Art

This weekend, go to the website (look for the link to the “Art” page under “Contemporary American Culture”). I have attached several Abstract Expressionism Art pieces from the 1950s. Thinking about our discussion today about the Beats use of the past foundations of their art and the present influences in order to create something that explored new influences, choose two pieces to examine more fully. For each piece, write the title and artist on a piece of standard size notebook paper, then describe what you see. Then, look for aspects of the art that relate to what you’ve seen in older more traditional works (titles might help here, so will your imagination – think about how they are using elements and principles of art – like color, contrast, line, shape, balance, etc. Think about whether you can see the semblance of a person- like portraiture – or hints of a landscape, etc.), influences from just before their time (think about what we’ve been reading and talking about in terms of America after the war) and/ or what they might be expressing that’s new. Deal with the other piece in the same way on the other side. Try to fill most of each side of the paper – no more than one side per piece.