Introduction
Needless to say, the post-war period was a significant era for the art development. The social life and culture were getting new meanings in terms of art perception. People stepped into new era of postmodernism; therefore, both authors and painters had a wonderful chance to preset more realistic, more daring, and much more expressive art. After the WWII people started getting a new ‘message’ from art authors because it was period that meant a new beginning that subsequently impacted the development of art until feminism and contemporary art greatly.
American Abstract Expressionism 1950s
So, American Art since 1945 can be simply described as a period of social and cultural changes. The post WWII art pieces can be called a break through, and the start of new forms and methods exploration. The post-war American was thirsty for new streams in art culture.
There is an art movement that is surely worth talking about besides all others: an art movement that took place after the World War II and was an American significant feature of post-war art history – the abstract expressionism. It has to be said that this art movement was now a trade mark of America that meant a worldwide influence of our country’s art. Surprisingly, the United States managed to take over a leading part all over the world, taking it from Paris, France whose former role was undeniable. Hence, the New York City became the center of the world of art. The abstract expressionism was the so-called controversy between the young American artists and the exiled European artists who used to live in New York those days.
The entire movement represented the combination of emotional strength and the self-expression of the European abstract schools: Futurism, the Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism. Indeed, I dare to say that this movement was seen as the most revolutionary one in the art history of America. In general this movement of the post-war period can be divided into two groups: Action Painting and Color Field and Hard-Edge Painting.
Talking about Action Painting (late 1940’s – late 1950’s) I have to mention a prominent painter Jackson Pollock who definitely was the leading figure in abstract expressionism. It has to be said the meaning to the works created by the artist was implied via his psyche, and his life energy. He merely pored and splashed paint onto it, saying that was an expression of his inner senses as if the emotions boiling inside were directly transformed onto the canvas through such method of painting. He used to say “When I am in my painting, I am not aware of what I’m doing” and “When I am painting… I can control the flow of the paint; there is no accident.” He made his canvas to be an arena of actions, which resulted in amazing, impulsive, and somewhat absurd images. It was a split second motion that revived on the canvas.
Ultimately, the movement lost its impact in 1960s. Subsequently, there emerged other movements which were likely to respond to and rebel against abstract expressionism. Namely, those were pop art and minimalism.
Pop Art Culture
With the development of television, the pop art – the popular art – has emerged on the stable grounds. Many painters became interested in improving their talents and showing the new stream of art through advertisements, images of mass media, comics, and consumer products That was entirely new art branch that filled its place in the history of Great Britain and the United States of America in 1950s and 1960s.
I can’t but outline the main feature of the Pop Art. The artists viewed the abstract expressionism as a huge gap between art and life itself, calling the movement too intellectual and remote from reality. Hence, the pop art artists wanted to include the environment of everyday life into the art, so that every person disregarding the social layer can understand and enjoy it. So, it is obvious why the artists began taking their inspiration from beer bottles and soup cans. Sometimes even the road sign could serve a nice object in order to embody it in paintings and sculptures.
Andy Warhol was a prominent movie maker and a painter who represented the Pop Art culture vividly. He was the one who used to draw pictures and repeat those several times. Nowadays, you can easily tell his works because he used to make about twenty similar objects in one painting. One of the famous pics known all over the world is the painting ‘Marilyn green, pink, red, and gold’. From this masterpiece you can really understand the essence of the Popular Art, since Merlyn Monroe was the most popular person of those times.
Minimalism
Another movement that emerged in order to oppose the abstract expressionism was called Minimalism. Of course, it was completely opposite to what people knew before. It presented the minimum of color, objects, shapes, and lines. Also, it was called the ABC art, Minimal Art, or reductivism. It was a total simplification of form, the works were meant to be self-referential. This was made in order to show the admirers how the purely visual elements were more important than all other details.
One of the prominent artists bound to the minimalist movement was Solomon “Sol” LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007). He became very famous in 1960s due to his ‘structures’ (as he used to call his sculptures) and the wall drawings. Sol LeWitt had solo exhibitions in galleries across the world. Those were truly amazing since they could be the standard-sized ones, as well as the size of outdoor monumental pieces.
Feminism
Ever since the art forms were evolving exceptionally within the men’s art crafts, the women’s role within the household duties was hugely underestimated. It is obvious that during the centuries, the quilting, embroidery, china painting, and sewing were lacking the necessary attention. However, the feminist movement changed the situation radically in 1960s due to the works of such artist as Adrian Piper. The women craft from now on was elevated from pure craft to the high art. Those times in the art heritage of America were significant for reconsidering the role of women not only within the art sphere but also in the concept of social life. As Lucy Lippard outlines the attempt of women to shed their shackles, proudly untying the apron strings—and, in some cases, keeping the apron on, flaunting it, turning it into art (p.135).
String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art
An associate professor of contemporary art at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Elissa Auther wrote a marvelous book String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art that should be surely used for the students as a guide book in every college in the Art and Design course because it is a nice representation of reducing women’s art role in 1960s and 70s due to considering their art to be only the decorative, non-art, craft, or women’s work. (Auther,p.54) The book is touched upon the vital issue of the contemporary art implementation. It talks about the feminist works in fiber which the author describes to be an attempt of politicization of craft.
Overall the book examines the role of fiber in the art of 1960s and 1970s. Auther depicts professionally the way art boundaries and hierarchies formed the world art and our impression of it as viewers, painters, etc.
In the conclusion of the book, Auther explains explicitly how the fiber became commonly used. Besides, it is extremely interesting the way Elissa Auther highlights techniques of fiber usage by modern artists, whereas the same craft would have been considered to be career-jeopardizing in late 1970s.
Conclusion
To crown it all, I must admit that in order to get the contemporary art the way we see it today, it had to undergo enormous changes since the beginning of the twentieth century. No wonder, it is so diverse and various today. Since abstract expressionism through feminism art was expressed in many unexpected ways which is an excellent outcome for us – the new century’s contemporaries – in order to see the great American culture changes. Ever since abstract expressionism aroused in order to give birth to many subsequent art movements, the American art heritage acquired richness and precious history. So, having learned American art since 1945 till feminism I can say that the art has gone through its richest development in terms of experience and prosperity.
Works Cited
Auther, Elissa. String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press. 2009. Print
Lippard, Lucy. From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women’s Art. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1976. Print.