Overview
In
this blog essay, I am going to describe the characteristics and influences of
Abstract Expressionism.
With
the outbreak of the Second World War,
many surrealist artists fled from Europe and turned towards the sanctuary of
New York City. This resulted in a large
impact on artistic scenarios in America during the 1950s as these artists with
surrealist backgrounds started to develop a response to the uncertian climate of
the post-war Great Depression (Visual-arts-cork.com, n.d.).
Eventually,
Abstract Espressionism started to emerge. The forerunners of this movement were
Arshile Corky (1905 – 1948) and Hans Hoffman (1880 – 1966) who developed a new
form of non-figurative art, while having no previous connection with the
expressionist movement. Inspirations flooded from the surrealist painters Mirò
and Wassily Kandinsky (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998). Hoffman expressed mood
on canvas in similar fashion to Kandinsky, by applying relatively large areas
of paint on the field, yet, retaining Paul Cezannes structure in compostion and
layout. Gorky on the other hand, evolved a style that celebrated spontaniety
and very bright chromatism (Visual-arts-cork.com, n.d.).
"I
never finish a painting, I just stop working on it for a while."
Arshille Gorky
Characteristics
of the movement evolved to have vast iterations of style and quality which are
synonymous with the individual artist. An emphasis on spontaneous and personal
emotions began to emerge with a freedom of technique which abandoned the
conventional composition of anartwork (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998). Artists who continued to develop Abstract Expressionism are:
Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, Mark
Rothko and Willem de Kooning.
Pollock's Spontaniety
Each had their own distinctive approach to their works of abstraction. Jackson Pollock can be classified as a Gestural Painter, one that lays out his canvas on the outdoor ground and drips canned house-paint all over it, spontaneously. Originally, he named his painting ‘Blue Poles’ as ‘Number 11’. He would rather give his works a number rather than a name, as a name would be too distracting, hence narrowing the mind’s comprehension of what the artist really means to convey by his work. The very nature of Pollock’s works polarized both the public and critics due to its unusual composition, provoking the question: "What is art?"(Jackson-pollock.org,
n.d.)
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Blue Poles (1952), Jackson Pollock
Oil on canvas
|
De Kooning's Agitation
In
the meantime, Willem de Kooning approaches abstract expressionism from a
completely different angle, which is clearly evident in his abstract painting
Woman I. De Kooning spent a couple of years working on this artwork, sometimes
even starting all over again after the canvas gets damaged from layering so
much paint onto it. In the finished image, the slashing of his agitated
brushstrokes is seen through the variety of textures in the layers of paint.
 |
Woman I (1950-52), Willem de Kooning.
Oil on canvas
|
"I'm not interested in
'abstracting' or taking things out or reducing painting to design, form, line,
and color. I paint this way because I can keep putting more things in it -
drama, anger, pain, love, a figure, a horse, my ideas about space. Through your
eyes it again becomes an emotion or idea."
Willem de Kooning
References
Charles
Moffat, C. (2008). Abstract Expressionism - The Art History Archive. [online]
Arthistoryarchive.com. Available at:
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/abstractexpressionism/ [Accessed 7
Jun. 2017].
Encyclopedia
Britannica. (1998). Abstract Expressionism | art. [online] Available at:
https://www.britannica.com/art/Abstract-Expressionism [Accessed 7 Jun. 2017].
Jackson-pollock.org.
(n.d.). Blue Poles, 1952 by Jackson Pollock. [online] Available at:
http://www.jackson-pollock.org/blue-poles.jsp [Accessed 7 Jun. 2017].
Visual-arts-cork.com.
(n.d.). Abstract Expressionism: History, Characteristics. [online] Available
at: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/abstract-expressionism.htm
[Accessed 7 Jun. 2017].
YouTube. (2016). Willem de Kooning, Woman, I.
[online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0xbZTe1JSM [Accessed 7
Jun. 2017].
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