Art of Abstract Expressionism - Research Paper Example

The Art of Expressionism Introduction and Definition Expressionism or “AbEx” in the short form is a term that refers to a movement of largely non representative form of painting. Abstract expressionism came into the art scene in the post-World War II era. Its characteristics were extremely energetic applications of paint and messiness. Critics in the era viewed abstract painting as a youthful antagonism unworthy of the name “art”. Abstract expressionism is also known as Action Painting, Colour Filed Painting or Gestural Abstraction because the strokes of the painting brush revealed the artist’s process. The painting technique is the subject of art itself. According to Harold Rosenberg, Abstract Expression became an event and therefore, dubbed it “Action Painting” in 1952. Art historians however review that his definition of art as Action painting leaves out the aspects of control and chance. Abstract Expression therefore comes from three major sources: Kandinsky’s abstraction, chance according to Dadaist, and the Surrealist’s endorsement of Freudian theory, which embraces, sexuality, the relevance of dreams and the authenticity of ego, which abstract expressionism express through “action”. The term Abstract Expressionism was first coined in Germany, Europe in 1919 in the magazine “Der Stum” in regards to German expressionists. It was later adopted in the U.S in 1946 and was applied to the American art by critic Robert Coates. History Abstract Expressionism was spearheaded by a number of Artists in America (strongly influenced by European expatriates) who had grown up during the collapse of world order, influenced by World War II and the Cold War aftermath. The artists saw the two art movement of 1930s called the Social realism and Regionalism – failed to satisfy their desire for artistic growth. They were therefore, influenced by European refugees whose approach to art opened up new possibilities for artistic growth. The refuges included the German Expressionist George Grosz (1893-1959),  Arshile Gorky the Armenian-born , who settled in the US in 1920, the Cubist Fernand Leger (1881-1955), the German-born Hans Hofmann who migrated to America in 1930, the Bauhaus abstract painter Josef Albers (1888-1976)the geometrical abstractionist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) Dada artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), and the Surrealists Yves Tanguy (1900-55), Max Ernst (1891-1976), Andre Masson (1896-1987) and Andre Breton (1896-1966). The Surrealist artists were extremely influential with Jackson Pollock taking up their idea of unconscious automatic painting. The exiles’ significance in the development of American art was acknowledged by Jackson Pollock himself. “The fact that good European Moderns are now here is highly powerful for they bring with them an understanding of the problems of modern painting.” The Development of Abstract Expressionism The development of abstract expressionism was influenced by a few key figures and indigenous painters. Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917) was an early precursor of abstract expressionism. A key transitional figure between the years before the World War II and the years after was Stuart Davis who focused on the integrity of his pictorial structure. Stuart’s works were viewed as an American extension of Cubism. However, despite his close contact with Fernand Leger (A master of Cubism), Stuart’s works were brightly coloured, solid, clear and flat. Stuart’s works were of exceptional influence to the artists of the 1940s-1950s and consequently on Pop Art. In the same era, “Precisionists” also proved influential with their portrayal of contemporary America in a boldly coloured, hard-edged version of Cubism. However, the two most influential pioneers of Abstract Expressionism were Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) and Arshile Gorky (1905-1948), neither of whom was connected with the early European expressionist movement in Germany. Gorky’s specialization was in free, calligraphic painting, bright in colour often without figurative reference. In his own words, “I never finish a painting, I just stop working on it for a while”, Hofmann believed in the stimulus of the new. He intended on separating art from the world of appearance and even used colour to express mood just like Kandinsky before him. Hofmann was influenced by the critic Clement Greenberg, a vigorous advocate for Abstract Expressionism, and Jackson Pollock. However, Hofmann maintained his admiration for structure and even Cubism The Characteristics of Abstract Expression The general characteristics of Abstract Expression involved dripping, slathering, smearing a flinging paint on the canvas, gesturing “writing” in a loosely calligraphic manner, unconventional application of paint without a cognizable subject that tends toward formless shapes in brilliant colours and in the case of Colour Field artists, careful filling of colour to create tension between the shapes and hues of the picture plane. To be able to understand the characteristics of Abstract Expressionism, it is of concern to consider the two styles involved. These are: Action Painting and Colour Field Painting. Action painting was used in reference to “action painters” such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning who focused on gestural style of painting. Colour Field painting was used by “colour field painters” notably Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still