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Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism is an artistic movement of the mid-20th century that emphasized the artist's liberty to convey attitudes and emotions through nontraditional and usually nonrepresentational means.

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Valuing freedom, spontaneity and personal expression, Abstract Expressionist painters explored new ways of creating art, reinvigorating and reinventing the medium. They changed the nature of painting with their large, abstract canvases, energetic and gestural lines, and new artistic processes. Abstract Expressionism had a great impact on both the American and European art scenes during the 1950s. The movement marked the shift of the creative centre of modern painting from Paris to New York City in the postwar decades.

Types of Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionist painting as understood today can be clustered around two major tendencies: the so-called action painters, who attack their canvases with expressive brush strokes; and the colour field painters who fill their canvases with large areas of a single colour.

Action painting is created spontaneously, through dripping or slinging paint onto a canvas, which means that the action of painting is as important as the painting itself.
Colour field painting, though seemingly random, is well planned, and the end product may sometimes surprise the painter herself.

Characteristics of Abstract Expressionist Artworks

Although Abstract Expressionist artists’ paintings look very different, they tend to share four key characteristics.

Imagery

Abstract Expressionist artworks do not generally contain realistic images of objects or figures (the “seen world”). Instead, in Abstract Expressionism, shapes, colors, and lines combine to create the “image.” Abstract Expressionist artists want the viewer to be able to react to their paintings without the interference of associations with recognizable imagery

All-over Composition

Abstract Expressionist artists commonly activate the entire surface of their paintings. Their images often “play” with the edge of the canvas. In a typical Abstract Expressionist composition, there is not one focal point. Instead, a viewer’s eyes are directed “all over” the canvas by the colours of paint, brushstrokes, and the artist’s technique.

Movement

Abstract Expressionist artworks often show motion or the movement made by the artist in the act of making the painting. Even artists who do not create their artwork by using big movements or gestures do achieve a sense of implied movement in the finished artwork by how they made marks on the canvas. A sense of movement is also created by the all-over composition that keep viewers’ eyes moving around the artwork.

Personal Expression

Abstract Expressionist artists “express” with their technique, tools, and materials the ideas and emotions that cannot not be conveyed by everyday images. These artists do not want their expressions to be confined by recognizable imagery. While Abstract Expressionist artists want viewers to be free to experience and understand their artwork on their own terms, their artwork often touches on big ideas; like life and death, spirituality, power, struggle, and a range of human emotions.

Why own an Abstract Expressionist Artwork?

An Abstract Expressionist artist's skill lies in his or her ability to use colors and textures to their best visual strength and to create a sound composition from these elements. An Abstract Expressionist painting gives you the freedom to explore the artwork and assign your own meaning to the piece. This intensely personal process enriches your experience of the artwork. Whilst a casual viewer may not automatically know just by cursory glance, what the artwork is "about", your interpretation gives meaning and substance to this piece of art and immortalizes it. That is the beauty of Abstract Expressionism!