| When I was in kindergarten, we had art class. Our | | | | rebellious, anarchic, highly idiosyncratic, and in |
| beloved teacher, Mrs. Winger, was visited one | | | | some cases, nihilistic. It has been applied to |
| afternoon by her son, a college student in his | | | | several artists working mostly in New York City |
| early twenties. The five-year olds in her class | | | | beginning in the 1940s, including Pollock, Willem de |
| were very impressed by this young man, and | | | | Kooning, and Mark Rothko. |
| thought he was the coolest guy we had ever | | | | The post-World War II period was ripe for a |
| met. He became even cooler in our eyes when he | | | | movement such as abstract expressionism to |
| took over the art instruction from his mom. | | | | flourish in America. Artists had fled Europe for |
| Mrs. Winger's son taught by example. He placed a | | | | America during the war, and the destruction of |
| piece of paper on an easel, and to his mother's | | | | many European capitals left a big void in the |
| great chagrin, placed paint on a paint brush, and | | | | European art scene. Many critics felt that the |
| threw the paint onto the paper. Her class went | | | | climate for art in Paris, for example, was a |
| absolutely bananas as we took advantage of the | | | | disaster. The entire world was in a kind of |
| opportunity to make a huge mess in the interest | | | | existential crisis, and ready for a movement that |
| of art. | | | | embraced few limitations like abstract |
| Looking back at that experience, I realized that | | | | expressionism. |
| this young man was a smart, highly educated | | | | The 1940s in New York City heralded the triumph |
| guy-or at the very least, in the middle of taking | | | | of American art in general and of abstract |
| an Art History course. He had been directly | | | | expressionism in particular. It was truly a |
| influenced by the art of the great Jackson Pollock, | | | | modernist movement inspired by artists like |
| who had a huge influence on art in America and | | | | Matisse and Picasso, as well as other art |
| on abstract expressionism. | | | | movements such as surrealism, cubism, and |
| Abstract art really includes a wide range of styles | | | | Fauvism. Jackson Pollock and his radical approach |
| and artists. The first real American movement to | | | | to painting was probably the most influential |
| achieve worldwide influence and respect was | | | | American abstract expressionist, and |
| abstract expressionism. It was first applied to | | | | revolutionized all of contemporary art that |
| American art by art critic Robert Coates in 1946, | | | | followed. |
| and was instrumental in making New York the | | | | Pollock redefined what it meant to produce art. In |
| center of the western art world, a role formerly | | | | some ways, he realized that the journey towards |
| filled by Paris. | | | | creating a work of art was as important as the |
| Surrealism is the immediate predecessor of | | | | piece itself. He moved away from creating art on |
| abstract expressionism, with its emphasis on | | | | an easel alone, which served to liberate the artists |
| spontaneous, automatic, or subconscious creation, | | | | of his era and of those who followed him. He was |
| a la Jackson Pollock's dripping paint onto a canvas | | | | one of the first artists to totally break away |
| laid on the floor. The movement's name is derived | | | | from convention, which was a realization of |
| from the combination of the German | | | | modernism's attempts to encourage the creation |
| Expressionists' emotional intensity and self-denial | | | | of totally new forms of art. He even influenced a |
| and the anti-figurative aesthetic of European | | | | group of kindergartners just learning about art |
| styles such as Cubism. In addition, abstract | | | | and how to create it. |
| expressionism is considered by many to be | | | | |