whose style focused on mood and reflection Action Painting This style had been tried earlier by Hofmann and Lee Krasner (1908-1984). However, in 1947 Jackson Pollock developed the radical new technique which involved the drip-and-spatter technique that fell upon flat floor laid a canvas. A brush was used to splatter the paint on canvas, or in other cases a can was used. Pollock danced around the canvas pouring paint and in this way Pollock believed that he was laying out his inner impulses directly on the canvas giving an automatic and subconscious painting. Pollock’s works smashed the traditional conventions of American art. Their subject matter was entirely abstract and on their scale was huge. To the Abstract Expressionists, the authenticity of a painting lay in how the artist conveyed his inner impulses directly and with immediacy. The iconoclastic production of the paintings became as powerful as the paintings. The paintings themselves became “an event”, a self revelation and “a drama” hence the term “Action Painting.” The important feature in the iconic works was the formless, shapeless and “all-over” character of the paintings. Pollock’s works seemed to flow beyond the edges of the canvas with the limiting factor being the edges of the canvas. In short, Abstract Expression jettisoned and heightened the traditional concepts of artwork composition, space, depth and volume. This form of art was criticized by a few critics. However, Greenberg endorsed it claiming that Jack Pollock’s works on formalistic grounds were the best of their days and an heir to an art tradition that dated back to the Cubism of Pablo Picasso, the Water Lily series of Claudio Monet the cube-like pictures and the cube-like structures of Paul Cezanne whose defining characteristics is the marking of flat surfaces. Harold Rosenberg highlights the existential nature of Pollock’s art by saying, “what was to go on Canvas was not a picture but an event.” Willem De Kooning, although placed in the same pool as Pollock has different works technically and aesthetically. Kooning possessed a violent and sinister form of exemplified figurative style. This can be depicted by his Women series of paintings (1950-53), which portrays a three-quarter-length female figure. Kooning still did abstract works and like Pollock, believed in the idea of painting from the inner impulses were the viewer could read the state of mind of the artist. "I paint this way because I can keep putting more and more things into it – drama, anger, pain, love... through your eyes it again becomes an emotion or an idea." In the contemporary society, artists associated with the action-painting technique are highly sought-out by art collectors with both Pollock and Kooning featuring in the world’s top ten most expensive paintings. Colour- Field Painting This technique evolved a few years later than action-painting. It emerged as several artists in America tried to experiment with the use of fields of colour and flat surfaces to induce the contemplation of the viewer. This happened in the late 1940s and 1950s with the main artists: Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Clyford Stills. Stills’ works were thunderous in the mood but positively severe in relation to Pollock’s works. The emphasis of colour field painting was on creating an emotional impact, simplified, large format and colour dominating fields. The impulse in colour field painters was reflective and cerebral with pictures simplified so to create an elemental impact. Rothko and Newman painted in such a manner so as to achieve a “sublime” finish rather than a “beautiful” harkening bark. Neman described his technique as a means of "… freeing ourselves of the obsolete props of an outmoded and antiquated legend … freeing ourselves from the impediments of memory, association, nostalgia, legend, and myth that have been the devices of Western European painting." Rothko’s use of glowing, luminous coloured soft-edged rectangles was intended in creating a certain level of emotion that could elicit tears. As was the case with Pollock, Rothko and Newman employed scale to a famous effect since they were to be seen in a relatively close environment. Clyfford Still was a detached figure employing silhouettes in his heavily painted, jagged form of large scale painting. Josef Albers: Homage to the Square Josef Albers developed an offshoot of colour field art that explored proportion and harmony in Abstract Expressionism. While teaching at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, Albers researched the relations between colour and geometry in a series of paintings entitled “Variations on a Theme.” Josef Albers later started his own sequence called Homage to the Square which included a series of hundreds of paintings all within the square format. Though the paintings vary in size, they all feature three or four squares superimposed – a nest of squares positioned in vertical symmetry- Albers used his formula to demonstrate the discrepancy between physical fact and physical effect therefore, the linear structure of the squares is of simple clarity. The colour of each of the squares has no variance in terms of intensity and so it is completely expressive of its tone alone. In the eyes of the onlooker, the plane of the picture becomes three-dimensional as one colour seems to recede as the other advances according to its contrasting nature. The pure evenness of colour within each square is affected by the visually by its reaction to its neighbours, and all the colours change as the light in