Abstract Expressionism

• 1940s to 1960s
• World’s art centre moves to New York after WWII
• Action painting: Emphasizing shape, colour, line without recognizable shape/matter, and expressive (emotions more than design or form)
• ==Artists:== de Kooning, Kline, Pollock

<<de Kooning:<<

• Used to be a house painter (uses large brushes and violent strokes)
• Sneaks in letters of the alphabet into his paintings
• Action painting - expressive + stabbing paint with no preliminary sketches
• Ex. lots of paint strokes and smudges (woman)

<<Pollock:<<

• “Jack the Dripper”
• Uses shallow depth in his paintings through overlapping lines of different values and colour
• The interchange between the will of the paint and the inner forces of the artist
• Uses action painting
• Places canvas on the floor
• Uses slopping/dripping/spilling paint onto the canvas
• Ex. Paint drips and swirls

<<Kline:<<

• Paints in large house paint brushes (bold black and white)
  • Vigorous slashing - tack unstretched canvas to floor or wall
• Black captures the energy of the city and darker/thicker lines created a sense of rhythm
  • Project images of the city and contemporary life
• A nod to New York’s architecture
• Ex. Black paint strokes