Abstract Expressionism Analysis

Black smoke stained the sky and scarlet blood darkened the earth, as global war, once again, ravaged twentieth-century society. The repercussions of the Second World War rippled across the Atlantic and spread like an infectious disease. As the morality of humankind appeared to dissipate with each exploding bomb, anxiety, frustration, and hopelessness riddled the American public and began to spill into the art of New York City’s avant-garde (Paul par. 4). By the mid-1940s, artists reeling from the unparalleled violence, brutality, and destruction of war found a shared “vision and purpose” in a new artistic movement: Abstract Expressionism (Chave 3). Critics considered the most prominent artists of the movement to comprise the New York School

although few of the artists had extensive formal training (Chave 4). Near-complete abstraction, vibrant color, and monumental proportions defined their style; however, the artists had diverse personalities, philosophies, and backgrounds. Of the Abstract Expressionists, one in particular gained attention for his transcendent Color Field paintings: Mark Rothko. Rothko’s artistic development, along with the societal changes that it latter inspired, demonstrates the co-dependent relationship of historical circumstance, worldview, and art.
In 1923, Rothko, a Jewish immigrant born in Dvinsk, Russia, dropped out of Yale and moved to New York City, where he began to experiment with representational art (“Mark Rothko”). However, it was not until World War II exposed Rothko to artistic and psychological innovations that he created his first Color Field paintings, which have inspired and affected young artists for decades. By the mid-1930s, Rothko’s art had already begun to reveal a strong European influence; Max Weber, an instructor at The Art Students League, introduced Rothko to the avant-garde (Chave 40), and Rothko frequently visited exhibits, such as “Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism,” at the Museum of Modern Art. Nonetheless, Rothko’s most critical artistic metamorphosis began with the influx of European Surrealist and Modern artists to New York in the 1930s and 1940s (Chave 61).
Many European avant-garde artists fled to America to escape persecution by the Nazis, who considered their work “degenerate” (Levi). Consequently, the immigrant artists introduced their American counterparts to a wealth of Surrealist philosophies and methods, including psycho automatism, which was essential to the evolution of Abstract Expressionism. In an effort to “[tap] the unconscious,” Surrealist artists⎯for example Gordon Onslaw-Ford in his 1941 lectures (Chave 61)⎯encouraged Americans to employ “automatic gesture and improvisation” in their art (Paul par. 4). This idea, in particular, had an immense impact on Rothko, who later speculated, “The most interesting painting . . . expresses more of what one thinks than of what one sees” (Breslin 261). With this revolutionary means of self-expression, New York artists were able to render their innermost thoughts and feelings, many tinged with post-war anxiety and pessimism.
Another Surrealist influence that resonated with American painters was the Nietzschean concept of myth, which artists used to explore “the relation of the human being to the world and the cycle of life” (Chave 79). In the midst of wartime brutality and violence, ancient tragedies became a simple way for artists to attempt to rationalize mortality and unite humankind (Zucker). Hence, Rothko enthusiastically incorporated mythical subject matter into his artwork. Although visual references to tragedy became obsolete in American art by the mid 1940s, (Zucker 380), the movement sprouted ideas in Rothko’s mind that flourished until his suicide in 1970 (“Mark Rothko”). Amongst the most influential concepts was that art could tap into transcendental human truths and, therefore, engage its audience in spiritual experiences.
While the idea of myth impacted Rothko’s paintings, American wartime politics created circumstances that enabled and encouraged Rothko to make art that would affect social change. During the war, avant-garde art was used to unite America, as it represented the freedom of culture that the West felt was in grave danger. The federal government fostered the country’s fledgling appreciation for avant-garde art by instituting events such as Buy American Art Week. The government continued to support artists through the Work Projects Administration (Guilbault 55). The culmination of these concepts and circumstances brought about by World War II acted as Rothko’s artistic catalyst; his iconic Color Field paintings, like all works of art, were a product and reflection of historical circumstance and worldview.
Because of Rothko’s developing belief that art could change the world, he began to utilize Surrealist techniques, while painting, in a desperate attempt to inspire humanity in a postwar society (“Mark Rothko” Dir. Carl Hindmarch). Heavily influenced by Nietzsche, Rothko felt that the social and physical sciences were breaking down the modern world
