Abstract expressionism

Abstract expressionism arose in the 1940s in New York, fueled by the influx of European Surrealist artists fleeing World War II, who brought ideas of automatism and the unconscious. The movement was also a response to the social and political turmoil of the era, with artists seeking a new, distinctly American form of expression. Key figures like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning rejected traditional composition and narrative, instead embracing improvisation and the physical act of painting. The term itself was first used in 1929 by Alfred Barr to describe Kandinsky's work, but it was applied to the New York school by critic Robert Coates in 1946.¹

The movement is often divided into two broad tendencies: action painting, exemplified by Pollock's drip paintings and de Kooning's aggressive brushwork, and color field painting, associated with Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, who used large areas of flat color to evoke the sublime. Artists employed unconventional methods, such as pouring, dripping, and staining paint onto unprimed canvas, emphasizing the physical process over the finished product. This approach was influenced by Surrealist automatism and the idea of tapping into the unconscious. The scale of the works was monumental, intended to envelop the viewer and create an immersive, almost theatrical experience.²

Abstract expressionism was championed by critic Clement Greenberg, who saw it as the culmination of modernism, and by Harold Rosenberg, who coined the term 'action painting.' The movement was promoted through exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the influential 'Ninth Street Show' in 1951. It also became a tool of Cold War cultural diplomacy, with the CIA covertly supporting its international exhibitions to counter Soviet socialist realism. The movement's influence waned in the 1960s with the rise of Pop art and minimalism, but it permanently shifted the global art center to New York and inspired subsequent movements like Neo-Expressionism.³

Beyond the famous male figures, women artists like Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler were integral to the movement, though often overshadowed. The movement also had a significant presence in San Francisco, with artists like Clyfford Still and Richard Diebenkorn. The 'Irascibles' group of 18 artists protested the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exclusion of modern art in 1950, a photo of which became iconic. Some artists, like Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko, were deeply interested in myth and the primitive, incorporating archetypal symbols. The movement's philosophical underpinnings were influenced by existentialism and Jungian psychology, and its emphasis on individual expression resonated with the post-war American ethos of freedom.

Action painting

A style of painting where paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed, or smeared onto the canvas, emphasizing the physical act of painting.

Color field painting

A style characterized by large areas of a single color or simple color combinations, intended to evoke a meditative or sublime response.

Automatism

A technique of spontaneous, unconscious creation, derived from Surrealism.

New York School

The group of artists, poets, and musicians active in New York in the 1940s and 1950s, including the abstract expressionists.