Abstract Expressionis

mBy Samantha Jameel

Abdullah AyadAlex Theo

What is Abstract Expressionism?

• movement of the mid-20th century , post WWII

• comprising of diverse styles and techniques• emphasizing especially the artist's liberty to

convey attitudes and emotions through nontraditional and usually nonrepresentational means.

• Artist wants you to “feel” their art.

Two Types of Abstract Expressionist Art

Color Field Painting Action Painting

Color Field Painting

• Color Field painting is characterized mostly by large fields of flat, solid color spread across or stained into the canvas; creating areas of unbroken surface and a flat picture plane. The movement pays less attention to gesture, brushstrokes and action in favor of an overall consistency of form and process.

Kenneth Noland, Beginning (1958)

Color Field Artists

• Helen Frankenthaler

• Kenneth Noland

Helen Frankenthaler

• Major pioneer in color field painting. • Used “soak and stain” technique• Had worked as a cubist previously• Changed after seeing drip paintings by Jackson

Pollock

Mountains and Sea (1952)-Helen Frankenthaler

Kenneth Noland

• Pioneered the concept of hard edge art.• Consisted of relating sharply defined shapes

to spaces on the canvas.• Severe bars in color divides space in a

completely different way than action painting.• Position of object in painting is crucial to the

visual reaction the viewer receives.

Bend Sinister (1964)-Kenneth Noland

Action Painting

• Style where paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas

• The resulting work often shows the physical act of painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished work or concern of its artist.

The Action Painters!

•Willem de Kooning

•Jason Pollock

De Kooning

•Did action paintings as well as sculptures.•One of the first abstract expressionists.•Less renown for his works than Pollock

Seated Woman on a Bench-1972De Kooning

Jackson Pollock

• Nicknamed “Jack the Dripper”• Pioneered the Abstract Expressionism

movement.• The most famous of all the Abstract

expressionists.• Specialized in drip paintings, is the face of

Abstract Expressionism• Influenced by cubism, surrealism, and

Kandinsky’s abstractions.

Nov. 5, 1948- JacksonPollock