(C. Rothko 25). After witnessing the carnage of the Second World War, Rothko, and his New York School peers, asserted that the rise of science, in lieu of spirituality, was partially to blame for the inhuman violence. They perceived a grave need for the reintegration of religion into modern society. Consequently, painting became a herald for spirituality, much as it had been in Proto-Renaissance art, and the New York School artists, in a sense, began to view themselves as spiritual leaders and healers (Valiunas). Although Rothko denied being a mystic, he professed that he wanted his art to evoke primordial human emotions, a term he used synonymously with myth, to rebuild spiritual unity (“Mark Rothko” Dir. Carl Hindmarch; Stoker). However, not all of his motivations were so humanitarian in nature. Rothko envied the old masters of the Renaissance, and he believed that by reviving the spiritual and stirring the unconscious of his audience, he could begin to rebuild the reputation and importance of twentieth-century artists, who often felt ostracized by society (C. Rothko 25).
In addition to sparking a spiritual revolution, Rothko aspired for his art to serve as a meditation point for his audience to reflect on art, philosophy, and tragedy by appealing to their collective unconsciousness. He hoped that his paintings would overwhelm their viewers with powerful, uniting emotions, which, in turn, might inspire the audience to live life in a less egocentric, materialistic manner. Nowhere is this sentiment more palpable than in Rothko’s murals for the Seagram building. A Canadian distilling company, Joseph E. Seagram’s & Sons, offered Rothko a $35,000 commission, equivalent now to $2,500,000, for 500 to 600 square feet of paintings, which would be hung in the bourgeoisie restaurant, The Four Seasons, in the new Seagram skyscraper (“Mark Rothko” Dir. Carl Hindmarch). Rothko, who had resented the upper class nearly all his life, took the opportunity to attempt to discourage the ritzy diners’ materialistic pursuits by evoking shame and discomfort through his paintings. He later exclaimed, “I hope to paint something that will ruin the appetite of every son of a bitch who ever eats in that room” (Fischer 131). Therefore, culture and worldview in New York City provided Rothko with both a purpose and the techniques to fulfill it, which enabled Rothko to create art that he hoped would engender social change. But, for all of Rothko’s fervent attempts, did his art ever really affect history or worldview?
This question, unfortunately, does not have a simple answer. It is difficult to say that Rothko’s art was solely responsible for historic happenings, shifting worldviews, or new artistic styles. However, Rothko’s paintings certainly did offer individual viewers transcendent and epiphanic experiences. In Simon Schama’s documentary series, the Power of Art, Schama describes how he stumbled upon the newly installed Rothko pieces at the Tate Modern Gallery in the early 1970s. He describes feeling as if “[he were] pulled . . . to a mysterious place in the universe.” It seems that many viewers have felt a similar “sublime spirituality” when viewing Rothko’s Color Field paintings, even “if only momentarily” (“Mark Rothko”).
In terms of prominent, measurable change, it is simpler to observe the effects of the Abstract Expressionist movement, of which Rothko was a defining member, as a whole. Firstly, the movement completely revolutionized the relationship between audience and artwork by making the viewer essential to the art. Rothko’s paintings relied on communication with an audience; he wanted his art to directly engage viewers in meditations and emotions rather than being merely observed. Rothko went so far as to exclaim, “A painting lives by companionship, expanding and quickening in the eyes of the sensitive observer” (C. Rothko 33). In addition, Abstract Expressionism sparked a multitude of fresh artistic movements and styles. The watercolor washes on paint-soaked canvas; created by Helen Frankenthaler, hail from the Abstract Expressionist tradition, as does the entirety of second-generation Expressionism. However, the most momentous artistic innovations catalyzed by Abstract Expressionism were not so much inspired by the movement as they were rebelling against it. In their most highly acclaimed works, artists such as Harold Rosenberg and Jasper Johns make fun of the importance of individualism and spirituality in Abstract Expressionism (Galenson 267).
The impacts of Abstract Expressionism reached far beyond merely the art world; the movement affected both history and worldview on a global stage.

After the 1940 surrender of Paris, which many Americans viewed as the fall of culture due to Paris’ status as the international mecca for the arts, it was evident that the world required a new and superior cultural hub. Throughout the 1940s American artists, with the influence of European Modern and Surrealist painters, were able to elevate New York City to the center of the art world by implementing a “new, strong, and original” artistic style that simultaneously fought fascist ideology: Abstract Expressionism (Guilbault 65). After the war, galleries throughout Europe exhibited American Abstract art, Rothko’s in particular, to prove that American art, once thought tasteless, possessed artistic depth and merit (“Mark Rothko”). Therefore, Abstract Expression had a major role in making New York City the worldwide cultural metropolis that it is today. In terms of shifts in worldview, Abstract Expressionism placed a great importance on intense emotion and spirituality in a society where religiousness was, and continues to be, replaced by other, often self-centered or materialistic, pursuits. The movement allowed and encouraged the public to explore their darkest fears and woes, which, in the wake of the Second World War and, later on, during the Cold War was likely therapeutic. Above all else, it made society recognize that art should no longer be viewed with suspicion; instead, it should be accepted as an integral element of culture

(Guilbault).