Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York City and was the foremost modernist direction of the 1940s and 1950s, producing the most daring, adventurous, and forceful art. Abstract Expressionism was an approach to modernism/post-modernism accentuating the uninhibited expression of emotions. Like many other modern movements, it does not describe any one particular style, but rather a general attitude and similar characteristics. It presents a broad range of stylistic diversity within its largely, though not exclusively, nonrepresentational framework.

The artists of Abstract Expressionism often felt uneasy with traditional subjects and styles. They had similar morally loaded themes, often heavyweight and tragic, on a grand scale. In contrast to the themes of Social Realism and regional life that characterized American art of previous decades, Abstract Expressionists valued, above all, individuality and spontaneous improvisation. They felt ill at ease with conventional subjects and styles, neither of which could adequately convey their new vision. In fact, style as such almost ceased to exist with the Abstract Expressionists, and they drew their inspiration from all directions. The artists who came to be called "Abstract Expressionists" shared a similarity of outlook rather than of style-- an outlook characterized by a spirit of revolt and a belief in freedom of expression. (Anfam 56)

Abstract Expressionism sprung from the social conditions of the first half of 19th Century America, a period that was characterised by the Great Depression of the 1930s, economic, social and political instability, two devastating world wars and a consequent inward turn and adoption of isolationist policies in the USA. Artistically, the era of modernism was coming to an end, and realist and Regionalist painting were still dominant. In this context, the Abstract Expressionists arose with a radical, new style of painting that marked a turn away from the figurative, toward an abstract idiom that was more open to metaphor and a universal artistic vocabulary. This rejection of the representational offered more than a richer, purer emotional scope - it allowed the Abstract Expressionists to respond to the tragic, global effects of modernity and the repercussions of traumatic global events on individuals by asserting a confident, American, individualistic and masculine style of art. Abstract Expressionism embodied and showcased on a world scale the more positive values of the USA - that is, the values of a liberal, free enterprise society with an emphasis on self-criticism and discussion. Hence, the movement was canonised, promoted and supported by such key American institutions as the international program at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the CIA and the Congress of Cultural Freedom. (Guilbaut 158)

While the predominant political and social conditions of the time were key in the promotion of Abstract Expressionism as a new and distinctively American-style painting, many art critics emphasised the existentialist and process-driven elements of the new movement. The process, typical of Jackson Pollock, of dribbling, throwing, dropping and splattering paint across canvas came to be known as “action painting”, and emphasises the canvas as an area in which to act, not just to merely reproduce objects or ...