Abstract Expressionism was the first original American art 1e human tragedies of the Great Depression and World War I, reaching maturity in the early yours of the Cold War. Faced with the possibility of the denial Jp icedom of expression and the extinction of the human race, artists felt compelled to assert their individuality. movement growing out of th satiate Fone Kine, 1988°60, on County Mascurm of Art. black-and-white: later he used colgur The spontaneity is lusory each gesture” was painted slowly and Geliveraely ‘grew out of Surrealism but was never a coherent mavement and it had no programme. Styles were inolly personal. New York now replaced Paris as the capital of artistic creatwty. Arong ts leaders, Jackson Pollack éripped and flung paint onto his Giant canvases, arn between the desire to allow chance to determine how it fell and to contol the final result. Mark Rothko's immense areas of ‘subtly modulated colour hag precise, meditative ‘endis n mind Sometimes energized forms such as Pollock's} were intended to be anear documentary account ofthe artist's struggle to create in hs or her direct encounter with the canvas. Other artists aimed to {2Man on the Dunes Willer de Kooning. 197%, oils, prwate colection. Part of the artist's passionate utpourings during the 1970s when his painting became an extreme frenzy of bold colours and pain layering smeared by newspapers. Sey Abstract Expressionism express the deepest and most univers oi emotions and ansicties in dictortes ig images, oF fields of pure. 4 tor contrasting colour. Yel as with musi uty all Abstract Expressionist works intuitively rather than understx What to look for Hervicimperatives dominate Abstr Expressionism, Itisalternately bold and asce contemplative and questioning. is impact in large measure from scale, \arge canvas, ‘portable murals” - that overwhelm an ‘seeming to draw the spectator into wha’ like a parallel universe. Texture is imports ‘Cyfford Sills thick, almost re! Cc of colour, or Rothko's layers of thinly ap colour. Rothko, however, spoke for them When he said“. if you are moved only by colour relationships, you miss the point. | interested only in exploring basic human KEY EVENTS 3943 Rothko, Stil, and Adolph Gorter the basic goals oftheir artin a ines The Now York Times 1966 New Yorker art critic Rober Coats the term “Abstract Expressionism Pollock develops new style of ‘Surrealist-influenced “automat painting, dripping paint onto huge a5 aid on the ground 1967}) TECHNIQUESLinear Construction in Space No. 1 1944-45, height land nylon thread. University of Ca Kettles Yard. Gabo treated form through the description of space rather than mass. EZBirth ofthe Universe Antoine Pevsner, 1923. 75 x 105 cm (29 ia 41 sin), oft on canvas, Paris: Musée National dart Moderne. Pevsner’ later work was characterized by spiralling three dimensional forms. NaumGabo p © 1890-1977 7 RUSSIAN 4 SCULPTURE Gabo of Russian ‘Aiso known as Naum Neemia Pevsni was a peripatetic, self-taught pion Constructivism. He lived in Russia, Germany, Paris, London, and the US. He worked closely with his ‘elder brother, Antoine Pevsner. His 3-D work ‘emphasizes modern materials (such as Plexiglas}, space, light, and kinetic movement. Gabo expressed sophisticated aesthetic values plus social ideals ~ a vision of a transcendental order. KEY WORKS: Head No. 2, 1916 (London: Tate Collection}; Construction in Space witha Crystalline Centre, 1938-40 [Museum of London} | fora steel and glass CConstructiviem was a fvant-garde movere Joined by Rodchenko and broth Pevsner and Naum Gabo, develop rchitectural art to reflect the modern Ghey were concerned wih abstraction, s few materials, 3-D form, and social reform Beviet disapproval meant the group memb dispersed across Europe, inven: tarchitecture and decoration, 21 fand De Stil movernents Model of the ‘Monument to the ‘Third Internationat Tatlin's unrealized visionary project was | together: Antoine Pevsner © 1886-1962 PB RUSSIAN/FRENCH 4 OILS; MIXED MEDIA; SCULPTURE Pevsner was the leading exponent of Rus avant-garde, non-objectve art, and a creato 2-D and 3-D pieces. He was fascinated b technology and engineering, He made con of modern materials such as Perspex, 9 iron, Note his mastery ofthe dynamics of 59 surfaces, the way he loves to use projec space and expresses the poetry of technola especialy flight. Pevsner left Russia [tooet his brother Naurn Gabo) in 1921 and settlec in 1923. He died a much-respec KEY WORKS: Construction in Space, 1? Switzerland: Kunstmuseum|; Anchored © {New York: Guggenheim Museum. He was theoretical! Lin his lifetime, but are the abstra: e simple eleme irs only, horizo" as to find and exp but his imeg of 20th-centurySpsge American financial aid a Beeaainroush the Marshall Plan, launched ip mick started Europe's war-ravaged Seemies, and thereafter America’s ismuiem and its tempting vi: penne c0eet. drove developments round the world. Even the economies ipf Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe Grew. The European Economic Community which started idealistically in 1957, soon slipped into strategies for ofa Isecuring comfortable prosperity father than achieving any great ideal The Avant-Garde Avant-Garde art, with its strong ideological and moral agenda, flourished most fruitfully where there was an urgent desire for a change of the existing tyrannical or unstable status quo, or a tradition of radical political action. France, Russia, Gichryster Building, New York This landmark Art Deco skyscraper, wes conceived in prosperity, but opened six months after the Wall Street Crash 1955 Warsaw | ‘surrender ends war Pact established | omic bomb dropped ‘Japanese surrender 11967 New York takes over from Paris 2s the capital of the artistic avant-garde wut. —— Puc. Bop. Egunced’ soviet postcard from World War I Hitler suffers in the from a ha s. All count d the followed by Italy and Spain. In Britain a al US, where freedom of speech and pol stability was taken for granted, early Modern in ‘Art was initially of less interest. How refugees from Europe propaganda message: the 1930s and 194 took their avant-garde ideas to the US in warm particular, where they received welcome. But then, as memories of the hardships of the Great Depression and war began to recede, and the free and easy lifestyle offered by consumer society seduced the creative imagination, their innovative art soon fell prey to commercial exploitation. J 1969 US succeeds in landing men on | the moon 1 1962.Andy Warhols Twenty-five Colored Maris, New York | speed soa | 1967 Year of “Flower Power” 957 Treaty | sr Rome asuzcovan | and growing protests against | ofRemeg Lmeniecrsis | arinvieram a SAPS