Art history: Understanding abstract expressionism – Part 5

The one thing that sets abstract expressionism apart from all other art forms is that the passion for the piece is directly channeled into the act of painting itself. The artist will usually … Abstract expressionism is the physical manifestation of passion on the canvas.

This movement is generally credited with having its start in America following World War II. Robert Coates coined the term somewhere around 1946. This is the first art movement that is credited with having its roots in America, and its impact is still being felt to this day.

Some of the first artists to employ this method include Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, and Willem de Kooning. They resided almost exclusively in New York and formed what was called “the New York School.” At the time there were few art critics and even fewer paying attention to this particular movement. Even though the public at large did not know about the artists that lived among them, they developed fans among the critics who had encountered them, and those critics voices would continue to support them from this period until the movement reached popularity in

The style itself is varied but relies on gestural painting, a surrealist’s appreciation for the immediate, and is by necessary a rapid and forceful process. The name stems from other movements such as Surrealism that value subjective appreciation above actual representation. The fact that these artists were trying to convey feelings and not represent objects is where the word abstract comes from. The word “expressionism” stems from the technique. Their goal was the raw transmission of passion through not only the result but the method of achieving it. The act of painting had finally become as important as the painting itself.

The work is noted for what appears at face value to be a strong reliance on chance, but after careful inspection it is revealed that most of these “accidents” were well planned by their creators. Many works by artists such as Pollock were labeled abstract expressionism even when they did not meet the profile and this has blurred somewhat the idea of what pieces fall under the heading.

That said, there are a few pieces you can check out that are undoubtedly indicative of the movement as a whole. These include: “Popeii” by Hans Hofmann, “Virginia Landscape” by Arshile Gorky, “Woman” by Willem de Kooning, “1951-N” by Clyfford Still, and “Birth” by Jackson Pollock.

Even though this movement was cast aside by the coming of Pop Art in the sixties, its impact on the art culture of today is undeniable. There are still many contemporary artists like Fuller Potter and Jack Bush still expanding the style’s visual representations and applications to this day. This art form will always be, the same as any one of its pieces, one of a kind. As American critic Rosenberg said many years ago, “The canvas was not a picture, but an event.”