Abstract Expressionism

De Kooning, Women IV, 1953

Abstract Expressionism is the first non-European Western Art Movement and is generally considered to be the premier American Movement. The founders of the movement believed that the art of the past was limited in representation. Figurative art, drawn from concrete life could no longer express life, especially with the very vivid and recent history of the atomic bomb and the Second World War. Abstraction was necessary to depict the violence and terror of the modern day world. With Abstract Expressionist art, the artists’ expressions come from pure color and form, rather than from objects found in nature. This being the case, the representation of objects, if they are represented at all, is secondary in the work.

The movement is generally divided into two groups, Action and Color Field Painting.

Jackson Pollack, Autumn Rhythm, 1950

Action Painting

Action Painting rejected social realism and geometric abstraction. Action Painters developed a new approach to painting. The painter used both his conscious and subconscious to create works of art. Violent colors and lines are a result of this art form being drawn from the Depression Era in New York.

The works of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning best describe Action Painting. Images such as Willem De Kooning’s Woman IV are created from the flow from the subconscious mind to the stroke of the brush. Jackson Pollock executed his works by pouring and splattering paint without applying the brush directly to the canvas. The canvas was laid out flat on the floor instead of on a conventional easel. Pollock used his whole body to paint the canvas, rather than just his hand. Action Painting wanted to express the action of making the artwork as the Art, rather than the painting itself.

Color Field Painting

Color Field Painting is the exploration of color fields on canvas. It is concerned with turning the work of the Action Painters into solid color hues. Color Field artists, such as Mark Rothko, subdued the violent and aggressive Action Painting. Often times the canvas was stained with a translucent acrylic color wash. Acrylic was used so that the paint could flow freely onto the canvas. This freedom of movement of paint on the canvas stems from the same idea as the paint flows used by the Action Painters.

Mark Rothko, Orange and Yellow, 1950