Background
● Key Influences ○ World War I ○ Great Depression○ World War II○ Surrealism○ Jung and Freud○ Cold War
Technical Characteristics
● Large swaths of vibrant/ contrasting colors● Expressive Marks● Bold lines● Basic shapes and forms● Large paintings● Symbolism● Multiple layers
Ideas Behind the Movement
● Nonrepresentational painting● Express subconscious mind (influenced from
surrealism)● Intuition and feeling vs. intellect and
reason● Focus on process of painting itself● Describes an attitude● Emotion and energy driven
Two Phases Early Phase (began mid-1940s)- biomorphic shapes- non-geometric curves- shapes often suggest figures, objects, and landscapes
Later Phase (throughout 1950s)1) action painting (gestural painting):
- applied painting roughly with personal expression- action of creating art- Pollock, de Kooning, and
Kline2) color-field painting:
- carefully painted- simple, unified blocks of
color- intense patterns with few
colors- Rothko
Willem de Kooning (April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997)
- moved from the Netherlands in 1926- used figurative, cubist, and abstractionist characteristics- influenced greatly by Picasso- began abstract expressionism in 1930s- action painting: bursts of energetic and inspired activity- inventive and unique- revisited works- surface texture
● Native American Background● American Regionalism-murals
○ Thomas Benton ● Cubism ● Surrealism ● Painting about HIS emotions and
outpourings
Jackson Pollock
Mark Rothko
● Spiritual, Mythical and Emotional ● Impressionism ● Fauvism ● Expressionism ● Surrealism
○ Channel the unconscious ● Mythology ● Contributes to the emotional themes of
Abstract Expressionism
Franz Kline● Born and raised in Pennsylvania● Spent his summers painting in
Massachusetts● Was influenced by an idea of his friend,
de Kooning● Painted figurative subjects in the first
phase of his career● Developed his signature style in the late
1940s● Transitioned to a third phase toward the
end of his life● Died from heart disease at the age of 51
in 1962
Critics
Clement Greenberg● Believed that a critic could only judge a work
based on shape, color, and line, not the subject matter.
● Thought modern painting was a historical phenomenon.
● Supporter of Kandinsky and Pollock
Harold Rosenberg● Disagreed with Greenberg ● Emphasized the creative act at the
expense of the formal aspects● Coined the term "gesture painting"● Supporter of de Kooning, Kline, and
Motherwell
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