Abstract expressionism took shape in New York in the 1940-1950s and quickly turned into one of the most powerful and influential movements in the history of contemporary art. Building on the achievements of European avant-garde art, a group of artists known as “Abstract Expressionists” (or “New York School”) developed a new abstraction that was both simple and complex.
Among the artists included in the movement are Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollack, Barnett Newman, Clifford Still, Franz Kline, Lee Krasner, Robert Motherwell, William Baziotis, Barnett Newman, Adolph Gottlieb, Richard Puzett-Dart. Although some of the key figures of abstract expressionism were emigrants, among them Mark Rothko, Hans Hoffmann, Arshile Gorky, this was the first definitively American movement in art. New York became the new capital of artistic innovation for many years, "taking" from Paris the mantle of the leader of contemporary art. In New York, the visual language was created that very soon reached the most remote corners of the planet.
The name "abstract expressionism" is derived from a combination of the emotional intensity characteristic of German expressionism with the "antiform" theories of European abstract schools (futurism, syncretic cubism).
Additionally, it is described as an anarchist, very special movement, even with some sense of nihilism. In practice, the term is applicable to any number of artists who worked in New York in completely different styles, none of which, in any way, can be described as classical abstractionism or expressionism.
The paintings of these artists, who created large-scale works to a greater extent, are not related to generally accepted conventions both in technique and thematically. It is a reflection of their individual subconscious, so they tried to find universal internal sources. Spontaneity and improvisation were the most important factors in the creative process. Although the works of abstract expressionists “resist” any stylistic classification, they can be combined around two main preferences: emphasis on a dynamic and energetic gesture; thinking, focused on open color areas. In any case, images are, above all, abstractions. Even when the images are based on visual realities, abstract expressionists prefer a method “immersed in their thoughts”.
Abstract expressionism developed in the context of diverse, overlapping sources. Many artists took their first steps back in the early 1930s. The Great Depression stimulated the emergence of two artistic movements: Regionalism and Sociorealism. But none of them satisfied these artists in their search for artistic content with a strong meaning, which led to thoughts of social responsibility, but at the same time free from provincialism and an obvious political context. This is one of the many paradoxes of movement, the roots of which lie in the figurative painting of the 1930s. Almost all abstract expressionists were "minted" on the experience of the Great Depression, their art was ripening under the influence of Regionalism and Socialorealism. Also paved the way for the most advanced American art, the impact and assimilation of European modernism. In those years, many exhibitions of European avant-garde art were organized in New York, in addition, there were courses teaching modernism. The most influential teacher of contemporary art in the United States was Hans Hoffmann, who moved from Germany forever to the United States in 1932.
The crisis of the First World War and its consequences are key to understanding the problems of the work of abstract expressionists. Young artists, worried about the dark side of humanity, anxiously perceived illogical acts and the vulnerability of people, considered it their duty to express these problems in art, but in its new content.
Direct contacts with European artists increased during World War II, which led many, including Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Andre Masson, Andre Breton, Pete Mondrian, Fernand Leger, to seek refuge in the United States. Surrealists, with their emphasis on identifying the “subconscious,” have opened up new possibilities. One surrealistic method for liberating oneself from the “conscious” is psychic automatism, in which an automatic gesture and improvisation receive freedom of action.
Initially, abstract expressionists, in search of a timeless and dramatic theme, turn to myths and archaic art for inspiration. Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollack, Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieb, Barnett Newman, William Baziotis sought inspiration in ancient or primitive cultures for their expressive means. The artists' early works show pictographic and biomorphic elements transformed into individual codes. Jungian psychology turned out to be intriguing as well, with its assertion of the "collective unconscious." Direct expression was of paramount importance, and was best achieved without prior thought (planning).
At the stage of mature abstract expressionism, in 1947, Jackson Pollock created a unique technique - dripping or spraying (on a huge canvas, laid directly on the floor, he sprayed paint from brushes).
Willem de Kooning also developed his own technique of gestural style - frantic, pasty “strokes-strokes” in the creation of so-called “figurative abstractions”.
Lee Krasner and Franz Kline were equally busy organizing the art of dynamic gesture, in which every piece of the picture was filled (Lee Krasner called the style "hieroglyphic" painting).
For abstract expressionists, the value of the work was the ease of expression. Painting was the discovery of the true identity of the artist. And the artist’s gesture or “signature” is evidence of the creation process itself.
Another way in the era of mature abstract expressionism lay in the search for expressive possibilities of color. Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman created the art of large formats of color planes - “a simple expression of complex thoughts,” according to Mark Rothko.
The continuing interest in abstract expressionism reflects the limitless desire of his practitioners to interact with the key intellectual trends of his time, including existentialism and Jung’s psychology (it is worth recalling, which had an important influence on expressionism in architecture at the stage of its formation). Although existentialism did not have a decisive influence on abstract expressionists, it contributed to the rhetoric of anxiety and alienation that pervaded a comprehensive discussion of the issue.
For many art historians and art historians, the successes of abstract expressionists seem to be the culmination of a modernist movement that began almost a century earlier.
Abstract expressionism continues to occupy a prominent place not only in books on the history of art and in museum collections, but also in the public mind. Such a long-term attractiveness of it, no doubt, is a testament to profound achievements.