Abstract ExpressionismEmotions, Feelings and More!

Olivia Kaye, Michael Whalen, and Ciarra McCarthy

Background

● Key Influences ○ World War I ○ Great Depression○ World War II○ Surrealism○ Jung and Freud○ Cold War

Technical Characteristics

● Large swaths of vibrant/ contrasting colors● Expressive Marks● Bold lines● Basic shapes and forms● Large paintings● Symbolism● Multiple layers

Ideas Behind the Movement

● Nonrepresentational painting● Express subconscious mind (influenced from

surrealism)● Intuition and feeling vs. intellect and

reason● Focus on process of painting itself● Describes an attitude● Emotion and energy driven

Two Phases Early Phase (began mid-1940s)- biomorphic shapes- non-geometric curves- shapes often suggest figures, objects, and landscapes

Later Phase (throughout 1950s)1) action painting (gestural painting):

- applied painting roughly with personal expression- action of creating art- Pollock, de Kooning, and

Kline2) color-field painting:

- carefully painted- simple, unified blocks of

color- intense patterns with few

colors- Rothko

Willem de Kooning (April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997)

- moved from the Netherlands in 1926- used figurative, cubist, and abstractionist characteristics- influenced greatly by Picasso- began abstract expressionism in 1930s- action painting: bursts of energetic and inspired activity- inventive and unique- revisited works- surface texture

Queen of Hearts, 1943-46

Pink Angels, 1945

Painting, 1948

Excavation, 1950

Woman I, 1950-52

Woman, Sag Harbor,1964

...Whose Name Was Writ in Water, 1975

Rider (Untitled VII),

1985

● Native American Background● American Regionalism-murals

○ Thomas Benton ● Cubism ● Surrealism ● Painting about HIS emotions and

outpourings

Jackson Pollock

Going West 1934-35

Going West, 1934-35

Bird, 1941

Male and Female, 1942

Eyes in the Heat, 1946

Full Fathom Five, 1947

Lavender Mist, 1950

Blue Poles, 1952

The Deep, 1953

Mark Rothko

● Spiritual, Mythical and Emotional ● Impressionism ● Fauvism ● Expressionism ● Surrealism

○ Channel the unconscious ● Mythology ● Contributes to the emotional themes of

Abstract Expressionism

Entrance to the Subway, 1940

Man and Two Women in Pastoral Setting, 1940

Leda, 1940

Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea, 1944

Untitled, 1948

Magenta, Black, Green on Orange,

1947

No. 61 Rust and Blue, 1951

Untitled (Black on Grey), 1970

Franz Kline● Born and raised in Pennsylvania● Spent his summers painting in

Massachusetts● Was influenced by an idea of his friend,

de Kooning● Painted figurative subjects in the first

phase of his career● Developed his signature style in the late

1940s● Transitioned to a third phase toward the

end of his life● Died from heart disease at the age of 51

in 1962

"Untitled-Locomotive" 1945-1947

"Chief" 1950

"Painting Number 2" 1954

Accent Grave, 1954

"The Bridge"

Mahoning, 1956

Sigfried, 1958

King Oliver, 1958

Critics

Clement Greenberg● Believed that a critic could only judge a work

based on shape, color, and line, not the subject matter.

● Thought modern painting was a historical phenomenon.

● Supporter of Kandinsky and Pollock

Harold Rosenberg● Disagreed with Greenberg ● Emphasized the creative act at the

expense of the formal aspects● Coined the term "gesture painting"● Supporter of de Kooning, Kline, and

Motherwell

Legacy

● Each artist added some unique characteristic to the Abstract Expressionist movement

● Emotional reaction against WWII● Journey into the unknown of the

subconscious ● Freedom ● Leads to minimalism