Abstract Expressionism
(AE) |
Introduction |
| When: |
1940s - 1950s |
| Where: |
New York, USA |
| What: |
In the 1940s - WW2 - Artists (including many Dadaists
and Surrealists moved to NY) - The centre of art shifted from
Europe to New York. |
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The focus of art also shifted from the art product
to the art process, due to the influence of Marcel Duchamp. |
| Influenced by: |
Dada & Surrealism - Automatism (creativity
released from the unconscious minds) |
| Aims: |
To express feelings and emotions. |
| How: |
applied paint rapidly, |
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huge canvases, |
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painting gesturally, non-geometrically, |
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sometimes applying paint with large brushes, (Colour
Field) |
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sometimes dripping or even throwing it onto canvas.
(Action Painting) |
| Who: |
Pollock, Rothko,
De Kooning, Clyfford Still, Franz Kline and Barnett Newman. |
| Action Painting: |
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William De Kooning
"Seated Woman" 1952 |
Franz Kline
"New York New York" 1953 |
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Clyfford Still
"1954" |
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| Colour Field: |
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Barnett Newman
"Day One" 1951 |
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Pop Art |
| When: |
USA |
| What: |
Pop Art: it's mass-produced, it is expendable,
it is low-cost, glamorous, witty and encourages big bucks, bright
lights and big celebrities! |
| When: |
1950s-60s |
| What: |
It finds Abstract Expressionism too pretentious
and over intense. |
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Pop Art brought back the materials of daily life
into art – comics, television, magazines and in short
popular culture. |
| How: |
In Pop Art, the epic was replaced with the everyday. |
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The mass-produced awarded the same significance
as the unique. |
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The gap between “high art” and “low
art” was bridged. |
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Commercial methods of art making: printing. |
| Who: |
Jasper Johns, Richard Hamilton, Andy
Warhol, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein,
Claes Oldenburg etc. |
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| Jasper Johns (1930-97) |
"Flag" 1954-5 |
The art scene was overwhelmed by Abstract Expressionism
and its heroism and mysticism.
In 1950s, Jasper Johns took notice of the object itself, setting
his scenes with icons of the familiar and the everyday. |
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"Painted Bronze" 1960 |
His work stunned the art world at that time as
such mundane things are not considered as fit to be art.
Debate of ‘High’ vs ‘Low’ Art. |
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"0 Through 9" 1961 |
Johns was hailed as the father of Pop Art. |
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| Richard Hamilton (1922-) |
“Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different,
so appealing?” 1956 |
Pop Art was actually started in the 1950s in England
by Richard Hamilton and David Hockney.
Hamilton's collage of the modern city life epitomizes the essence
of Pop Art. Images from newspapers, magazines and catalogues
were assembled to form the image of contemporary life. |
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| David Hockney (1937-) |
“A Bigger Splash” 1967 |
Often his work has a strong homo-erotic content.
Used photography as source for most of his work.
In “A Bigger Splash”, there is no visible human
presence here, just that lonely, empty chair and a bare, almost
frozen world.
Yet that wild white splash can only come from another human. |
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"Pool with 2 Figures" 1971 |
Pearblossom Hwy., 11-18 April 1986, No. 2
April 18, 1986 (Consists of 750 photographs) |
A new approach to photography captured his interest
in 1981.
Hockney combined multiple views of a single scene in order to
explore the way people shift their gaze in many directions as
they observe something - just like the Cubists and the Futurist.
Wants to emphasize numerous amount of detail that makes up a
scene. |
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| Robert Rauschenberg (1925-) |
"Retroactive" 1964 |
Rauschenberg transferred prints of familiar
images, such as JFK or baseball games, to canvases and overlapped
them with painted brushstrokes.
Using this new method he found he could make a commentary
on contemporary society using the very images that helped
to create that society. |
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| Roy Lichtenstein (1923-97) |
"Whaam!" 1963 |
In 1961, Lichtenstein began to make paintings
consisting exclusively of comic-strip figures, and introduced
his Benday-dot grounds, lettering, and balloons; he also started
cropping images from advertisements. |
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"Bananas and Grapefruits No1" 1972 |
From 1964 and into the next decade, he successively
depicted
- stylized landscapes,
- consumer-product packaging,
- adaptations of paintings by famous artists,
- geometric elements from Art Deco design (in the Modern series),
- parodies of the Abstract Expressionists’ style (in the
Brushstrokes series), and
- explosions. |
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"Yellow Brushstroke" |
They all underlined the contradictions of representing
three dimensions on a flat surface. |
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| Claes Oldenburg 1929- |
"Floor Burger" 1962 |
Make ‘soft sculptures’and collaborated
with female artist Coosje van Bruggen on a series of huge public
sculptures. |
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"Soft Telephone" 1963 |
Oldenburg appropriates ordinary objects--electric
plugs, hamburgers, umbrellas, typewriter erasers, ice cream
and cake--and through scale, situation, and a fastidious attention
to materials, brings the commonplace to a pitch of surreal,
ridiculous poetry. |
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"Spoonbridge & Cherry" 1988 |
Defying the laws of nature he makes hard matter
soft, small things gigantic and common objects magical. |
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| Andy Warhol (1930-87) |
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