which they are viewed changes. Some critics have tried to compare Albers’ “Homage to the Square” series to Monet’s water Lily paintings except Albers heirs were the artists of the late 1950s and 60s who while respecting the technique of Abstract Expressionism, found his work, pattern and intense colour sensation as something to build on. Abstract expressionism and the Cold War Since the mid -1970s, it been argued by historians that Abstract expressionism attracted attention (in the early 1950s) of the Central Intelligence Agency who viewed it as representative of the USA as a haven of free thought and free markets, as well as a challenge to the Socialism styles prevalent in communist nations as well as a challenge to the European art markets. The CIA financed and promoted the American abstract expressionists as part of cultural imperialism through the congress for cultural freedom from 1950 to 1967. Against this revisionist tradition, an essay by Michael Kimmelman argues that much of information regarding the American art scene in the 1950s, as well as the revisionists’ interpretation of it was falsified or at best, de-contextualized. Legacy The first generation of abstract expressionists excelled between 1943 and mid 1950s. The artists had an impact on American art leading to the transformation of New York into the centre of world art. The art had previously been introduced to Paris by Canadian artist Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002) who had Michel Tapie’s seminal book “Un Art Autre (1952)” as a guide book. Tapie promoted the works of Hofmann and Pollock in Europe. During the 1940s and 1950s, abstract expressionism in Europe was known as Art Informel (Art without form). Riopelle helped introduce abstract impressionism into the art scene; however, most old concepts remained intact and are still used today with a few developments, especially with the rise of Pop art. Differences between Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism was started in the U.S with some European influence while Pop art was introduced into the U.S by the British, but its growth was noted in the U.S. The development of Pop art was in the 1950s and 1960s, whereas the development of abstraction was in the pre World War II and post World War II period. Pop art differs from abstraction in that, abstraction is pretentious, and over intense while Pop art incorporates the daily life features into art for example, comics or television magazines. Abstraction was influenced by Dada and Surrealism- Automatism whereby creativity was derived from the unconscious mind while Pop art was influenced by realism and real life. In pop art, the everyday replaced the epic the girth existing between high and low art reduced and commercial methods of making art were employed namely, printing. Abstract Expressionism applied paint rapidly on huge canvases to express feelings. Pop art was pioneered by artists such as Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg and Roy Lichtenstein. Abstraction was pioneered by Pollock, Rothko, De Kooning, Clyfford Still, Franz Kline and Barnet Newman Pop art was more about consumerism and mass production while Abstract Expressionism believed in the use of a medium and did not represent any object, person or place. The two therefore, are direct oppositions. Executive Summary The art of abstract expressionism presents itself as a subject that is constantly evolving into a dynamic and ever changing discipline. Abstract expressionism can be defined as a form of painting that employs structured use of paint and messiness so as to express emotions or to portray the state of mind of the artists. It usually uses shapeless forms or colour depending on its style. It employs the concept of unconscious “automatic” painting. Harold Rosenberg states “At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act. What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event.” (Barbara Hess, Taschen, 2005). Action painting is termed as an event, since the process involved in coming up with the works is the subject of the art itself, in such a manner as to depict the inner impulses of the artist. Action painting is governed by Kandinsky’s abstraction, the Surrealists support for the Freudian theory and the Dadaist’s reliance on chance. Major artists in this style include Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning. Colour Field Painting is the other style of abstract expressionism in which colour instead of structure is used to depict emotion by painting on flat surfaces. The artist seeks to achieve a sublime finish while using colour to show the mood. The impulse behind colour field painters was a reflective and cerebral perspective that simplified pictures in such a manner as to connect the viewer emotionally with the painting. Major artists in this style include Clyfford Stills, Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. The history of Abstract Expressionism dates back to the World War II period and, the pioneers were foreign refuges namely Arshile Gorky and Hans Hoffmann. Abstraction has developed borrowing trends from cubism to become the famous technique that it is today. Art is ever changing but, Abstract Expressionism will always remain a unique form of art. Conclusion Abstract Expressionism promotes the term “Avant-garde” which means “advance guard” or “vanguard”. This refers to people who are experimental and innovative in nature with respect to politics, art or culture. The development of abstraction proves that artists are daring they like to push the boundaries of the accepted norm or the status quo so as to come up with something new and better than before. The notion of Avant-garde is considered as the hallmark for modernism dating back to Dada who aligned himself with this notion. Abstract Expression applies in politics in the form of radical social reforms. Annotated Bibliography Anfam, David. Clyfford Still: the artist's museum. 