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Essay on Abstract Expressionism
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Essays on abstract expressionism
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Abstract Expressionism is making its comeback within the art world. Coined as an artist movement in the 1940’s and 1950’s, at the New York School, American Abstract Expressionist began to express many ideas relevant to humanity and the world around human civilization. However, the subject matters, contributing to artists, were not meant to represent the ever-changing world around them. Rather, how the world around them affected the artist themselves. The works swayed by such worldly influences, become an important article within the artists’ pieces. Subjectively, looking inward to express the artist psyche, artists within the Abstract Expressionism movement became a part of their paintings. Making the paintings more of a representation of one’s self. This notion of Abstract Expressionism has become an interesting factor between the Contemporary arts making of Abstract arts, specifically paintings. When approaching Artworks from Contemporary Abstract painters, the subject matter dives deeper in meaning than the actual artwork before the viewer. From an outward appearance, some paintings from artist, such as, James Little, juxtaposed to works by Odili Donald Odita, have a lot of formal similarities within the uses of geometrical shapes and balancing colors. However, understanding the means to why each artist paints the way they do, will actually become rather different from first approaching and accessing the paintings. The exhibition, Same but Different: Not Seen from the Naked eye, investigates the deeper meanings between similar art pieces. Some older masterpieces from Barnett Newman and Mondrian are also present within the enclosed venue. However, the selected pieces from the old Modern Artists are in relevance to the Co... ... middle of paper ... ...ngiehler.com. www.torbengiehler.com/TEXT/merrilykerr,2004.html (accessed March 25, 2011). "Mark Grotjahn." Gagosian Gallery. www.gagosian.com/artists/mark-grotjahn/ (accessed March 25, 2011). "Mark Grotjahn - Untitled (Lavender Butterfly Jacaranda over Green) - Contemporary Art." Saatchi Gallery. http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/artpages/mark_grotjahn_lavender.htm (accessed March 25, 2011). Newmann, Barnett, John P. Neill, and Mollie McNickle. "Introduction." In Barnett Newman: selected writings and interviews. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. XX. Odita. "Odili Donald Odita." Odili Donald Odita. http://www.odilidonaldodita.com/statements/index.html (accessed March 25, 2011). "Torben Giehler." Paolo curti/Annamaria Gambuzzi & Co. www.paolocurti.com/giehler/giehler.htm (accessed March 25, 2011). Chicago formatting by BibMe.org.
The Abstract Expressionists are different from Surrealists in the way that they didn’t need to have an exact plan for their artwork. The Abstract Expressionists were more spontaneous in their artwork and didn’t interfere with the subconscious process, unlike the Surrealists did in order to convey their emotions. Not only are the Abstract Expressionists different from Surrealists in their styles, but also in religious connections that are rarely
The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari. Dir. Robert Wiene. Perf. Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover, Hans Twardowski. Goldwyn Distributing Company, 1994. DVD.
Abstract Expressionists were all about massive scale. Going for emotional impact, many Abstract Expressionists used dramatic scale to draw viewers into their paintings, as if they were environments. Barnett Newman, for instance, gave explicit instructions for the distance viewers should stand away from his large scale paintings. In so doing, Newman created an experience that could not be taken in all at
Modern art serves to immerse us more thoroughly in a scene by touching on more than just our sight. Artists such as Grosz, and Duchamp try to get us to feel instead of just see. It seems that this concept has come about largely as a way to regain identity after shedding the concepts of the Enlightenment. “Philosophers, writers, and artists expressed disillusionment with the rational-humanist tradition of the Enlightenment. They no longer shared the Enlightenment's confidence in either reason's capabilities or human goodness...” (Perry, pg. 457) It is interesting to follow art through history and see how the general mood of society changed with various aspects of history, and how events have a strong connection to the art of the corresponding time.
