Post-War Art

1. Mid-­to-­Late 20th Century Art
Post-­World War II / Late Modernism

2. Abstract Expressionism
• First major Avant-­Garde art movement in USA (started in New
York in late 1940’s)
• Abstraction expressing raw emotion
• New York becomes the center of the art world (no longer Paris)

3. Jackson Pollock
Action Painting
Focus on the creative
process
Expressive feeling
through action
Used sticks to “throw”
paint onto the canvas
(walked on the canvas)
– artist literally “in” the
painting

4. Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock,
Lavender Mist,
1950, Oil, enamel,
aluminum paint on
canvas

5. Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock, Lavender
Mist, 1950, Oil, enamel,
aluminum paint on canvas
Large scale painting
with drips, splatters, and
dribbles of paint
Controlled Randomness
Energetic
Oil Paint / Industrial
Paints (house and car
paint)

6. Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning,
Woman I, 1950 –
1952, Oil on Canvas

7. Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning, Woman I,
1950 – 1952, Oil on Canvas
Importance of Process – de Kooning
repainted this painting many times
(many layers)
“Rawness” and “Intensity”
Jumbled lines / Agitated patches of
color
“Ferocious” looking woman

8. Later Abstraction
• More “controlled” forms of painting
• Symbolism of color
• Post-­painterly abstraction
• Hard-­edge Painting

9. Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko,
Untitled, 1961,
Oil on Canvas

10. Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1961,
Oil on Canvas
Harmony and Spirituality /
simple and pure
“Color field” painting
Focus on Color / Symbolism
of Color / Emotion of Color

11. Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly, Red Blue
Green, 1963, Oil on canvas

12. Ellsworth Kelly
Hard-­Edged Painting
Focus on Color
Flatness – painting as two-­
dimensional
Absence of “the artist’s hand”
Ellsworth Kelly, Red Blue Green,
1963, Oil on canvas

13. Comparison

14. Minimal Art
• Sculptural Movement began in 1960’s
• “Limitation of sculpture”
• Geometric forms
• Very simple, pure aesthetic (less is more)

15. Donald Judd
Donald Judd, Untitled, 1961,
Brass and Plexiglas sculpture

16. Donald Judd
Donald Judd, Untitled,
1961, Brass and
Plexiglas sculpture
Power of the materials
(“message in the medium”)
Basic geometric forms (simple
and clear)
Sculpture not intended to be
symbolic or metaphorical

17. Pop Art
• Movement began in UK in 1960’s (later became more popular in
USA)
• Art based on popular culture
• Art “for the people”
• Reaction against Abstract Expressionism

18. Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lictenstein,
Hopeless, 1963,
Oil on canvas

19. Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lictenstein, Hopeless,
1963, Oil on canvas
Art based on comic books
Melodramatic scene /
Romance
“That’s the way it SHOULD
have BEGUN, but it’s
hopeless!”
Used dots to create the look of
comic book printing “benday
dots”

20. Andy Warhol
Campbell's soup can series

21. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Campbell's Tomato Soup
Silkscreen on Canvas
1961

22. Andy Warhol
Mass-­production
American Icon
Silkscreen (commercial form of
printmaking used for t-­shirts, etc.)
Connection to Graphic Design

23. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol,
Marilyn Diptych,
1962, Oil, acrylic,
and silk-­screen on
canvas

24. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962, Oil,
acrylic, and silk-­screen on canvas
Marilyn Monroe,
American Actress who
committed suicide
Fame and tragedy
Warhol – artist celebrity
Reference to film and to
Renaissance art