Editing Abstract expressionism (section)

== Style ==
An important predecessor is [[Surrealism]], with its emphasis on spontaneous, [[Surrealist automatism|automatic]], or subconscious creation. [[Jackson Pollock]]'s dripping paint onto a canvas laid on the floor is a technique that has its roots in the work of [[André Masson]], [[Max Ernst]], and [[David Alfaro Siqueiros]]. The newer research tends to put the exile-surrealist [[Wolfgang Paalen]] in the position of the artist and theoretician who fostered the theory of the viewer-dependent possibility space through his paintings and his magazine ''[[DYN (magazine)|DYN]]''. Paalen considered ideas of [[quantum mechanics]], as well as idiosyncratic interpretations of the totemic vision and the spatial structure of native-Indian painting from [[British Columbia]] and prepared the ground for the new spatial vision of the young American abstracts. His long essay ''Totem Art'' (1943) had considerable influence on such artists as [[Martha Graham]], [[Isamu Noguchi]], [[Jackson Pollock|Pollock]], [[Mark Rothko]] and [[Barnett Newman]].<ref>Andreas Neufert, ''Auf Liebe und Tod, Das Leben des Surrealisten Wolfgang Paalen'', Berlin (Parthas) 2015, S. 494ff.</ref> Around 1944 Barnett Newman tried to explain America's newest art movement and included a list of "the men in the new movement". Paalen is mentioned twice; other artists mentioned are Gottlieb, Rothko, Pollock, Hofmann, Baziotes, [[Arshile Gorky|Gorky]] and others.  [[Robert Motherwell]] is mentioned with a question mark.<ref>Barnett Newman Foundation, archive 18/103</ref> Another important early manifestation of what came to be abstract expressionism is the work of American Northwest artist [[Mark Tobey]], especially his "white writing" canvases, which, though generally not large in scale, anticipate the [[all-over painting|"all-over"]] look of Pollock's drip paintings.

The movement's name is derived from the combination of the emotional intensity and [[self-denial]] of the German [[expressionism|Expressionists]] with the anti-figurative aesthetic of the European abstract schools such as [[Futurism (art)|Futurism]], the [[Bauhaus]], and Synthetic [[Cubism]]. Additionally, it has an image of being rebellious, anarchic, highly idiosyncratic and, some feel, nihilistic.<ref name="Shapiro 2000 p. 189-190">Shapiro, David/Cecile (2000), "Abstract Expressionism: The politics of apolitical painting." pp. 189–190 In: Frascina, Francis (2000–1): ''Pollock and After: The Critical Debate''. 2nd ed. London: Routledge</ref> In practice, the term is applied to any number of artists working (mostly) in New York who had quite different styles, and even to work that is neither especially abstract nor expressionist. California abstract expressionist [[Jay Meuser]], who typically painted in the non-objective style, wrote about his painting ''Mare Nostrum'', "It is far better to capture the glorious spirit of the sea than to paint all of its tiny ripples." Pollock's energetic "[[action painting]]s", with their "busy" feel, are different, both technically and aesthetically, from the violent and grotesque ''Women'' series of [[Willem de Kooning]]'s [[Figurative art|figurative paintings]] and the rectangles of color in Rothko's [[Color Field]] paintings (which are not what would usually be called expressionist, and which Rothko denied were abstract). Yet all four artists are classified as abstract expressionists.

Abstract expressionism has many stylistic similarities to the Russian artists of the early 20th century such as [[Wassily Kandinsky]]. Although it is true that spontaneity or the impression of spontaneity characterized many of the abstract expressionists' works, most of these paintings involved careful planning, especially since their large size demanded it. With artists such as [[Paul Klee]], Kandinsky, [[Emma Kunz]], and later on Rothko, Newman, and [[Agnes Martin]], abstract art clearly implied expression of ideas concerning the spiritual, the unconscious, and the mind.<ref>Catherine de Zegher and Hendel Teicher (eds.). ''3 X Abstraction''. NY: The Drawing Center and /New Haven: Yale University Press. 2005.</ref>[[File:SMITH CUBI VI.JPG|thumb|upright|[[David Smith (sculptor)|David Smith]],'' [[Cubi]] VI'' (1963), [[Israel Museum]], [[Jerusalem]]. David Smith was one of the most influential American sculptors of the 20th century.]]

Why this style gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s is a matter of debate. American [[social realism]] had been the mainstream in the 1930s. It had been influenced not only by the [[Great Depression]], but also by the [[Mexican muralism|Mexican muralists]] such as [[David Alfaro Siqueiros]] and [[Diego Rivera]]. The political climate after World War II did not long tolerate the social protests of these painters. Abstract expressionism arose during the war and began to be showcased during the early forties at galleries in New York such as [[The Art of This Century Gallery]]. The post-war [[McCarthy era]] was a time of artistic [[censorship]] in the United States, but if the subject matter were totally [[abstract art|abstract]] then it would be seen as apolitical, and therefore safe. Or if the art was political, the message was largely for the insiders.<ref>Serge Guilbaut. ''How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art'', University of Chicago Press, 1983.</ref>

While the movement is closely associated with painting, [[Collage|collagist]] [[Anne Ryan (artist)|Anne Ryan]] and certain sculptors in particular were also integral to abstract expressionism.<ref>Marika Herskovic, [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/50253062&tab=holdings ''Americancan Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s An Illustrated Survey,''] (New York School Press, 2003.) {{ISBN|0-9677994-1-4}} pp12–13</ref> [[David Smith (sculptor)|David Smith]], and his wife [[Dorothy Dehner]], [[Herbert Ferber]], [[Isamu Noguchi]], [[Ibram Lassaw]], [[Theodore Roszak (artist)|Theodore Roszak]], [[Phillip Pavia]], [[Mary Callery]], Richard Stankiewicz, [[Louise Bourgeois]], and [[Louise Nevelson]] in particular were some of the sculptors considered as being important members of the movement. In addition, the artists [[David Hare (artist)|David Hare]], [[John Chamberlain (sculptor)|John Chamberlain]], [[James Rosati]], [[Mark di Suvero]], and sculptors [[Richard Lippold]], Raoul Hague, [[George Rickey]], [[Reuben Nakian]], and even [[Tony Smith (sculptor)|Tony Smith]], [[Seymour Lipton]], [[Joseph Cornell]], and several others<ref name="Marika Herskovic 2000. p.11-12">Marika Herskovic, [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/50666793&tab=holdings ''New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists''] (New York School Press, 2000.) {{ISBN|0-9677994-0-6}} p.11–12</ref> were integral parts of the abstract expressionist movement. Many of the sculptors listed participated in the [[Ninth Street Show]],<ref name="Marika Herskovic 2000. p.11-12" /> a famous exhibition curated by [[Leo Castelli]] on East Ninth Street in New York City in 1951. Besides the painters and sculptors of the period the [[New York School (art)|New York School]] of abstract expressionism also generated a number of supportive poets, including [[Frank O'Hara]] and photographers such as [[Aaron Siskind]] and [[Fred McDarrah]], (whose book ''The Artist's World in Pictures'' documented the New York School during the 1950s), and filmmakers—notably [[Robert Frank]]—as well.

Although the abstract expressionist school spread quickly throughout the United States, the epicenters of this style were New York City and the [[San Francisco Bay area]] of [[California]].