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Abstract Expressionism
Abstract Art Online | Art Styles
(circa 1940's)
Abstract expressionism arose during World War II and began to be showcased during the early forties at galleries in New York like The Art of This Century Gallery; a particularly American movement that achieved worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world. It emphasized spontaneous personal expression, freedom from traditional artistic standards, surface qualities of paint, and the act of painting itself. An important precursor is surrealism, with its importance on spontaneous, subconscious creation. The movement's name comes from the combination of the emotional passion and self-denial of the German Expressionists with the anti-figurative aesthetic of the European abstract schools such as Futurism, the Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism. Furthermore, it has a reputation of being defiant, chaotic, highly idiosyncratic and, nihilistic. Usually, the term applies to many artists working (mostly) in New York who had rather dissimilar styles and to some works of art that are not particularly abstract or expressionist. Artists typically applied paint rapidly, and with force to their huge canvases in an effort to show feelings and emotions, painting gesturally, non-geometrically, sometimes applying paint with large brushes, sometimes dripping or even throwing it onto canvas. Although it is true that spontaneity or the sense of spontaneity characterized many of the abstract expressionist’s works, most of the paintings involved careful development, especially since their large size demanded it. The political climate after World War II did not accept the social protests of these painters. The McCarthy era after World War II was a time of excessive artistic censorship in the United States. Since the subject matter was often entirely abstract it became a safe approach for artists to pursue this style.
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