Not to be confused with Abstract art, Abstract impressionism, or Expressionism.
Abstract Expressionism
Years active
Late 1940s–early 1960s
Location
United States, specifically New York City
Major figures
Clyfford Still, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Adolph Gottlieb, David Smith, Hans Hofmann, Joan Mitchell
Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the immediate aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depression and Mexican muralists.[1][2] The term was first applied to American art in 1946 by the art critic Robert Coates. Key figures in the New York School, which was the epicenter of this movement, included such artists as Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Norman Lewis, Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell and Theodoros Stamos among others.
The movement was not limited to painting but included influential collagists and sculptors, such as David Smith, Louise Nevelson, and others. Abstract Expressionism was notably influenced by the spontaneous and subconscious creation methods of Surrealist artists like André Masson and Max Ernst. Artists associated with the movement combined the emotional intensity of German Expressionism with the radical visual vocabularies of European avant-garde schools like Futurism, the Bauhaus, and Synthetic Cubism.
Abstract Expressionism was seen as rebellious and idiosyncratic, encompassing various artistic styles, and was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York City at the center of the Western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris. Contemporary art critics played a significant role in its development. Critics like Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg promoted the work of artists associated with Abstract Expressionism, in particular Jackson Pollock, through their writings. Rosenberg's concept of the canvas as an "arena in which to act" was pivotal in defining the approach of action painters. The cultural reign of Abstract Expressionism in the United States had diminished by the early 1960s, while the subsequent rejection of the Abstract Expressionist emphasis on individualism led to the development of such movements as Pop art and Minimalism.[3] Throughout the second half of the 20th century, influence of AbEx can be seen in diverse movements in the U.S. and Europe, including Tachisme and Neo-expressionism, among others.
The term "abstract expressionism" is believed to have first been used in Germany in 1919 in the magazine Der Sturm in reference to German Expressionism. Alfred Barr used this term in 1929 to describe works by Wassily Kandinsky.[4]
^The work of Mexican muralists would also influence the work of Jackson Pollock, a leading representative of the New York School and Abstract Expressionism.
^Paul, Authors: Stella. "Abstract Expressionism | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
^Rawlings, Kandice (2015-08-19). "The Impact of Abstract Expressionism". Smarthistory. Originally published by Oxford Art Online. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
^Hess, Barbara; "Abstract Expressionism", 2005
and 27 Related for: Abstract expressionism information
Abstractexpressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the immediate aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance...
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its...
among others. American Abstractexpressionism got its name in 1946 from the art critic Robert Coates. Abstractexpressionism, Action painting, and Color...
reaction against AbstractExpressionism and a bridge to Postminimal art practices. By the early 1960s minimalism emerged as an abstract movement in art...
established styles and forms, along with Surrealism, Futurism and AbstractExpressionism. From a chronological point of view, Dada is located solidly within...
figure. The term "Figurative Expressionism" arose as a counter-distinction to "AbstractExpressionism." Like German Expressionism, the American movement addresses...
order to distinguish his art from that of the growing field of AbstractExpressionism. Phillip Guston's rise within artistic and social spheres in the...
II, de Kooning painted in a style that came to be referred to as abstractexpressionism or "action painting", and was part of a group of artists that came...
expressionism, minimalism, Lyrical Abstraction, pop art, op art, abstractexpressionism, Color Field painting, monochrome painting, neo-expressionism...
Expressionism, Minimalism, Lyrical Abstraction, Pop art, Op art, AbstractExpressionism, Color Field painting, Monochrome painting, Neo-expressionism...
avant-garde art journal It is. A Magazine for Abstract Art. By the 1960s, Guston had renounced abstractexpressionism and was helping pioneer a modified form...
landscape painting), photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolistic (as in Symbolist art), emotive (as in Expressionism) or political in nature (as in Artivism)...
the dealers and the painters and the museums to try to establish AbstractExpressionism as an important movement. It was very, very important to him that...
movements which contributed to the development of abstract art were Romanticism, Impressionism and Expressionism. Artistic independence for artists was advanced...
need for a term to describe movements in art after the peak of abstractexpressionism is well established. However, although the concept of change has...
He is best remembered for his association with the art movement abstractexpressionism and the painter Jackson Pollock. Clement Greenberg was born in the...
United States government and wealthy elite embraced Pollock and abstractexpressionism to place the United States in the forefront of global art and devalue...
(1911–1988) New York Figurative Expressionism American Figurative ExpressionismExpressionismAbstractExpressionism New York School Related styles, trends...
abstract expressionism. Denver New Haven: Denver Art Museum Yale University Press. p. 169. ISBN 9780300208429. "Women of AbstractExpressionism". Denver...
of the American avant-garde in New York swung decisively towards AbstractExpressionism with the support of key taste makers, including Peggy Guggenheim...
characterizing a type of abstract painting related to AbstractExpressionism; in use since the 1940s. Many well known abstract expressionist painters such...
created in 1953 when Rauschenberg erased a drawing he obtained from the abstract expressionist and American artist Willem de Kooning. Rauschenberg's friend...
enough that Boston Figurative Expressionism is sometimes used as an alternate term to distinguish it from abstractexpressionism, with which it overlapped...
"figurative expressionism" until the term arose as a counter-distinction to the New York–based postwar movement known as AbstractExpressionism. Commenters...
dedicated himself to large-scale, abstract works and began developing his personal form of AbstractExpressionism. However, even though Willem de Kooning...
greater abstraction, but rejected more progressive movements such as AbstractExpressionism and Action Painting. His work was characterized by expert draughtsmanship...
subscribe to any one school, he is associated with the American abstractexpressionism movement of modern art. Originally emigrating to Portland, Oregon...