Editing Abstract expressionism (section)

{{Short description|American post–World War II art movement}}
{{Distinguish|Abstract art|Abstract impressionism|Expressionism}}
{{Infobox art movement|name=Abstract expressionism|country=United States, specifically New York City|majorfigures=[[Clyfford Still]], [[Jackson Pollock]], [[Willem de Kooning]], [[Arshile Gorky]], [[Mark Rothko]], [[Lee Krasner]], [[Robert Motherwell]], [[Franz Kline]], [[Adolph Gottlieb]], [[David Smith (sculptor)|David Smith]], [[Hans Hofmann]], [[Joan Mitchell]], [[Elaine de Kooning]]|influences=[[Modernism]], [[Expressionism]] ([[Wassily Kandinsky]]), [[Surrealism]], [[Cubism]], [[Dada]]|yearsactive=Late 1940s–early 1960s}}

'''Abstract expressionism''' in the United States emerged as a distinct [[art movement]] in the [[aftermath of World War II]] and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American [[social realism]] of the 1930s influenced by the [[Great Depression]] and [[Mexican muralism|Mexican muralists]].<ref>The work of Mexican muralists would also influence the work of Jackson Pollock, a leading representative of the New York School and Abstract Expressionism.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Paul |first=Authors: Stella |title=Abstract Expressionism {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |language=en}}</ref> The term was first applied to American art in 1946 by the art critic [[Robert Coates (critic)|Robert Coates]]. Key figures in the [[New York School (art)|New York School]], which was the center of this movement, included such artists as [[Arshile Gorky]], [[Jackson Pollock]], [[Franz Kline]], [[Mark Rothko]], [[Norman Lewis (artist)|Norman Lewis]], [[Willem de Kooning]], [[Adolph Gottlieb]], [[Clyfford Still]], [[Robert Motherwell]], [[Theodoros Stamos]], and [[Lee Krasner]] among others.

The movement was not limited to painting but included influential collagists and sculptors, such as [[David Smith (sculptor)|David Smith]], [[Louise Nevelson]], and others. Abstract expressionism was notably influenced by the spontaneous and [[subconscious]] creation methods of [[Surrealism|Surrealist]] artists like [[André Masson]] and [[Max Ernst]]. Artists associated with the movement combined the emotional intensity of [[Die Brücke|German Expressionism]] with the radical visual vocabularies of European [[avant-garde]] schools like [[Futurism]], the [[Bauhaus]], and [[Cubism|Synthetic Cubism]].

Abstract expressionism was seen as rebellious and idiosyncratic, encompassing various artistic styles. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put [[New York City]] at the center of the Western [[art world]], a role formerly filled by [[Art in Paris|Paris]]. Contemporary art critics played a significant role in its development. Critics like [[Clement Greenberg]] and [[Harold Rosenberg]] promoted the work of artists associated with abstract expressionism, in particular Jackson Pollock, through their writing and collecting. Rosenberg's concept of the canvas as an "arena in which to act" was pivotal in defining the approach of [[Action painting|action painters]]. The cultural reign of abstract expressionism in the United States had diminished by the early 1960s, while the subsequent rejection of the abstract expressionist emphasis on individualism led to the development of such movements as [[Pop art]] and [[Minimalism]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rawlings |first=Kandice |date=2015-08-19 |others=Originally published by [[Oxford Art Online]] |title=The Impact of Abstract Expressionism |url=https://smarthistory.org/the-impact-of-abstract-expressionism/ |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=Smarthistory}}</ref> Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the influence of abstract expressionism can be seen in diverse movements in the U.S. and Europe, including [[Tachisme]] and [[Neo-expressionism]], among others.

The term "'''abstract expressionism'''" is believed to have first been used in Germany in 1919 in the magazine ''[[Der Sturm]]'' in reference to German Expressionism. [[Alfred Barr]] used this term in 1929 to describe works by [[Wassily Kandinsky]].<ref>Hess, Barbara; "Abstract Expressionism", 2005</ref> The term was used in the United States in 1946 by [[Robert Coates (critic)|Robert Coates]] in his review of 18 [[Hans Hofmann]] paintings.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coates |first=Robert |date=30 Mar 1946 |title=The Art Galleries |url=https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1946-03-30/flipbook/082/ |journal=The New Yorker |pages=83–84 |quote="...[Hans Hofmann] is certainly one of the most uncompromising representatives of what some people call the spatter-and-daub school of painting and I, more politely, have christened abstract Expressionism."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mullin |first=Lydia |date=Spring 2022 |title=Mythical Creatures and Radical Abstractions |url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/galleries/5468 |access-date=29 Jan 2025 |website=moma.org}}</ref>