1. Abstract Expressionism
Abstract Expressionism
Abstract Expressionism or so called Gestural Abstraction, it was developed in New York in the 1940s; it is an post-World
War II art movement in American painting. It is a type of art which the artist expresses himself purely through the use of
form and color. Abstract expressionism, this name is derived from the combination of the emotional intensity and
self-denial of the German Expressionists with the anti-figurative of the European abstract schools such as Futurism, the
Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism.
Most of the Abstract Expressionists lived in New York and met at the Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village. Therefore the
movement is also called The New York School. The movement can be more or less divided into two groups: Action Paint ing
and Color Field Painting.
Action Painting
Stressed the physical action involved in painting
The style was widespread from 1940s until the early 1960s .
These energetic techniques depend on broad gestures directed
by the artist’s sense of control interacting with chance or
random occurrences. Therefore, action painting is also referred
to as Gestural Abstraction.
Color Field Painting
Primarily concerned with exploring the effects of pure color on a canvas
It is about the tension created by overlapping and interacting
areas of flat color. These areas of color can be amorphous or
clearly geometric. This painting often are on huge canvases.
Jackson Pollock
Willem de Kooning
Mark Rothko
Clyfford Still
Franz Kline
Philip Guston
Jules Olitski
Kenneth Noland
Key Characteristics of Abstract Expressionism
 Unconventional application of paint, usually
without a recognizable subject that tends toward
amorphous shapes in brilliant colors
 Dripping, smearing, slathering, and flinging lots of
paint on to the canvas
 Sometimes gestural “writing ” in a loosely
calligraphic manner
 In the case of Color Field artists: carefully filling the
picture plane with zones of color that create
tension between the shapes and hues
Hans Hofmann
James Brooks
Wassily Kandinsky
Jackson Pollock