Abstract Expressionism as a movement, without question is a product of America fermented during the post-war period following WWII. To call it American Abstract Expressionism is a misnomer but is not exactly incorrect. It may have begun in the United States, but that is not to say it did not travel to other countries.
Non-representational painting did not, however, grow from a particular soil, as a product entirely national. It had its precedence in European art; it was a part of a continuum that began with Cubism. As art continued its way toward total abstraction with each successive movement, the narrative that had defined painting for centuries was not only been diminished, but declared irrelevant. The need for a storyline was deemed childish.
With a burning need to succeed, these immigrants, for the most part, planned to introduce an entirely new concept in the art of painting. To be a member of this exclusive club, you had to eschew the desire to portray anything that could be regarded as a person, place or thing. The practitioners were out to prove that a painting could exist on its own terms. That meaning could be found in color, form and rhythm removed from the concrete.
And in this, they succeeded. They were rewarded with glory, fame, savvy dealers, appreciation and acclaim. Many became wealthy or at the very least, comfortably settled with commodious studios and a place to call home. They were lauded for the spectacle they offered while leading the way to a novel way to view art.
Today the names of these legendary artists are well-known: Rothko, de Kooning, Pollock, Kline, Krasner, Frankenthaler and Motherwell fill art history books and museums. Those who were first to understand this new art have been heralded as the avant garde. Biographies have been written, movies have been filmed.
Using the term American Abstract Expressionism is only to trust that abstraction traveled to other countries and cultures. But for the purposes of history, New York will always be known as the place the artists decided a narrative as we had known it on a canvas painted in oil was no longer necessary, indeed, no longer relevant. Some fought a lifetime for this premise, others decided they had been backed into a corner and were willing to represent the objective once again.
Non-representational painting did not, however, grow from a particular soil, as a product entirely national. It had its precedence in European art; it was a part of a continuum that began with Cubism. As art continued its way toward total abstraction with each successive movement, the narrative that had defined painting for centuries was not only been diminished, but declared irrelevant. The need for a storyline was deemed childish.
With a burning need to succeed, these immigrants, for the most part, planned to introduce an entirely new concept in the art of painting. To be a member of this exclusive club, you had to eschew the desire to portray anything that could be regarded as a person, place or thing. The practitioners were out to prove that a painting could exist on its own terms. That meaning could be found in color, form and rhythm removed from the concrete.
And in this, they succeeded. They were rewarded with glory, fame, savvy dealers, appreciation and acclaim. Many became wealthy or at the very least, comfortably settled with commodious studios and a place to call home. They were lauded for the spectacle they offered while leading the way to a novel way to view art.
Today the names of these legendary artists are well-known: Rothko, de Kooning, Pollock, Kline, Krasner, Frankenthaler and Motherwell fill art history books and museums. Those who were first to understand this new art have been heralded as the avant garde. Biographies have been written, movies have been filmed.
Using the term American Abstract Expressionism is only to trust that abstraction traveled to other countries and cultures. But for the purposes of history, New York will always be known as the place the artists decided a narrative as we had known it on a canvas painted in oil was no longer necessary, indeed, no longer relevant. Some fought a lifetime for this premise, others decided they had been backed into a corner and were willing to represent the objective once again.
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