What Is Abstract Expressionist Art?
ABOUT ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM....
During the Post War years of the 40's, 50's and 60's decades, Abstract Expressionism emerged, as an international art movement from America, with the first exhibitions of the artists who became collectively known as "the New York School" of artists. They were also referred to by their generic movement name, as "Abstract Expressionists".
The term may be confusing, because not all of the artists in the New York School art movement, which included Franz Kline, Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell, Hans Hofmann, Willem deKooning, and Lee Krasner...... painted in abstract idioms. Neither did they all paint within the boundries of expressionism, per se.
Rather, abstract expressionism came to denote an attitude that permeated a multitude of artistic and cultural forms, including music thru jazz, most noteably, literature, theatre, poetry and art.
"Spontaneity, immediacy, improvisation, action painting, gestualisation", became terms, representative of the general attitude, that best describes abstract expressionism, in collective works, from this modern art era.
Essentially, the New York School, abstract expressionist painters, was led by Hans Hofmann as teacher, and joined by Jackson Pollock, deKooning, Lee Krasner, Motherwell, Franz Kline and Joan Mitchell...
This collective of avant garde painters, initiated the departure from themes regarding American life and social realism.
Significantly, this unique contemporary art genre, opened a new door for creative expression, through the creation of the abstract art movement, as a specific visual medium.
With this breakthrough, conventional idioms, references, images, colors and context...departed from the canvases of those adhering to abstract expressionism as a new vechicle for artistic creation.
Essentially, the abstract expressionist philosophy, dominated mid-century modern, American art. At it's core, was the concept, that the artist, for the first time, could express his creativity soley relying upon color and form.
This shift in direction, represented a major breakthrough in art history. For the first time, artists projected "non-representational or non-objective" visual creations, without recognizable objects
So signficant was this break-away from past artistic theories, that abstract expressionism became recognized as the first purely American art movement to gain international prominance.
It's influence is still widely adapted, reinterpreted and admired today, making the form one of the highest earning categories of international art.