1. publ. Ed. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2012. Print. The book describes Clyfford Still as an expressionist especially in the colour field style. It discusses his works, his developments and variations in his technique, and the overall concept of Abstract Expressionism Balken, Debra Bricker. Abstract expressionism. London: Tate Publishing ;, 2005. Print. This book talks about the early developments in Abstract expressionism, the movement of the European style from Paris to New York, and the birth of the New York style. Barnes, Rachel. Abstract expressionists. Chicago, Ill.: Heinemann Library, 2002. Print. The book describes the works of the expressionists’ movement in the early days and also the first expressionists such as Clyfford Stil, Charles Alston, Friedel Dzubas, Jean Paul Riopele and other. Barr, Alfred Hamilton. Cubism and abstract art, Reprint ed. New York: Published for the Museum of Modern Art by Arno Press, 19661936. Print. The book describes Cubism, and the growth of abstract expressionism, the relationship between Cubism and abstract Expressionism. The works discussed in this book also involve those of Pablo Picasso and Fernand Leger Dijkstra, Bram. American expressionism: art and social change, 1920-1950. New York: H.N. Abrams, in association with the Columbus Museum of Art, 2003. Print. American Expressionism outlines the impact of Abstract Expressionism on the social and political life. It also discusses the development of American art through the 20th century expressionists. Edwards, Steve, and Paul Wood. Art of the avant-gardes. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press in association with the Open University, 2004. Print. The book describes the notion of Avant-gardes n reference to artists, composers, writers politicians and thinkers whose work is opposed to the status quo. It also discusses the concepts of abstract expressionism in relation to avant-gardes Hess, Barbara, and Uta Grosenick. Abstract expressionism. Ko?ln: Taschen, 2005. Print. This book gives the definition, history, developments, characteristics and the different styles used in abstract expressionism. It discusses the origin of expressionism in Europe Germany. Kleeblatt, Norman L., Maurice Berger, and Debra Bricker Balken. Action/abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American art, 1940-1976. New York: Jewish Museum under the auspices of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America ;, 2008. Print. This book majors in action painting, explaining the dripping technique of Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, and the resulting developments in American art. Sandler, Irving. Abstract expressionism and the American experience: a reevaluation. Lenox [Mass.: Hard Press Editions ;, 2009. Print. This book speaks of the old American art and its evolution into the modern art that it is. Abstract expressionism is also discussed Spilsbury, Richard. Abstract expressionism. Chicago, IL: Heinemann Library, 2009. Print. The book defines abstract expressionism, relates it to social life, and also highlights and defines other terms. York, N.Y., and Ann Temkin. Abstract expressionism at the Museum of Modern Art: selections from the collection. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2010. Print. The book talks about modern art inclusive pop art and other forms of modern art; it reviews famous paintings by famous abstract expressionists and discusses the concepts behind their techniques and expression. Works Cited Anfam, David. Clyfford Still: the artist's museum. 1. publ. Ed. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2012. Print. Barnes, Rachel. Abstract expressionists. Chicago, Ill.: Heinemann Library, 2002. Print. Balken, Debra Bricker. Abstract expressionism. London: Tate Publishing ;, 2005. Print. Barr, Alfred Hamilton. Cubism and abstract art, Reprint ed. New York: Published for the Museum of Modern Art by Arno Press, 19661936. Print. Dijkstra, Bram. American expressionism: art and social change, 1920-1950. New York: H.N. Abrams, in association with the Columbus Museum of Art, 2003. Print.. Edwards, Steve, and Paul Wood. Art of the avant-gardes. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press in association with the Open University, 2004. Print. Hess, Barbara, and Uta Grosenick. Abstract expressionism. Ko?ln: Taschen, 2005. Print. Kleeblatt, Norman L., Maurice Berger, and Debra Bricker Balken. Action/abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American art, 1940-1976. New York: Jewish Museum under the auspices of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America ;, 2008. Print. Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, and the resulting developments in American art. Sandler, Irving. Abstract expressionism and the American experience: a reevaluation. Lenox [Mass.: Hard Press Editions ;, 2009. Print. Spilsbury, Richard. Abstract expressionism. Chicago, IL: Heinemann Library, 2009. Print. York, N.Y., and Ann Temkin. Abstract expressionism at the Museum of Modern Art: selections from the collection. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2010. Print. . Read More