The emergence of abstract expressionism was marked by the main art stream in the history of modernism. This new tendency appears as a post-war reaction for the spirits and atmosphere of this time and as the necessity to restore a national cultural identity. Owing to the fact that abstract expressionism appears after the Second World War, one could observe the political impact on the development of twentieth-century art. It is worth saying that this modernistic stream could be regarded as the first American art that depicts the works of the New York community of painters. The post-war expressionists often perceive their creative work as a protest against social realism thus manifesting romantic individuality. The above shows that the establishment of abstract expressionism is the desire of painters to be separated from political art. However, painters were also striving to render political messages to people in the form of expressionist works.
Many critics and writer made their attempts to assess this modernist movement by considering cultural, economic, and social displays of protest against the existed reality. In particular, there exist two opposite views concerning the expressionist concepts, which arise many disputable questions. Thus, a closer consideration of Rosenberg’s essay “The American Action Painters” and Donnel’s article “Space in Abstract Expressionism reveals controversial views on different aspects of painting.
In his essay, Harold Rosenberg makes an emphasis on the properties of the innovated American painting whose works are oriented on the presentation of the material world. In other words, the significance of the new art lies in the constant search for the central and materialized object in order to interpret its psychological state. The critic strongly believes that the main goal of the painters is to saturate their works with emotional and intellectual information thus perpetuating a certain living situation in action. Perhaps, the deepest message that is delivered by Rosenberg lies in the following phrase: “At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act – rather as a space in which to reproduce, re-design, analyze or “express” an object, actual or imagined. What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event”(57).
Especial consideration refers to Rosenberg’s vision of the picture as the intellectual penetration of the painter on the paper. He refers to the canvas “where the mind records its contests – rather than itself the “mind” through which the painter thinks by changing a surface with paint” (Rosenberg 57). Viewing Pollock’s painting from this angle, his technique is aimed at revealing his accumulated negative or positive emotions that have social and cultural undertones.
In contrast to Donnel’s opinion in terms of space, he believes that this is the main weapon of modernist art where the painters were able to demonstrate the play of colors, which is the main means of expressiveness. Therefore, his “view of the picture as a window had allowed for different penetrations into depth, but regardless of the width of the tract of space used and the expressive distortions….” (239). The critic gives a strong emphasis on space as the main principle of the elusory depiction of the world, which is referred as to a real world. Unlike Rosenberg, Donnel tries to reveal his outlook on the modernist movement through the analysis of technical aspects of writing. Nonetheless, Donnel agrees with Rosenberg’s idea that the canvas is space perceived by the spectator; it is therefore regarded as a communicative space as well (Donnel 239).
Taking a closer look at the style of painting typical of abstract expressionism, it is worth saying that this art movement has many issues to analyze and to compare. The penetration of this general modernistic stream to America meant that most painters were striving to widen the space for their creative work and to fill in with the meaning of each piece of canvas (Donnel 239). Hence Donnel writes that “the awareness of the canvas as a flat surface which overtly and consistently influences the arrangement of the picture elements” so that “the articulation of the surface into depth by means of colors planes, and the distribution of object quality over a series of planes by means of transparency, selections and positive-negative reading of shapes… ”(240). As it can be seen, Cubism, one of the art trends of Abstract Expressionism greatly contributed to the recognition of space as one of the main means for reaching a multidimensional effect; it was also the father of Expressionism.
Referring to the space issue, Pollock tried to activate and make the canvas brighter and more alive; he wanted to conquer the flatness of the picture thus creating chaotic and moving pictures. Especial consideration deserves his work called Autumn Rhythm, which, probably, reveals the main essence of abstractionism and expressiveness. Pollock represents the way the human mood or another abstract phenomenon may be materialized. This work was painted in the second period of his life as there observed the changes in styles and techniques. In particular, the artist refers to brighter colors. At a first glance, the picture is a kind of reaction to the natural phenomena that surround the artist. However, viewing the picture from another angle also renders certain political views of the painter. Pollock also manages to take advantage of space as well, as it serves as the main platform for the color fight.
After a thorough analysis of both views, it should be stressed that Rosenberg’s opinion is more reliable than Donnel’s due to the fact that the former manages to consider modernistic art from different dimensions, including the analysis of social conditions of that time. As for the latter, Donnel fails to fully render the communicative and social value of the painting instead placing an emphasis on the analysis of artistic techniques applied by the artists. What is more, Rosenberg manages to perceive the functions of canvas and its content thus referring to it, not as a way of emotional expression by as to reflection of the painters’ inner world.
It should be stressed that Abstract Expressionism emerged as the reaction to the political and social situation after the Second World War. Various techniques used by the artists were aimed at revealing their resentment to the reality that existed and to the tendency of universalism. Therefore, this modernistic stream was headed by a generation of American painters whose common goal was to break the traditions of American art. Their transaction from reality to abstract subjects testifies to their reluctance to accept the unstable situation in the country, which is the main topic of modernists’ creative activity.
References
Donnel, Radka Zagoroff. Space in Abstract Expressionism. The Journal of Aethetics and Art Criticism. 23.1 (1964): 239-249
Rosenberg Harold. ‘The American Active Painters’. Art Theory and Criticism: An Anthology of Formalist, Avant-Garde, Contexualist and Post-Modernist Thought, US: McFarland, 1995.