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the NEW YORK SCHOOL

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ëhis movement developed in New York during

the decades immediately following the WW2. It͛s
referred to as the 
or, less
accurately, as ͚ Action Painting͛ and it is characterized
by an attempt to depict universal emotions. It was
the first exclusively American movement to gain
international recognition.


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Key Artists:
º Willem De Kooning (1904-97)
º Jackson Pollock (1912-56)
º Mark Rothko (1903-70)
Yë: Simon Schama- Power of Art

Descriptive terms:




 

A
 
 

 

 



 

  

  



 
 ë

  

Abstract expressionists concentrated on the

physical process of painting, from which the
narrower term ͚Action Painting͛ was derived, often
throwing paint at their canvases in an expressive and
highly physical subversion of traditional methods of
painting. Breton, Ernst and Masson, all leading
Surrealists, moved to New York during WW2 and
were influential in its initial development.
O


 (January 1946)

O
  KJanuary 1946. Jackson

Pollock. Oil on canvas, 56 1/16 x 66 1/8
inches (142.3 x 168 cm). ëhe Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy
Guggenheim Collection,
Venice 76.2553.145. © 2009 ëhe Pollock-
Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York

Source:
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-
york/collections/collection-online/show-
full/piece/?search=Jackson%20Pollock&p
age=1&f=People&cr=2
 | 

However, whereas the Surrealists explored the

unconscious for means of disrupting society͛s
cherished conventions, the Abstract Expressionists
turned to the unconscious for symbols of universal
meaning which could restore both art and society
after WW2.
!

 (April 1946)

! 
  , April 1946. Mark Rothko

Watercolor, gouache, and India ink on
paper, 39 7/16 x 25 7/8 inches (100.2 x
65.8 cm). ëhe Solomon R. Guggenheim
Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim
Collection, Venice 76.2553.154. © 2009
Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher
Rothko/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York

Source:
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-
york/collections/collection-online/show-
full/piece/?search=Sacrifice&page=&f=ëi
tle&object=76.2553.154
 A 


 

ëhe psychologist Carl Gustav Jung was in

important influence on them. He maintained the
archetypal, symbol-generating emotions and
behavior can be found in every psyche and culture.

ëhe Abstract Expressionists believed that their

paintings expressed these universal symbols. Color
Field Painting looks like the exact opposite of Action
painting, but, like the latter, it is simply another
variant within Abstract Expressionism.
|   
 
!  
ëhe rhythmic vitality of Action Painting has
disappeared. Instead, luminous and brooding colors
saturate the canvas with contemplative stillness. If
action painting captures the physical energy of
dance, Color Field Painting evokes the psychic energy
of contemplation.

By the 1960s, artist Philip Guston was one of a

growing number who criticized Abstract
Expressionism for having become a sterile, and
decorative orthodoxy which was stifling creativity.
 |  (1947)

| 
K1947. Jackson Pollock. Oil, aluminum, enamel paint, and string on canvas, 45 1/8 x 87 1/8 inches (114.6 x 221.3
cm). ëhe Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice 76.2553.150. © 2009 ëhe Pollock-
Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Source: http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-
full/piece/?search=Jackson%20Pollock&page=1&f=People&cr=5
A 


   


1949.

A 


   



, 1949. Mark Rothko. Oil
on canvas, 81 1/2 x 66 inches (207 x
167.6 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, New York, Gift, Elaine and
Werner Dannheisser and ëhe
Dannheisser Foundation 78.2461. ©
2009 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher
Rothko/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York

Source:
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-
york/collections/collection-online/show-
full/piece/?search=mark%20rothko&pag
e=1&f=quicksearch&cr=3