16. abstract expressionism

Late 1940s-1950s

Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism

A Modern Art Movement Began in New York in 1940’s Post World War II Response to conservative American Culture

Abstract Expressionism

Artists needed to communicate feelings and experiences

New York replaced Paris as centre of Art World

Non coherent Art Movement Grew out of Surrealism

Where it Started-Influences

Cubism Surrealism Abstraction

Influences

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/piece/?search=1&page=2&f=Works%20on%20View&cr=17

http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79018

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1999.363.11

Cubism

Surrealism

Abstraction

Subject Matter

Abstract imagery Expression through Colour and Line Work reflected individual Artists own

emotions Valued spontaneity & improvisation Expressive method of painting as important

as painting itself

Key Characteristics of Abstract Expressionism:

Emotional Expression Unconventional method of painting Dripping, smearing, slathering paint on

canvas Spontaneous, Automatic and Subconscious

Creation Vivid Colours

Key Characteristics of Abstract Expressionism:

Emphasis on process Allowed for Spontaneity Gestural Writing-loosely

calligraphic Large Scale canvasses Two main types of painting:

- Action Painting

- Colour Field Painting

Two Main Types of Painting:

Action Painting Colour Field Painting

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1982.147.27 http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1985.63.5

Art Critic- Harold Rosenberg

Rosenberg redefined Abstract Expressionism as ‘Action Painting’.

As he put it;

"At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act... What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event.“ – Harold Rosenberg

Action Painting:

Painting was the result of the artist’s dynamic action

Act of painting more important than the painting itself

Gave freedom to the painter’s creative impulses Paint energetically splashed, spilt or dribbled on

to canvas Usually placed face up on the floor

Key Artists: Action Painting

Jackson Pollock William de Kooning Joan Mitchell Franz Kline Lee Krasner

http://www.vanguardia.com.mx/XStatic/vanguardia/images/espanol/9500316c.jpg

“Painting is a state of being… Painting is self discovery. Every good painter paints what he is…When I am in my painting I’m not aware of what I’m doing”.

Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock

abstracted4life.blogspot.com

No. 6, 1948,Oil on Paper

•American Painter•Nicknamed ‘Jack the Dripper•Unique style of Drip painting•Enlarged Scale•Many layers to his work•Wanted to be ‘in’ the painting- to be physically part of it.

Jackson Pollock

• Un-primed Canvas• Abandoned conscious control of painting• Hand controlled conscious• Layering of colour• Limited Palette• Mark-making• Visual Rhythms• Sensations

Autumn Rhythm, No. 30, 1950, Enamel on Canvas

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/57.92

William De Kooning

http://whitney.org/Collection/WillemDeKooning/5535/Audio

 Woman and Bicycle, 1952-53,Oil on Canvas

• Dutch Born Painter• Bold and spontaneous brushwork• Abstract figurative work• Women I• Series of provocative paintings of women• Reversed traditional representation of the woman as ‘the idol’.

Joan Mitchell

http://www.artnet.com/usernet/awc/awc_workdetail.asp?aid=424260964&gid=424260964&cid=75384&wid=424342786&page=1

Harbour December, 1956, Oil on Canvas

Franz Kline

Ballantine, 1958-60,Oil on Canvas  http://martintomlinson.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/paint-it-black/

Lee Krasner

Gothic Landscape, 1961, Oil on Canvas  http://www.cavetocanvas.com/post/17453987164/lee-krasner-gothic-landscape-1961-from-the-tate

Colour Field Painting:

Bold and assertive. Contemplative and questioning. Carefully constructed. Large scale canvasses.

Colour Field Painting:

Sought to rid art of superflows and rhetoric. Artists used reduced references to nature. Eliminated recognisable imagery. Presented abstraction as an end in itself.

Key Artists: Colour Field Painting

Mark Rothko Adolph Gottlieb Helen Frankenthaler Kenneth Noland Barnett Newman

http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=80566

Mark, Rothko, Untitled

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/piece/?object=78.2461&search=&page=&f=Title

1949, Oil on Canvas

• Russian Born Painter• Distinctive Style-• Large Canvasses• Deliberate plain, soft edge shapes• Luminous, glowing colours• ‘Paintings were about tragedy, ecstacy and doom, fundamental emotions and passions’- -Rothko

Adolf Gottlieb

Adolf Gottlieb, Sentinel, 1951 Oil on Linen

http://arttattler.com/archivecolorasfield.html

• Adopted the term “pictograph”• Connection between image making and writing• Fascinated by myth• Sought painting that was ‘timeless and tragic’

Helen Frankenthaler:

Canyon, 1965, Acrylic on Canvas

HTTP://WWW.PHILLIPSCOLLECTION.ORG/RESEARCH/AMERICAN_ART/ARTWORK/FRANKENTHALER-CANYON.HTM

Kenneth Noland:

EAST WEST, 1963

 http://www.kennethnoland.com/works/1960-1970.php

Barnett Newman:

 http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/abstract-expressionism/barnett-newman

Vir Heroicus Sublimis. 1950–51

Acknowledgements

Art Associates Maria Moore

Margaret O’Shea

Local Facilitator TeamAine Andrews

Joe CaslinJane Campbell

Siobhan CampbellNiamh O’Donoghue

Niamh O’NeillKeith O’Rahilly

Sheena McKeonTony MorrisseyMonica White

Many thanks to the following for their invaluable contribution to the European Art History and Appreciation series of workshops and resource materials.

Professional Development Service for Teachers

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2013

Cultural & Environmental Education

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