Abstract Expressionism
Introduction
Abstract Expressionism was the first American movement to have
worldwide impact. In the years after World War II, a group of Americans,
influenced by the European Surrealists and Expressionists, created
paintings in which the very weight, shape, and direction of paint and
brushwork embody feelings and meanings. The three painters we will
look at in this section are:
Jackson Pollack,
Willim De Kooning,
and Wassily Kandinsky
Jackson Pollack
"Jack the Dripper"
(b.1912--d.1956) American painter, a commanding figure of the Abstract Expressionist movement. He began to study painting in 1929 at the Art Students' League, New York, under the Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton. During the 1930s he worked in the manner of the Regionalists, being influenced also by the Mexican muralist painters (Orozco,
Rivera, Siqueiros) and by certain aspects of Surrealism. From 1938 to 1942 he worked for the Federal Art Project. By the
mid 1940s he was painting in a completely abstract manner, and the `drip and splash' style for which he is best known emerged
in 1947. Instead of using the traditional easel he affixed his canvas to the floor or the wall and poured and
dripped his paint from a can; instead of using brushes he manipulated it with `sticks, trowels or knives' (to use his own words). This manner of action painting was similar to the Surrealists' theories of automatism that it was supposed by artists and critics alike to result in a direct expression or revelation of the unconscious moods of the artist.
Pollock's name is also associated with the introduction of the style of painting which avoids any points of emphasis or
identifiable parts within the whole canvas and therefore abandons the traditional idea of composition in terms of relations among
parts. The design of his painting had no relation to the shape or size of the canvas and sometimes the finished canvas was cropped to suit the image.
Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist, Number 1, 1950.
Oil, Enamel, and Aluminium Paint on Canvas, 88 X 119"
Collection: National Gallley of Art, Washington, D. C.
Wassily Kandinsky
(VASILY VASILYEVICH KANDINSKY) (b. Dec. 4, 1866, Moscow, Russia--d.
Dec. 13, 1944, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France)
One of the first creators of
pure abstraction in modern painting. After several successful avant-garde exhibitions, he founded the influential Munich group
Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider; 1911-14) and began completely
abstract painting. His forms evolved from fluid and organic
to geometric and, finally, to pictographic.
Composition IV, 1911 (170 Kb); Oil on canvas, 159.5 x 250.5 cm
(62 7/8 x 98 5/8 in); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfallen, Dusseldorf
Composition VIII, 1923 (140 Kb); Oil on canvas, 140 x 201 cm
(55 1/8 x 79 1/8 in); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Willem de Kooning
(b. 1904, Netherlands--d. 1997, New York)
A giant of American art, whose career in the United States
began after he stowed away on a ship from his native Holland in
1926. He wound up in Manhattan a year later.
During the 1940s, de Kooning and Jackson Pollock
helped transform New York City into the
capital of the international art world with their
expressive, freewheeling style that later became
known as Abstract Expressionism. Pollock died in
an automobile crash in 1956; but de Kooning
continued to paint late into his long life, well after he
developed Alzeimers disease.
Willem de Kooning in his studio with Woman I in progress
(after the sixth state), c. 1952. Photo by Kay Bell Reynal,
courtesy of Kay Bell Reynal Papers, Archives of American
Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Oil on canvas, 1950; 206.2 x 257.3 cm
Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan Purchase Prize; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Noah
Goldowsky and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., 1952.1
Student Project
Introductory Exploration
Create several abstract (no recognizable images) drawings that
interpret the feelings of confusion, melancholy, elation, doubt, and
defiance. Select your medium carefully-you may use markers, oil or
chalk pastels, colored pencils, or any combination of the four. As
you interpret the feeling, decide the kind of line quality you wish to
achieve-an oil pastel will create a dark, rough line while a pencil
would be thin and smooth. Make marks with the medium/media you choose
that you feel communicates the feeling you are trying to describe.
You can make lines, dots, abstract shapes-as long as there are no
recognizable images.
Written Assignment
Write an essay that explores how we interpret emotion. Do we use
similar colors or marks for the same emotion? How do we differ? Why
would or wouldn't we interpret emotion the same? What influences our
choice of medium and mark making?
Independent Project
Create a painting that abstractly expresses a specific experience in
your life. Select colors that you feel communicate how you felt at
the moment. Create marks that help express your sensory memories of
the experience.
(See examples at top of the page)