2024-04-25
If you are an art aficionado, it is likely that you associate the 1950s and New York with Abstract Expressionism. This new artistic grouping not only revolutionized the art world at that particular time, but also influenced the way people think about it now.
A total departure from figurative art in favor of expressive forms and colors had one main purpose: to reveal the psyche of the artist. Drawing a sinusoid of artists' emotions, on the other hand, wasn't just to non-objectively express certain, overwhelming emotions. At the same time, another goal was to portray universal truths about humanity.
The new style was deeply influenced by the Freudian unconscious and by Surrealism, which had already adopted this notion, dealing with what is hidden in our dreams and desires. Jung’s interest in mythology and archetypes also played its part, along with Sartre’s Existentialism, which argued that “existence precedes essence”. The avant-garde New York drew on all of it by the handful. The artists produced huge abstractions where the most important features were dynamic composition and (usually) vivid colors.
Most people, when thinking about abstract expressionist artists, will bring to their minds either Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning, who, of course, can undoubtedly be included in the canon of this movement. The question that follows is, thus, do you know any woman who also falls into this category? We can certainly name here Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler.