Abstract-Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism: Centered in New York from 1946 through the 1960's, is a form of art in which the artist expresses himself purely through the use of form and color. However great a disaster World War II was, at least something important happened. In leaving Europe for the safety of the USA, artists such as: Piet Mondrian, Max Ernst, greatly extended their artistic influence.

Piet Mondrian

Max Ernst

In the 1940s and 50s, for the first time, American artists became internationally important with their new vision and new artistic vocabulary known as Abstract Expressionism.
Now considered to be the first American artistic movement of world wide importance, this movement put New York in the forefront, replacing Paris as the center of the art world. The term was originally used to describe the work of Archille Gorky and Jackson Pollock.

Gorky

Pollock

The painters who came to be called"Abstract Expressionists" shared a similarity of outlook rather than style--an outlook characterized by a spirit of revolt and a belief in freedom of expression. The main exponents of the genre were Pollock, De Kooning, and Rothko, but other artists include Philip Guston, Franz Kline, Newman and Still. The Term Abstract Expressionism was first used by Robert Coates in the March issue of The New Yorker in 1936. The movement was hugely successful, partly due to the efforts of the critics Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg, who also originated the terms Action Painting and American Style.

Guston

Franz Kline

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