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NEW YORK ACTION PAINTING 1950′s
SOURCE: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Term applied to the work of American Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and, by extension, to the art of their followers at home and abroad during the 1950s. An alternative but slightly more general term is gestural painting; the other division within Abstract Expressionism was colour field painting.
The critic Harold Rosenberg defined action painting in an article, ‘The American Action Painters’ (1952), where he wrote: ‘At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act. … What was to go on canvas was not a picture but an event’. This proposition drew heavily, and perhaps crudely, upon ideas then current in intellectual circles, especially in the wake of Jean-Paul Sartre’s essay L’Existentialisme est un humanisme(Paris, 1946; Eng. trans., 1948), which claimed that ‘there is no reality except in action’. In the 1940s Herbert Ferber, Barnett Newman and others had already characterized their creative process in similar terms; Rosenberg was probably also inspired by photographs of Pollock at work (rather than the actual paintings) that emphasized his apparent psychological freedom and physical engagement with materials. ‘Action painting’ became a common critical term to describe styles marked by impulsive brushwork, visible pentiments and unstable or energetic composition (for illustration), which seemed to express the state of consciousness held by the artist in the heat of creation. Action painting thereby shared the spontaneity of Automatism. Although this implicit, direct synthesis of art and consciousness is questionable, the spontaneous methods associated with the concept were paralleled in European movements such as Tachism and Art informel.
David Anfam
From Grove Art Online
© 2009 Oxford University Press
James Brooks (1906 – 1992)
James Brooks, BERL, 1956
Oil on canvas, 62 x 66 inches
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Nicolas Carone (1917 – 2010)
Nicolas Carone (1917 – 2010)
Nicolas Carone, Untitled, 1957.
Oil on canvas, 60 x 74 inches.
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books including Nicolas Carone:
Books including Nicolas Carone:
Elaine de Kooning, Untitled, 1957
Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches
All rights reserved by the artist or her legal delegates.
Books including Elaine de Kooning
Books including Elaine de Kooning
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
Willem de Kooning, Untitled, 1955-56
Oil oncanvas, 69 1/2 x 79 1/4 inches
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books including Willem de Kooning
Books including Willem de Kooning
Perle Fine (1905 – 1988)
Perle Fine, Roaring Wind, 1958.
Oil collage on canvas with aluminum foil, 42 x 52 1/4 inches.
Books including Perle Fine
Books including Perle Fine
Michael Goldberg (1924 – 2007)
Michael Goldberg (1924 – 2007)
Michael Goldberg, Untitled, 1949.
Oil on canvas, 34 x 24 inches. Exhibited in the “9th St.” Show, 1951
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books including Michael Goldberg:
Books including Michael Goldberg:
Philip Guston (1913 – 1980)
Philip Guston (1913 – 1980)
Philip Guston, Dial I, 1956
Oil on canvas, 72 x 76 inches
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books including Phlip Guston
Hans Hofmann (1880 – 1966)
Hans Hofmann (1880 – 1966)
Hans Hofmann, Laburnum, 1954
Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 inches
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books including Hans Hofmann:
Books including Hans Hofmann:
Franz Kline (1910 – 1962)
Franz Kline (1910 – 1962)
Franz Kline, Chief, 1950
Oil on canvas, 58 3/8 x 6 feet
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books including Franz Kline:
Books including Franz Kline:
New York School Abstract Expressionists: Artists Choice by Artists
American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s: An Illustrated Survey
Albert Kotin (1907-1980)
Albert Kotin (1907-1980)
Albert Kotin, Westerly, 1957
Oil on canvas, 69 x 79 inches
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books including Albert Kotin:
Books including Albert Kotin:
Alfred Leslie (1927- )
Alfred Leslie (1927- )
Alfred Leslie, Big Green, Variation: Four Panel Green, 1957
Oil on canvas, overall: 146 x 139 5/8 inches
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books including Alfred Leslie:
Books including Alfred Leslie:
New York School Abstract Expressionists: Artists Choice by Artists
American Abstract and Figurative Expressionism: Style is Timely Art is Timeless
Conrad Marca-Relli (1913-2000)
Conrad Marca-Relli (1913-2000)
Conrad Marca-Relli, Untitled, 1958
Oil on canvascollage on canvas, 38 x 47 1/2 inches
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books on Conrad Marc-Relli:
Books on Conrad Marc-Relli:
Joan Mitchell (1926 – 1992)
Joan Mitchell (1926 – 1992)
Joan Mitchell, Lady Bug, 1957
Oil on canvas, 6′ 57/8 x 9′ inches
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
Books including Joan Mitchell:
Books including Joan Mitchell:
New York School Abstract Expressionists: Artists Choice by Artists
American Abstract and Figurative Expressionism: Style is Timely Art is Timeless
Jackson Pollock (1912 – 1956)
Jackson Pollock (1912 – 1956)
Jackson Pollock, Number 3, 1949: Tiger, 1949
Oil enamel, metallic enamel, string and cigarette fragment
on canvas mounted on fiberboard, 62 1/8 x 37 1/4 inches
All rights reserved by the artist or his legal delegates.
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Recommended Books at amazon.com:
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