Abstract Expressionism

1946 – 1960

What is Abstract Expressionism?

1940-1960

"To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world of the imagination which is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is critical." - New York Times (June 1943), Gottlieb, Rothko, and Newman

Abstract Expressionism is…

Spontaneous

Number 28, 1950, Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollack

Drip and Pour

Abstract Expressionism is…

The Inner Psyche

Woman, 1950Willem de Kooning

Abstract Expressionism is…

Unconventional

Adolph Gottlieb

Pink Ground,

1972

Abstract Expressionism is…

informal

No. 13 (White, Red, on Yellow), 1958Mark Rothko

Rothko said, "I paint big to be intimate." The notion is toward the personal (authentic expression of the individual) rather than the grandiose.

Energetic Gesture

Abstract Expressionism is…

Black Reflections, 1959Franz Kline

Now it’s your turn!

The Artists

Citations

• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm (Accessed 27 March 2010).