Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art

Willem de Kooning (U.S.1904-1997) was one of the best knownAbstract Expressionists. Here is Woman V, 1952-3, oil & charcoal on canvas, 154 x 114cm

Abstract Expressionism (aka New York School, Painterly abstraction, or Action painting.) Started in 1940s….

During WW2, many European artists, in particular several Surrealists, fled to USA to escape Nazism. For the first time America became the centre for avant-garde art. Many Americans were influenced by the Surrealists. The name ‘Abstract Expressionist’ was applied to art that actually varied widely in style, but was all created at that time and mainly in New York.

Willem de Kooning (U.S.1904-1997) Pink Angels,Pink Angels. c. 1945. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 132 x 102 cm.

Abstract Expressionism was the result of many influences coming together:• Surrealist influence – automatism; link with unconscious;• Expressionist influence – intensely personal expression; use of colour.• Cubist influence – distorted figures• The horror of World War II – a ‘new art’ seemed to be needed.

Dali, Soft self-portrait with bacon, 1941, oil on canvas, 61 x 51cm

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German,1880 - 1938) Self-portrait with model, 1910, 150 x 100 cm

Picasso, Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907

Jackson Pollock, (US, 1912-1956) Number 18, 1950, Oil and enamel on Masonite, 56 x 56 cm.

Some Ab.Ex. artists moved away from representational work altogether in this period.

Navajo sand painting demonstration.

Jackson Pollock used new materials within his artworks – liquid paints; house paints, broken glass; sand. Also the techniques he used to apply the paint were new: hardened brushes; sticks; turkey-baster syringes; and famously, DRIPPING the paint from the can onto the canvas, which was outrageous at the time.

He took his paintings down from the easel and laid the canvas on the floor. This meant he could approach the canvas from any direction and use his body in new ways. He felt he ‘entered into’ the painting. This was a huge break with Western tradition.

Jackson Pollock, No 11 (Blue Poles), 1952,212 x 488cm, paint and glass on canvas.

The media loved to promote the idea of Pollock as a heroic and tortured individual, throwing all his passions into his artwork in this radical new technique – (called ‘Action painting’ by the critic Harold Rosenberg.) His work was used in fashion shoots by Cecil Beaton in Vogue magazine. What might this say about the relationship between artwork/artist/world?

Cecil Beaton, silk taffeta dress in front of Pollock painting, Vogue Magazine, 1951

Did all Abstract Expressionist work look alike? Well….no. Actually. Not at all. Some was expressive and the hand of the artist was obvious, like Pollock and de Kooning. However some artists produced work that was more like a ‘field of colour’, such as Mark Rothko (Latvian, worked in US, 1903-1970)

Mark Rothko, Untitled, oil on canvas, 207 X 167cm, 1949.

They create anawe – inspiring atmosphere and power. They aresimilar to medieval religious paintings in a way… WHOA, what??? Really? Why would we say that?

Rothko was influenced by Surrealist imagery, myths and symbols of ancient peoples before the World War. He felt he could not use the human figure after the War however– it failed to describe the ‘tragedy of the human condition’ adequately. His work became progressively more abstract. He was trying to say something that went beyond words. Unlike the expressive hand of Pollock’s work, these abstract works had thin washes of paint, like veils. They sometimes ‘throb’ or vibrate when you look at them. The colour, lack of perspective, horizontals and verticals, frontal presentation, and scale is what we respond to.

Rothko, 1957 #120, 1957, oil on canvas, 233 x 193cm

Basic principals of human existence and especially death, were what Rothko was concerned with. He felt people got distracted by what critics said about his colour though, and may fail to really appreciate the deeper meaning of his works.