Abstract expressionism

1940 and 1950


Abstract Expressionism it was not only developed to allow painters who filled their canvases with colour and abstract forms, but to allow painters to attack their canvases with vigorous gestural expressionism. 

When artists did expressionism art they painted expressions of the self, influenced by the art movement surrealism because of mining the unconscious. The purpose of Abstract expressionism is the understanding of painting itself as a struggle between self-expressionism and the chaos of the subconscious. (Abstract Expressionism Movement, Artists And Major Works). A non-representative art movement.

Leading abstract painters


Jackson Pollock (1912-56), his wife Lee Krasner (1908-84), Franz Kline(1910-62), Robert Motherwell (1915-91), Willem De Kooning (1904-97), Mark Rothko (1903-70), Clyfford Still (1904-80), Barnett Newman (1905-70), Josef Albers (1888-1976), Philip Guston (1913-80), Adolph Gottlieb(1903-74), and William Baziotes (1912-63). Second generation painters included Sam Francis (1923-94).

The term Abstract expressionism was initially coined in Europe to describe works by German Expressionist painters only in 1946 was it applied to American art. (Abstract Expressionism: History, Characteristics)

Images of Abstract Expressionism



Figure 1: Willem de Kooning, Woman II, 1952, Oil on canvas




Abstract Expressionism has different ways in which art is done partaking in both technique and quality of expression, despite this Abstract Expressionists share several broad characteristics, for example, they do paintings not done from the visible world.


They emphasize free, spontaneous, and personal emotional expression, and they exercise considerable freedom of technique, they use these methods to evoke expressive qualities e.g. sensuousness, dynamism, violence, mystery, lyricism. They display the abandonment of conventionally structured composition.



Figure 2: Franz Kline, New York, N.Y, 1953, Oil on canvas


The above paintings are done using the technique of action painting, which is characterized by the loose, rapid, dynamic or forceful handling of painting sweeping or slashing brushstrokes. They both have brush strokes that drip and pill in the direction of the canvas. (Abstract Expressionism | Art)




Figure 3: Jaeyeol Han, Passersby- Unmask, 2013, Oil on canvas




The painting above uses significant brush strokes to emphasise the expression that is being conveyed. Han’s paintings are crude and coarse. Under formal analysis, his portraits traverse the figurative and the abstract.

He uses his brushstrokes as a means to express his feelings and how he wants to convey his art for other people. (Jaeyeol Han | Saatchi Art)

Modern Abstract Expressionism is characterised by the way in which colour, brush strokes are used, and how each individual paints. 

Abstract Expressionism is all in its word, it is an art movement that allows the artist to express thier emotions in an abstract manner, and with the artworks that are included in the blog, simply show how that was done.



Bibliography

"Abstract Expressionism: History, Characteristics." Visual-arts-cork.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 19 Oct. 2017.

"Abstract Expressionism Movement, Artists And Major Works." The Art Story. N.p., 2017. Web. 19 Oct. 2017.


"Abstract Expressionism | Art." Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., 2017. Web. 19 Oct. 2017.

"Jaeyeol Han | Saatchi Art." Saatchi Art. N.p., 2017. Web. 19 Oct. 2017.

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