Exhibitions
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM: A SOCIAL REVOLUTION, SELECTIONS FROM THE HASKELL COLLECTION
Dixon Gallery and Gardens / 4339 Park Ave. October 27, 2019 - January 5, 2020
Abstract Expressionism: A Social Revolution focuses on the rise of a new generation of artists active in post-World War II America whose works challenged the institutional status-quo and altered the course of art history. The artists in this show, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Rothko, though never formally associated, are unified by their rejection of academicism and commitment to pushing the boundaries of modern art. These artists, today called Abstract Expressionists, abandoned narrative painting, focusing instead on relationships between color, gesture, and texture.
Additionally, the exhibition examines a group of artists whose works express the legacy of Abstract Expressionism and the effect it had on the art of the late twentieth century. The work of artists like Sam Francis, Judy Pfaff, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella signifies the indistinct boundaries between art movements and builds on the complexity of mark making established by the earlier generation.
Abstract Expressionism: A Social Revolution is divided into three sections: Abstraction and Revolution, Abstractions and Repetition, and Abstraction and Its Legacy. Through these categories, the exhibition interrogates how the artists expanded the language of abstraction and experimented with new materials and methods. Exemplary works by twenty-five artists reveal how these men and women, while working in their own distinct abstract styles, together forged a significant turning point in art history.
image: Willem de Kooning, Woman II, 1961; Oil on paper mounted on canvas; The Haskell Collection. © 2018 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
