14 thoughts on “WEEK SIX – ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM”
Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912- August 11, 1956)
Pollock was an American painter and a leading figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He gained fame and notoriety during his lifetime with his unique style of drip painting. He was often regarded as reclusive and known as an alcoholic. He married artist Lee Krasner in 1945, and she became influential to his career. Pollock died in an alcohol related car accident at the age of 44. He was given a retrospective memorial exhibition at the MoMA several months after his death and again on larger scales in 1967 and 1998. Pollock used hardened brushes and sticks to apply his paint in addition to pouring it. This technique is possibly the origin of “action painting.” He defied the convention of painting on upright surfaces and added a new direction of directness by applying paint to his canvases from all angles and directions.
“Convergence” 1952
Pollock working on one of his drip paintings.
Artist: Mark Rothko
Orange Red Yellow- Sold in 2012 for $86.8 million
Mark Rothko was born Marcus Rothkovich in Dvinsk, Russia (now Latvia) on 25 September 1903, the youngest of four children. In 1913 his family settled in Portland, Oregon but after only seven months together, his father died suddenly. In 1933 he had two solo exhibitions in New York and Portland which helped him to get a place on the Federal Art Project where he met other artists of the movement abstract expressionism. He and Gottlieb became close friends and in 1935 they founded ‘The Ten’, a group of Expressionist painters who exhibited together for the next decade. He continued to evolve his style and in 1947 began to work on the abstractions of floating colour, or the colour-field paintings, that which he is now known for. During the last year of his life, Rothko produced a series of black on grey paintings. He grew increasingly neurotic and depressive and drank heavily finally taking his own life in February 1970.
Baber was born in August 22, 1928 in Charleston, Illinois and worked in oil and watercolor. Although she grew up (in various states including Kansas, Illinois and Miami, Florida) in the United States, in the 1950s and 1960s she studied and lived in Paris. She studied a little bit at École des Beaux-Arts. She was known to travel the world and was an active feminist, that organized exhibits of women artists’ work. Part of the reason that her family lived in Florida was due to Alice’s poor health and it had been suggested that they travel down south. She remembers at a young age (age 5) that she would either be a “poet or a painter” and a few years later, enrolled in a college-level class for art. She was in her early teens when World War II broke out. During her travels she also made a living through writing. As a painter, she first experimented with oils but explored watercolor in the 1950s. She had studied under Alton Pickens but her own work developed from still lifes towards abstract painting, exploring light and the form of circles which would direct much of her work. In her personal life she married another painter, Paul Jenkins (in 1964) but were later divorced in 1970. She has given both lectures and workshops and her works have been shown in various places including Guggenheim, Metropolitan,and the Museum of Modern Art. Random/intersting facts: Both the Memorial Art Library in East Hampton, New York and the Baber Midwest Modern Art Collection of the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art in Indiana are named in her honor.
Robert Motherwell was an American painter born in 1915. He was one of the youngest of the “New York School” of artists, which included others like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. His family moved to the drier climate of California when he was young because he had horrible asthma attacks. There he developed a love for bright colors and broad spaces that he later incorporated into his work. He went to Stanford as an undergraduate, where he studied literature, philosophy, and psychology, and then went to Harvard postgrad to study more philosophy. Motherwell decided to become an artist in 1938 after a trip to Paris. He then studied Art history at Columbia University to satisfy his father’s demands for him to have a secure career. Motherwell’s painting style was influenced by surrealist use of “automatism” to register subconscious impulses. Although he has very colorful collections he is best known for his paintings with abstract black forms that look similar to ink blots.
Clyfford Still was an American painter who lived from 1904 to 1980. He was a part of the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, and although Still isn’t as well known as some of his peers like Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, he is credited for laying the groundwork for the entire movement. He shifted his painting style from representational to abstract between 1938 and 1942, which predates many other artists associated with the early stages of the movement. Still is also known as a Color Field painter, a style that involves the use large fields of flat, solid colors. He used a technique in which he arranged his colors irregularly in flashes. This technique often created a “torn” effect in which colors were revealed underneath each other. His piece 1957-D No. 1, which is pictured below, demonstrates his tendency to use thick paint and a color palette dominated by black, yellow, white, and red.
Stella is an American painter from Massachusetts, where he went on to attend Princeton University as a history major. He was influenced early on by abstract expressionism. In the 1960s, his Black Paintings were a catalyst for the Minimalist art style. His art consists of many geometric and repeated shapes, with a wide range of bright colors. His work does not have much emotional content, which helps the viewer focus on the basic elements of his art.
Kline was an American artist associated with the abstract expressionist movement in New York. He is labeled an “action painter” because of the quick and intense movement of his brush strokes in his paintings. His works are spontaneous seeming. He is known for his non-representative style in mostly black and white. His subconscious, free and spontaneous style is a characteristic of abstract expressionism. I think his paintings are very interesting because at first glance, someone might not appreciate the talent involved. The placement of lines seems arbitrary but the works of art as wholes are well composed, energetic, and balanced.
Robert Delaunay was a french artist that was profoundly known for using geometric shapes and bright colors. He painted several series but became famous when he was invited to join the Blue Rider which was a group of abstract artists in Paris, France. This was around 1912, when cubism was becoming popular, while his paintings were more prism-like. His first exhibition in Paris was monumental and critics were astounded by his work. He focused on landscapes and portraits in unique colors. I really enjoy this portrait of his friend Jean Metzinger because of his use of a weaved like shading pattern with an inconspicuous background. He is well known for his eiffel tower series. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Delaunay,_1906,_Portrait_de_Metzinger,_oil_on_canvas,_55_x_43_cm,_DSC08255.jpg Jean Metzinger Portrait
Hans Hoffmann was a crucial component of abstract expressionism. He came to America from Germany, where he studied and learned most of his art styles. While in Europe, Hoffmann traveled between Paris and Munich often, and was known as a well-respected modern art teacher. Once in America, Hoffmann became a pivotal modern artist. He developed influential relationship with artists such as Pollock and Delauney, from whom he really began to focus on color over form in his work. He developed a theory called “push and pull” which investigated the interdependency amongst color, form, and space in creating depth and movement.
This piece is titled Above Deep Waters. Here you can see that Hoffmann experiments with color and space moreso than he does form, but still achieves depth through a flat canvas. I think the title is fitting and appropriate when I accept the image in its entirety.
Tobey’s work was inspired by Asian calligraphy and was part of the Abstract Expressionism movement. He had an interest in philosophy and Eastern religions. He traveled often, visiting Mexico, Europe, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, China, and Japan which helped fuel his work. During the early years of his career, Tobey met a Chinese painter, Teng Kuei, who introduced him to Eastern penmanship which influenced his study of Arab and Persian writing. He also converted to Baha’I, a religion that emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind. All of these aspects of his life worked together to help him develop his unique abstract style. His style of abstractionism has been described as “white writing,” which is white or light-colored calligraphic symbols achieved through thousands of small interwoven brush strokes on an abstract background. This is seen in his piece below titled “Canticle.”
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) was known as a “second generation” abstract expressionist painter after being influenced by other, similar artists such as Franz Kline. Mitchell was born in Chicago and attended Smith College and later The Art Institute of Chicago where she earned her masters. She earned a scholarship to travel across Europe and study the artwork of the classics. In her early years, Mitchell was influenced by the free movement and brushstrokes of Vincent van Gogh, even painting a response piece to one of his paintings where she sensed his depression.
Joan Mitchell’s artwork is recognized by its massive size, often covering multiple panels. Her style was bold, gestural and rythmic, inspired by nature and poetry. Rather than painting from and attempting to recreate real life, Mitchell attempted to convey emotions in her artwork through her gesture. In May 2014, a painting by Mitchell sold at Christie’s in New York for $11,925,000, making her the most expensive female artist at auction.
“No Birds,” Joan’s response piece to Van Gogh’s “Wheatfield with Crows”
William de Kooning was one of the main founders of Abstract Expressionism, and although he coined the term itself, he was very frustrated by “naming” art movements. Most of his works feature the use of “action painting” – where figures are loosely unfinished and in processes of often violent movement. His style combined elements of Cubism, Expressionism, and Surrealism. He is considered an equal to the likes of Jackson Pollock, although many of his influences were akin to the masters like Rembrandt. He had an alcohol-fueled, passionate relationship with one of his apprentices, Elaine Fried. Despite extramarital affairs on both sides and a divorce, the two eventually reunited until de Kooning’s death in 1979. His art work was able to master blending both the figure and the ground. He never fully abandoned the power of depicting the human figure in his work.
Perle Fine was a Boston native born in 1905. Her studies first began at the Boston Practical School of Art. She felt that her artistic needs were not being met and moved to NYC. Here Fine was able to jumpstart her art career and life at Grand Central School of Art. Fine first began in illustrations and in 1930 won her first prize. At Grand Central, Perle met Maurice Berezov, fellow art student and future husband. Curious about art outside of illustration, Fine enrolled at Art Students League under the guidance of Kimon Nicolaides. Here she developed techniques in action drawing and 3D. She worked along side Hans Hofmann and his art school during this time. During the 1940’s Fine was associated with several art organizations and had several shows in New York and abroad. In the late 40’s and early 50’s Perle began to expand her mediums to collage, etching, oils and others. She was a sole female abstract expressionist artist among many males. However, she was able to build relationships with artists such as Franz Kline and William Baziotes. In 1960s, Fine taught at Hofstra University. America was able to see her artwork span for 50 years. Perle was very active in the art scene until her passing in 1988. Her creativity allowed her the ability to rework several abstract styles and ideas. However, her talent kept her work harmonious by having rhythmic variations and nuances of color, line, shape and space over the different segments of her artist career.
Barnett Newman was an abstract expressionist painter born in New York in 1905 and died in 1970. He is most well-known for his trademark “zips” that are present in much of his work. This feature set him apart from many other abstract expressionist painters who were more involved in gestural and expressive paintings. He moved away from representing traditional foreground/background relationships in his paintings. This resulted in his work getting little attention, even from his friends, until much later in his artistic career. Newman believed that modern art had rendered traditional artistic styles as invalid, and a famous quote from him regarding this is: “old standards of beauty were irrelevant: the sublime was all that was appropriate – an experience of enormity which might lift modern humanity out of its torpor.” Below is a picture of his work entitled “Onement I” painted in 1948.
painting 202 
Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912- August 11, 1956)
Pollock was an American painter and a leading figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He gained fame and notoriety during his lifetime with his unique style of drip painting. He was often regarded as reclusive and known as an alcoholic. He married artist Lee Krasner in 1945, and she became influential to his career. Pollock died in an alcohol related car accident at the age of 44. He was given a retrospective memorial exhibition at the MoMA several months after his death and again on larger scales in 1967 and 1998. Pollock used hardened brushes and sticks to apply his paint in addition to pouring it. This technique is possibly the origin of “action painting.” He defied the convention of painting on upright surfaces and added a new direction of directness by applying paint to his canvases from all angles and directions.
“Convergence” 1952
Pollock working on one of his drip paintings.
LikeLike
Artist: Mark Rothko
Orange Red Yellow- Sold in 2012 for $86.8 million
Mark Rothko was born Marcus Rothkovich in Dvinsk, Russia (now Latvia) on 25 September 1903, the youngest of four children. In 1913 his family settled in Portland, Oregon but after only seven months together, his father died suddenly. In 1933 he had two solo exhibitions in New York and Portland which helped him to get a place on the Federal Art Project where he met other artists of the movement abstract expressionism. He and Gottlieb became close friends and in 1935 they founded ‘The Ten’, a group of Expressionist painters who exhibited together for the next decade. He continued to evolve his style and in 1947 began to work on the abstractions of floating colour, or the colour-field paintings, that which he is now known for. During the last year of his life, Rothko produced a series of black on grey paintings. He grew increasingly neurotic and depressive and drank heavily finally taking his own life in February 1970.
LikeLike
Artist: Alice Baber
Baber was born in August 22, 1928 in Charleston, Illinois and worked in oil and watercolor. Although she grew up (in various states including Kansas, Illinois and Miami, Florida) in the United States, in the 1950s and 1960s she studied and lived in Paris. She studied a little bit at École des Beaux-Arts. She was known to travel the world and was an active feminist, that organized exhibits of women artists’ work. Part of the reason that her family lived in Florida was due to Alice’s poor health and it had been suggested that they travel down south. She remembers at a young age (age 5) that she would either be a “poet or a painter” and a few years later, enrolled in a college-level class for art. She was in her early teens when World War II broke out. During her travels she also made a living through writing. As a painter, she first experimented with oils but explored watercolor in the 1950s. She had studied under Alton Pickens but her own work developed from still lifes towards abstract painting, exploring light and the form of circles which would direct much of her work. In her personal life she married another painter, Paul Jenkins (in 1964) but were later divorced in 1970. She has given both lectures and workshops and her works have been shown in various places including Guggenheim, Metropolitan,and the Museum of Modern Art. Random/intersting facts: Both the Memorial Art Library in East Hampton, New York and the Baber Midwest Modern Art Collection of the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art in Indiana are named in her honor.
Below are a few of her works:
LikeLike
Robert Motherwell was an American painter born in 1915. He was one of the youngest of the “New York School” of artists, which included others like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. His family moved to the drier climate of California when he was young because he had horrible asthma attacks. There he developed a love for bright colors and broad spaces that he later incorporated into his work. He went to Stanford as an undergraduate, where he studied literature, philosophy, and psychology, and then went to Harvard postgrad to study more philosophy. Motherwell decided to become an artist in 1938 after a trip to Paris. He then studied Art history at Columbia University to satisfy his father’s demands for him to have a secure career. Motherwell’s painting style was influenced by surrealist use of “automatism” to register subconscious impulses. Although he has very colorful collections he is best known for his paintings with abstract black forms that look similar to ink blots.
LikeLike
Artist: Clyfford Still
Clyfford Still was an American painter who lived from 1904 to 1980. He was a part of the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, and although Still isn’t as well known as some of his peers like Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, he is credited for laying the groundwork for the entire movement. He shifted his painting style from representational to abstract between 1938 and 1942, which predates many other artists associated with the early stages of the movement. Still is also known as a Color Field painter, a style that involves the use large fields of flat, solid colors. He used a technique in which he arranged his colors irregularly in flashes. This technique often created a “torn” effect in which colors were revealed underneath each other. His piece 1957-D No. 1, which is pictured below, demonstrates his tendency to use thick paint and a color palette dominated by black, yellow, white, and red.
LikeLike
Stella is an American painter from Massachusetts, where he went on to attend Princeton University as a history major. He was influenced early on by abstract expressionism. In the 1960s, his Black Paintings were a catalyst for the Minimalist art style. His art consists of many geometric and repeated shapes, with a wide range of bright colors. His work does not have much emotional content, which helps the viewer focus on the basic elements of his art.
LikeLike
Franz Kline (1910 – 1962)
Kline was an American artist associated with the abstract expressionist movement in New York. He is labeled an “action painter” because of the quick and intense movement of his brush strokes in his paintings. His works are spontaneous seeming. He is known for his non-representative style in mostly black and white. His subconscious, free and spontaneous style is a characteristic of abstract expressionism. I think his paintings are very interesting because at first glance, someone might not appreciate the talent involved. The placement of lines seems arbitrary but the works of art as wholes are well composed, energetic, and balanced.
LikeLike
Robert Delaunay was a french artist that was profoundly known for using geometric shapes and bright colors. He painted several series but became famous when he was invited to join the Blue Rider which was a group of abstract artists in Paris, France. This was around 1912, when cubism was becoming popular, while his paintings were more prism-like. His first exhibition in Paris was monumental and critics were astounded by his work. He focused on landscapes and portraits in unique colors. I really enjoy this portrait of his friend Jean Metzinger because of his use of a weaved like shading pattern with an inconspicuous background. He is well known for his eiffel tower series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Delaunay,_1906,_Portrait_de_Metzinger,_oil_on_canvas,_55_x_43_cm,_DSC08255.jpg Jean Metzinger Portrait
http://uploads3.wikiart.org/images/robert-delaunay/eiffel-tower-1914.jpg Eiffel Tower Series
LikeLike
Hans Hoffmann
Hans Hoffmann was a crucial component of abstract expressionism. He came to America from Germany, where he studied and learned most of his art styles. While in Europe, Hoffmann traveled between Paris and Munich often, and was known as a well-respected modern art teacher. Once in America, Hoffmann became a pivotal modern artist. He developed influential relationship with artists such as Pollock and Delauney, from whom he really began to focus on color over form in his work. He developed a theory called “push and pull” which investigated the interdependency amongst color, form, and space in creating depth and movement.
This piece is titled Above Deep Waters. Here you can see that Hoffmann experiments with color and space moreso than he does form, but still achieves depth through a flat canvas. I think the title is fitting and appropriate when I accept the image in its entirety.
LikeLike
Mark Tobey (1890-1976)
Tobey’s work was inspired by Asian calligraphy and was part of the Abstract Expressionism movement. He had an interest in philosophy and Eastern religions. He traveled often, visiting Mexico, Europe, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, China, and Japan which helped fuel his work. During the early years of his career, Tobey met a Chinese painter, Teng Kuei, who introduced him to Eastern penmanship which influenced his study of Arab and Persian writing. He also converted to Baha’I, a religion that emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind. All of these aspects of his life worked together to help him develop his unique abstract style. His style of abstractionism has been described as “white writing,” which is white or light-colored calligraphic symbols achieved through thousands of small interwoven brush strokes on an abstract background. This is seen in his piece below titled “Canticle.”
Canticle
LikeLike
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) was known as a “second generation” abstract expressionist painter after being influenced by other, similar artists such as Franz Kline. Mitchell was born in Chicago and attended Smith College and later The Art Institute of Chicago where she earned her masters. She earned a scholarship to travel across Europe and study the artwork of the classics. In her early years, Mitchell was influenced by the free movement and brushstrokes of Vincent van Gogh, even painting a response piece to one of his paintings where she sensed his depression.
Joan Mitchell’s artwork is recognized by its massive size, often covering multiple panels. Her style was bold, gestural and rythmic, inspired by nature and poetry. Rather than painting from and attempting to recreate real life, Mitchell attempted to convey emotions in her artwork through her gesture. In May 2014, a painting by Mitchell sold at Christie’s in New York for $11,925,000, making her the most expensive female artist at auction.
“No Birds,” Joan’s response piece to Van Gogh’s “Wheatfield with Crows”
LikeLike
Artist: William de Kooning
William de Kooning was one of the main founders of Abstract Expressionism, and although he coined the term itself, he was very frustrated by “naming” art movements. Most of his works feature the use of “action painting” – where figures are loosely unfinished and in processes of often violent movement. His style combined elements of Cubism, Expressionism, and Surrealism. He is considered an equal to the likes of Jackson Pollock, although many of his influences were akin to the masters like Rembrandt. He had an alcohol-fueled, passionate relationship with one of his apprentices, Elaine Fried. Despite extramarital affairs on both sides and a divorce, the two eventually reunited until de Kooning’s death in 1979. His art work was able to master blending both the figure and the ground. He never fully abandoned the power of depicting the human figure in his work.
Two Figures in a Landscape
LikeLike
Artist – Perle Fine
Perle Fine was a Boston native born in 1905. Her studies first began at the Boston Practical School of Art. She felt that her artistic needs were not being met and moved to NYC. Here Fine was able to jumpstart her art career and life at Grand Central School of Art. Fine first began in illustrations and in 1930 won her first prize. At Grand Central, Perle met Maurice Berezov, fellow art student and future husband. Curious about art outside of illustration, Fine enrolled at Art Students League under the guidance of Kimon Nicolaides. Here she developed techniques in action drawing and 3D. She worked along side Hans Hofmann and his art school during this time. During the 1940’s Fine was associated with several art organizations and had several shows in New York and abroad. In the late 40’s and early 50’s Perle began to expand her mediums to collage, etching, oils and others. She was a sole female abstract expressionist artist among many males. However, she was able to build relationships with artists such as Franz Kline and William Baziotes. In 1960s, Fine taught at Hofstra University. America was able to see her artwork span for 50 years. Perle was very active in the art scene until her passing in 1988. Her creativity allowed her the ability to rework several abstract styles and ideas. However, her talent kept her work harmonious by having rhythmic variations and nuances of color, line, shape and space over the different segments of her artist career.
LikeLike
Artist: Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman was an abstract expressionist painter born in New York in 1905 and died in 1970. He is most well-known for his trademark “zips” that are present in much of his work. This feature set him apart from many other abstract expressionist painters who were more involved in gestural and expressive paintings. He moved away from representing traditional foreground/background relationships in his paintings. This resulted in his work getting little attention, even from his friends, until much later in his artistic career. Newman believed that modern art had rendered traditional artistic styles as invalid, and a famous quote from him regarding this is: “old standards of beauty were irrelevant: the sublime was all that was appropriate – an experience of enormity which might lift modern humanity out of its torpor.” Below is a picture of his work entitled “Onement I” painted in 1948.
LikeLike