Abstract expressionism was an American post-World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American
movement to achieve worldwide influence and also the one that put New York City at the center of the art world, a
role formerly filled by Paris.
The term was first applied to
American art in 1946 by the critic Robert Coates.
Technically, its most important
predecessor is often said to be surrealism, with its emphasis on spontaneous, automatic or subconscious creation. Jackson Pollock's dripping paint onto a canvas
laid on the floor is a technique that has its roots in the work of Max Ernst.
The movement gets its name because
it is seen as combining the emotional intensity and self-expression of the
German Expressionists with the anti-figurative
aesthetic of the European abstract schools such as Futurism, the Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism. Additionally, it has an image of
being rebellious, anarchic, highly idiosyncratic and,
some feel, rather nihilistic.
In practice, the term is applied
to any number of artists working in
That said, abstract expressionist
paintings do tend to share certain definite characteristics, such as a fondness
for large canvases, an emphasis on the canvas's inherent flatness, and an
"all-over" approach, in which all areas of the canvas are treated
with equal importance (as opposed to the center being of more interest than the
edges, for example).
As the first truly original school
of painting in
Articles on two leading abstract
expressionists Jackson Pollock and Philip Guston, by American artist Dorothy
Koppelman, relating their art to their lives from the Aesthetic Realism point
of view, can be seen on the Terrain Gallery Web site.
Canadian artist, Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002), helped introduce abstract impressionism to
By the 1960s, the movement had lost most of
its impact, and was no longer so influential. Movements which were direct
responses to, and rebellions against, abstract expressionism had begun, such as
pop art and minimalism. However, many painters, such as
Fuller Potter, who had produced abstract expressionist work continued to work
in that style for many years afterwards extending and expanding its visual and philosophical
implications.
Abstract expressionism's main
representatives were: