Essay on Abstract Expressionism Submitted

Essay on Abstract

Expressionism

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Abstract

This essay discusses about the origin of Abstract Expressionism. It deals with how it emerged in America and how the people of America dealt with it. There is a brief description about various types of this painting style. It also covers famous painters of this genre and their philosophy.

What were the origins of abstract expressionism & why did it arise in America? Who were the main exponents of abstract expressionism, both artists and theorists, & what was the inspiration behind this style of painting?

Abstract Expressionism is one of the kinds of painting style which was the result of

American post World War- II art movement. It was first of its kind American movement to achieve world wide influence and mark its place, which formerly belonged to Paris.

The term ‘abstract expressionism’ was applied to American art in 1946 by the art critic Robert Coates. Though it was first used in Germany in 1919 in a magazine called

‘Der Sturm’ regarding German expressionism, but in the USA, Alfred Barr was the first to use this term in 1929 in relation to works by Wassily Kandinsky (Abstract

Expressionism Wikipedia, 2008). The movement originated in New York’s Greenwich

Village in the mid-1940’s and was also called action painting and the New York School.

Emphasizing its independence from European art trends, Abstract Expressionism was the first American school to influence artists overseas rather than vice versa. The movement

2 Abstract Expressionism was put into motion by Arshile Gorky whose paintings were derived from the art of

Surrealism, Picasso, and Miro. As in Surrealism, the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund

Freud and Carl Jung provided the basis for the intellectual and internal subject matter.

Their influence came from many of the artists who fled Europe for America during

World War II, notably Piet Mondrian and Max Ernst. These artists’ departure from traditional painting inspired the revolutionary attitude of the Abstract Expressionist movement.

It was a painting movement in which artists typically applied paint rapidly and with force on their canvases bringing out feelings and emotions. Painting gesturally, non- geometrically, sometimes applying paint with large brushes, sometimes dripping and throwing it onto canvases. The work which appears to be accidental and unorganized was actually a very much planned act. The works of ‘abstract expressionism’ were totally

‘subject less’. There was no use of representations. Abstract Expressionists saw painting as a pure expression of emotion and means of visual communication. But not all works were abstract. It was generally believed that the ‘spontaneity’ of the artists’ approach to their work would draw from and release the creativity of their minds (Artlex 2008).

The basic reason behind this style of painting to emerge is said to be World War-II.

As we know ‘Abstract Expressionism’ took its birth near Second World War, its impact is evident in the works of this painting style. The anguish and pain that people went through is depicted very creatively. As there was Holocaust all around, young artists did not feel the need for any live objects. People wanted to take out their pain and emotions and chose painting as their medium to release their suffocated feelings. The crisis of war and its aftermath are a key to understanding the concerns of the Abstract Expressionists.

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