abstract expressionism

is a genre which seems to express a violent reactionary anarchism, a repudiating not so much of the traditions as of the community of painting.

a genre I have always distrusted, mainly because so much of it seems to me to express a violent reactionary anarchism, a repudiating not so much of the traditions as of the community of painting.

is not any one style, but rather a general attitude... morally loaded themes, often heavyweight and tragic, on a grand scale.

Like many other modern movements, Abstract Expressionism does not describe any one particular style, but rather a general attitude... not all the work was abstract, nor was it all expressive. What these artist did have in common were morally loaded themes, often heavyweight and tragic, on a grand scale. (Nicolas Pioch)

is philosophical because it has revealed the essence of painting (flatness and two-dimensionality), which justifies the color-field painters.

From the perspective of this mythologizing, it is Pollock's breakthrough which justifies his use of paint. It is the Greenbergian thought that abstract expressionism is philosophical because it has revealed the essence of painting (flatness and two-dimensionality), which justifies the color-field painters.

is a movement which, to be any good at requires that you have time to feel sorry for yourself.

You have to have time to be sorry for yourself to be a good Abstract Expressionist. (Robert Rauschenberg).

is the first American art to be filled with anger as well as beauty.

Abstract expressionism was the first American art that was filled with anger as well as beauty. (Robert Motherwell)

abstract expressionism, n.Definitions

abstract expressionism