Jasper John Abstract Expressionism

Words: 1808
Pages: 8

Following World War II, a group of artists emerged and art was headed in a different direction. The new school of art was called Abstract Expressionism and included artists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Philip Guston. Most of these painters were part of the New York School or had studios in New York City. Abstract Expression is known for large paintings and breaking away from traditional ways of making art as many of the artists did. Probably the forerunner of the movement was Ashille Gorky an Armenian immigrant who he arrived in New York City in 1924. Many abstract expressionists, like Pollock, were influenced by the music of their time, yet others like Kline, who is famous for his black and white paintings seemed to be more affected by the New York City landscape, his childhood home and Japanese calligraphy. Many “action painters” like Pollock broke away from the tradition of carefully applying paint to canvas and instead splashing or smearing it on, yet others were starting a new movement of Pop Art, such as Jasper Johns using traditional tools the abstractionists gave up. They brought back tools used in traditional painting such as signs , symbols, allusion, and illusion. They wanted to make art that had meaning to the average person and for it to be something they could relate to and understand.
Abstract
…show more content…
Other artists wanted more and wished to reach a larger group of viewers. These eventually became Pop Artists. Unlike Pollock, who gained his inspiration from listening to jazz music they took theirs from cities like Hollywood, Detroit, New York and Madison Avenue, mass media, mass production and advertising. One such artist was Jasper Johns, who like Pollock moved to New York City in 1952 from South Carolina to continue his career in