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Abstract Expressionism
However great a disaster World War II was, it did at least mean that
artists such as Piet Mondrian and Max Ernst, in leaving Europe for the
safety of the USA, greatly extended their artistic influence. It is
impossible to estimate how much they affected American art, but the
fact remains that in the 1940s and '50s, for the first time, American
artists became internationally important with their new vision and new
artistic vocabulary, known as Abstract Expressionism. The first public
exhibitions of work by the ``New York School'' of artists-- who were
to become known as Abstract Expressionists-- were held in the mid '40s.
Like many other modern movements, Abstract Expressionism does not describe
any one particular style, but rather a general attitude; not all the
work was abstract, nor was it all expressive. What these artists did
have in common were morally loaded themes, often heavyweight and tragic,
on a grand scale.
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©Amy
Banker
Lucia De Lammermoor
from the Opera Series
Painting
©
Gloria Lippmann
Madras
Painting
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In
contrast to the themes of social realism and regional life that characterized
American art of previous decades, these artists valued, above all, individuality
and spontaneous improvisation. They felt ill at ease with conventional
subjects and styles, neither of which could adequately convey their
new vision. In fact, style as such almost ceased to exist with the Abstract
Expressionists, and they drew their inspiration from all directions.
The painters who came to be called ``Abstract Expressionists'' shared
a similarity of outlook rather than of style-- an outlook characterized
by a spirit of revolt and a belief in freedom of expression. The main
exponents of the genre were Pollock, de Kooning, and Rothko, but other
artists included Guston, Kline, Newman and Still. The term Abstract
Expressionism was first used by Robert Coates in the March issue of
the New Yorker in 1936. The movement was hugely successful, partly due
to the efforts of the critics Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg
who also originated the terms Action Painting and American Style.
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