Abstract Expressionism and Pop art

Abstract Expressionism

An American post-WWII movement that emphasized abstraction, emotional intensity, and the act of painting itself, rejecting representation and traditional composition.

Political & economic context

• After World War II, New York replaces Paris as art capital

• Linked to ideas of individualism and artistic freedom

Two main approaches

Colour Field Painting

• Large canvases

• Flat areas of color

• Emotion through color, not gesture

Action Painting

• Emphasis on process and movement

• Gesture, speed, physical engagement

• Canvas as an “arena of action”

Colour Field Painting

Barnett Newman – Vir Heroicus Sublimis (1950–51)

• Monumental red canvas

• Sublime, spiritual experience

• Viewer confronted by scale

Newman – Onement I (1948)

• Creation through division

• Minimal but symbolic

• Foundations of Color Field painting

Mark Rothko – No. 3 / No. 13 (1949)

• Soft edges, layered paint

• Emotional and contemplative

• Painting as psychological space

Action Painting

Kline – White Forms (1952)

• Contrast and tension

• Dynamic composition

• Brushstroke as subject

Pollock – One: Number 31, 1950

• Full body movement

• Drip and pour technique

• Painting as process

• Peak of Action Painting

Second Generation Abstract Expressionism

Helen Frankenthaler – The Bay (1963)

• Soak-stain technique

• Thinned paint on raw canvas

• Bridge to Color Field painting

Pop Art

A movement that embraced mass culture, consumer goods, advertising, and celebrity, reacting against Abstract Expressionism’s seriousness and individuality.

• Flat, graphic style

• Irony and detachment

• Imagery from popular culture

Pop Art vs Abstract Expressionism

• Abstract Expressionism: emotional, gestural, personal

• Pop Art: impersonal, repetitive, commercial imagery

Early Pop Art

Richard Hamilton – Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? (1956)

• Collage of consumer culture

• Advertising imagery

• Irony and critique

• Birth of Pop Art

American Pop Art

Andy Warhol – 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans

• Clearest definition of Pop Art

• Mass production, consumer culture, everyday objects

• Serial repetition + no visible “artist’s hand”

• Perfect contrast with Abstract Expressionism

Andy Warhol – Marilyn Diptych (1962)

• Repetition + silkscreen technique

• Color vs black-and-white = fame vs death

• Media saturation & loss of individuality

Roy Lichtenstein – Drowning Girl (1963)

• Comic-book imagery = mass media

• Benday dots & mechanical look

• Irony: dramatic emotion but impersonal style