Willem de Kooning was known as one of the major artists of the Abstract Expressionism period. In the post World War II era, de Kooning painted in the style that is referred to as Abstract expressionism, Action painting, and the New York School. Like all Modern art, the intent of these forms of art was not to produce beauty, but critical reflection. The intent was to awaken in the viewer a recognition of the specific, usually social or political, concern of the artist (New World, 2008). De Kooning reflected this period by working in such as a way as to both eschew all traces of visible reality in the painting as well as to create uncontrolled and sometimes violent gestures, which is reminiscent of this time (Gale Encyclopedia, 2006). His works show great emotion, mostly of a tortured, aggressive nature, which was thought of by many to be the ultimate expression of this abstract period.
The Expressionism period, is an artistic style in which the artist seeks to represent not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within
At the turn of the 20th and further into the 21st century, art began to drop the baggage carried from the masters of the Renaissance and began a trajectory of change. Artists began challenging the schools and galleries of art around the world in an effort to break away from the chains that were wrapped around them in an effort to control the basis of art. Strange patters, shapes, colors and spaces emerged as each one challenged every norm known to the artistic circle. Critics and viewers alike were suddenly required to think less about the topics of paintings and more about their formal aspects. As decades passed, the singularity of art began to intensify and different forms of art demanded the same recognition as others before. Liberation
Artists reimagine the human form in their artworks by using past experiences, intentions, ideas, materials, practises and applying them to the human form in an abstracted or changed reformation. World issues and interests also contribute to the recreation of the human form as they can give a traumatising or positive impression on the artist which would lead to new ideas for recreation. Art is an outlet for an artist to release his/her inner intentions and any other beliefs that cannot be seen by looking at his/her physical appearance, naturally these hidden beliefs, intentions, experiences can be easily moulded and distorted into and abstract and intricate piece of art.
Due to the subjective nature of the impressionistic art and literary style, both mediums possess an ambiguous quality. According to Bernard Dunstan, in Painting Methods of the Impressionists, impressionism “has come to have overtones and associations which can obscure its true meaning,” (11). This is also true for impressionistic literature. However, Metz argues that “ambiguity surrounds the process through which the impre...
I accredit that what brought abstract expressionism was, the big movement in New York city in the 40's that bought the amazing painting that was with originality,legacy and content. When they witness all the tragic stuff happening in the world. Posted war painting bring canvas stuff to live. Civilization that had happen in Japan. If the world was going to keep going it had to be rebuild, with art and painting they will be having a fresh start to a new civilization and a new environment.
Expressionism can be described as a movement in the fine arts that emphasized the expression of inner experience rather than solely realistic portrayal, seeking to depict not objective reality, but the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in the artist. Several characteristics of expressionism are distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy. “The Green Table,” a ballet by Kurt Jooss, is an ideal example of expressionism because it depicts the choreographer’s personal interpretation of war through the use of movement, music and lighting.
While Pop artists were challenged the authority of the introspective process oriented work of the Abstract Expressionists with impersonal renderings of the images of pop culture, other artists challenged Abstract Expressionism by furthering the possibilities within the realm of abstraction. In the late 1950’s, the artist Frank Stella was trying to find a way to push the concepts of the painting of Pollack and de Kooning beyond their reliance on the expressive gesture and into paintings that exhibited an obsessively disciplined literalness.
Abstract Expressionism is defined as “an artistic movement of the mid-20th century comprising diverse styles and techniques and emphasizing especially an artist's liberty to convey attitudes and emotions through nontraditional and usually nonrepresentational means” (Merriam-webster). Abstract expressionism is the first are movement of America and it is one of the most diverse movements. A few of the leading artist of this movement were Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, and Jackson Pollock.
world as did in the Paris to New York shift of the 1940's and 1950's.
In conclusion, the art of the 19th century was composed of a sequence of competing artistic movements that sought to establish its superiority, ideologies and style within the artistic community of Europe. These movements, being Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, ultimately spread far beyond the confines of Europe and made modern art an international entity which can still be felt in today’s artistic world.