Transcript Slide 1

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Abstract Expressionism
The first truly American visual art form that
helped put New York as a cultural capital
(perhaps even above Paris).
Drawing from Surrealism, they developed the
NEW YORK SCHOOL, which comprised
action painting, Jazz, abstract expressionism
and improvisional theatre.
This period of art was special because it was
the first to recognize art with NO identifiable
subject matter!
Jackson Pollock, No. 5, 1948, 1948.
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Two Categories for Abstract Expressionism:
Action Painting
Color-Field Painting
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Affected by surrealism and also by
Picasso, he moved toward a highly
abstract art in order to express,
rather than illustrate, feeling.
His experimentations led to the
development of his famous "drip"
technique, in which he energetically
drew or "dripped" complicated linear
rhythms onto big canvases, which
were often placed flat on the floor.
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
He sometimes applied paint
directly from the tube, and at times
also used aluminum paint to
achieve a glittery effect. His
vigorous attack on the canvas and
intense devotion to the very act of
painting led to the term "action
painting."
Jackson Pollock
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On the floor I am more at ease,
I feel nearer, more a part of the
painting, since this way I can
walk around in it, work from the
four sides and be literally `in'
the painting.
Jackson Pollock, 1947.
Died in a drunk driving
accident in 1956
Jackson Pollock
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Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock, Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952.
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Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950.
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Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm: Number 30, 1950.
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Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning
(1904-1997)
Dutch-born American Action
painter
Attempted to combine the
expressiveness of Abstract
Expressionism with recognizable
objects
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Willem de Kooning, Asheville, 1948.
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Willem de Kooning,
Woman V, 1952-53.
Willem de Kooning
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Willem de Kooning,
Woman I, 1952.
Willem de Kooning
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Mark Rothko
(1903-1997)
Emigrated to the United States from
Russia in 1913
Part of the New York School
Used bands of color as the only true
means of capturing feeling
Mark Rothko
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Rothko paintings on display
Mark Rothko
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, No.10, 1950.
By 1950 Rothko had reduced the
number of floating rectangles to two,
three, or four and aligned them vertically
against a colored ground, arriving at his
signature style.
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Mark Rothko
From that time on he would work
almost invariably within this format,
suggesting in numerous variations of
color and tone an astonishing range
of atmospheres and moods.
Mark Rothko, White Center, 1950.
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Mark Rothko
In 1954 he asked that his largest
pictures be installed "so that they
must be first encountered at close
quarters, so that the first
experience is to be within the
picture."
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Rothko after completing his painting, Black Square.
Mark Rothko
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Helen Frankenthaler
Helen Frankenthaler (1928-)
Frankenthaler was a “Post-Painterly”
Abstract Expressionist whose
transparent, bare brushstrokes were
influenced by Pollock
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Helen Frankenthaler
Post-painterly Abstraction
was a new movement in
painting which derived from
the Abstract Expressionism
of the 1940s and 1950s but
"favored openness or
clarity" as opposed to the
dense painterly surfaces of
that painting style.
Helen Frankenthaler, Other Generations,1957. ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
The first Jackson Pollock show
Frankenthaler saw was in 1951. She
had this to say about seeing Pollock's
paintings Autumn Rhythm, Number 30,
1950 (1950), Number One (1950), and
Lavender Mist:
"It was all there. I wanted to live in this
land. I had to live there, and master
the language."
Helen Frankenthaler
Seeing the Moon on a Hot Summer Day
1987
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Helen Frankenthaler
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Helen Frankenthaler
Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea,1952. ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM