largest pictures be installed "so that they must be first encountered at close quarters, so that the first experience is to be within the picture."

Mark Rothko

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Rothko after completing his painting, Black Square.

Mark Rothko

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Helen Frankenthaler (1928-)

Frankenthaler was a “Post-Painterly” Abstract Expressionist whose transparent, bare brushstrokes were influenced by Pollock

Helen Frankenthaler

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Post-painterly Abstraction was a new movement in painting which derived from the Abstract Expressionism of the 1940s and 1950s but "favored openness or clarity" as opposed to the dense painterly surfaces of that painting style.

Helen Frankenthaler, Other Generations,1957. ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Helen Frankenthaler

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

The first Jackson Pollock show Frankenthaler saw was in 1951. She

had this to say about seeing Pollock's paintings Autumn Rhythm, Number 30, 1950 (1950), Number One (1950), and

Lavender Mist:

"It was all there. I wanted to live in this land. I had to live there, and master

the language."

Helen FrankenthalerSeeing the Moon on a Hot Summer Day

1987ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Helen Frankenthaler

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea,1952. ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Helen Frankenthaler