Abstract Expressionism

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Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism started in America as a post World War II art movement. It was the first art movement that arose from America and put New York at the center of the art world. The term Abstract Expressionism was first applied to American art in 1946 by art critic Robert Coates. It is most commanly said that Surealism is it’s predecessor because of the use of spontaneous, automatic and subconscious creations.

Abstract Expressionism gets its name from the combining of emotional intensity and self-expression of German Expressionists and the anti-figurative aesthetics of abstract schools where Futurism, Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism came from. The term Abstract Expressionism was applied to any number of the artists in New York who each had quite different styles, such as Pollock’s “action paintings” which had a very busy feel to it, which was different both technically and aesthetically to Willem de Kooning’s grotesque “women’s series”, which was rather violent and not particularly abstract, and Mark Rothko’s block work which was not very expressionistic, but yet all three were classified as Abstract Expressionists.

Still although different in many ways they still share many similar aspects such as the use of large canvases, an “all over approach” in which the whole canvas is treated equally, every part of the canvas is important, quality of brushstrokes and textures, the use of accidents that play an important role to the entire work and the attempt to express pure emotion directly onto a canvas.

The early Abstract Expressionists went in seek for a timeless and powerful subject matter, and started looking at primitive myth and archaic art for inspiration. Most of the early Abstract Expressionists looked at ancient and primitive cultures for inspiration. The earliest works included pictographic and biomorphic elements referred into personal code. In a famous letter published in the New York Times in June 1943 by Gottlieb and Rothko which was assisted by Newman, said “To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world of the imagination which is fancy- free and violently opposed to comman sense. There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is critical.”. This just says that there is basically always a deeper meaning to a painting and if there is none then it is not a good painting. Th...

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...rivers of paint rush across the dark black ground, creating writhing intertwining shapes that suggest figures in a landscape setting, but without any specificity whatsoever.

He started to explore female figures in the 1940’s but it was not till 1950 he started to do female figures exclusively. He had his work shown in the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1953 which caused a sensation because they were mainly figures of his fellow abstractionists and they were painted with blatant technique and imagery. He applied his medium in such a way that it looks as though it was vomited on but to reveal a woman in what would seam as some mens most widely held sexual fears.

His later works from around the 1980’s can be very debatable for the fact that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease so his works became clean,sparse and almost graphic.Many say his paintings at this stage were an effects of the attempting recovery of alcoholism.

Black Untitled, 1948

Willem de Kooning (American, born the Netherlands, 1904–1997)Oil and enamel on paper, mounted on wood; 29 7/8 x 40 1/4 in. (75.9 x 102.2 cm)From the Collection of Thomas B. Hess, Gift of the heirs of Thomas B. Hess, 1984 (1984.613.7)

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