Abstract Expressionism - Couverture souple

The ineffable language of paint

Abstract expressionism the non-representational use of paint as a means of personal expression emerged in America in the 1940s, inspired by the innovative work of Arshile Gorky. Considered the first art movement originating in the Americas to have a worldwide influence, abstract expressionism spawned two very different sub-categories: action painting (exemplified by Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock) and color field painting, made most famous by Mark Rothko. Abstract expressionists strove to express emotions and ideas directly on canvas via color, form and texture the quality of brushstrokes and other marks, the dripping of paint, for example while embracing accident and chance, and celebrating the very act of painting.

Featured artists: William Baziotes, Helen Frankenthaler, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Philip Guston, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, David Smith, Theodoros Stamos, Clyfford Still, Mark Tobey, Bradley Walter Tomlin.

Barbara Hess, born 1964, lives in Cologne as an art historian, critic and translator. Since 1994 she has published numerous articles on contemporary art, for publications including Camera Austria, Flash Art, Kunst-Bulletin and Texte zur Kunst. Together with Ulrike Groos and Ursula Wevers, she curated the touring exhibition "Ready to Shoot. Fernsehgalerie Gerry Schum/videogalerie schum" (2003/04; venues included the Kunsthalle Dusseldorf and the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris). For TASCHEN she has written a monograph on Willem de Kooning.