We were told that women were on the peripheries of the artistic movement, while in fact they were driving it forward, energetically engaging in this radical pictorial language.
Abstract Expressionism
Posted inFilm
The Life of Clyfford Still, the Most “Irascible” Abstract Expressionist
The documentary Lifeline recounts Still’s life, career, and legacy — and how they were shaped by his cantankerous temperament.
Posted inArt
The Cosmological Musings of Michael West, an American Abstract Expressionist
The artist, born Corinne Michelle West, is among the forgotten women of the postwar era, who rarely adhered to one style.
Posted inArt
Grace Hartigan and Helene Herzbrun, Two Unorthodox Abstract Expressionists
Part of the movement’s second generation, the artists embraced personal sentiment in their references to nature and popular culture, resulting in abstractions that are simultaneously experiential and devotional.
Posted inArt
“The Supreme Gift … Is Scale”: Robert Motherwell’s Monumental Paintings
The first exhibition devoted exclusively to the Abstract Expressionist’s vast, mural-sized works is on view at Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York.
Posted inArt
The Met’s Wrong Turn on Revisionism
When an exhibition is as puzzling as this one, it’s useful to step aside and reflect.
Posted inArt
“We Live in a Nuthouse!”: Zero Mostel on Art, Politics and America
Mostel perceives that drip paintings can express the scrambled feeling in your mind when you hear the federal government say that you can survive a nuclear war.
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The Common Threads Between Female Quilters and Abstract Expressionists
At one time or other these women’s craft was either considered lowbrow or was measured against the work of male contemporaries.
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How Asian-American Artists Made a Mark on Abstract Expressionism
Asian-American artists engaged deeply and creatively with Abstract Expressionism, counter to historical views of the movement as a New York monolith.
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How Freedom Was Aestheticized During the Cold War
The House of World Cultures’ exhibition tells the story of the Congress for Cultural Freedom’s use of an aesthetic of freedom, and contextualizes the lasting legacy of modernism within the geopolitical power struggles of the Cold War.
Posted inArt
Two Cy Twombly Exhibitions Marry Myth and Sensual Abstraction
By a playful amalgam of semiotics with scatology, Twombly redevised history painting into palimpsest poop.
Posted inArt
The Second Generation Abstract Expressionist Ed Clark
Ed Clark’s approach is simple and straightforward, and he has not altered it much over the years. I don’t think he needs to.