Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976 - Softcover

Kleeblatt, Norman L.; Berger, Maurice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300139209 ISBN 13: 9780300139204

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2009

Synopsis

The abstract paintings of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Lee Krasner, Clyfford Still, Helen Frankenthaler, and others revolutionized the art world in the 1940s and 1950s and continue to inspire passionate arguments to this day. What were these artists trying to achieve? Who were the critical voices of the time that rallied public interest in Abstract Expressionism and sparked rancorous debate?  

 

Drawing on recent critical, historical, and biographical work, this lavishly illustrated book offers a sharp new focus on a pivotal art movement. It also presents an extensive commentary on the two most influential critics of postwar American art―Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg―whose powerful views shaped perceptions of Abstract Expressionism and other contemporary art movements. In one essay, Norman L. Kleeblatt traces the influence of Abstract Expressionism into the mid-1970s and examines its connection to subsequent art styles. Other essays range from the literary and intellectual culture of New York during that period and an analysis of sculpture and representation to a discussion of Jewish issues in relation to postwar American Art. In addition, the book features a magisterial essay by eminent critic Irving Sandler and a copiously illustrated cultural timeline by Maurice Berger.

About this title

About the Author:

Norman L. Kleeblatt is Susan and Elihu Rose Chief Curator at The Jewish Museum. Debra Bricker Balken is an art scholar and independent curator. Maurice Berger is Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Morris Dickstein is Distinguished Professor of English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Douglas Dreishpoon is Senior Curator at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. Charlotte Eyerman is Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Mark Godfrey is curator at the Tate Modern in London. Caroline A. Jones, Professor of Art History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Irving Sandler is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at Purchase and a Visiting Professor at Hunter College.

Review:

"Thorough and scholarly. . . . Presents a balanced account of the art, the artists, the critics and the issues."—Richard Kalina, Art in America (Richard Kalina Art in America 2008-09-01)

"Of particular interest is Balken's essay on Rosenberg, which relies on new archival research to give a more robust understanding of this powerful yet often misunderstood critic. . . . Recommended."—Choice (Choice 2008-10-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0300139209
• ISBN 13: 9780300139204
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 344
• Editor: Kleeblatt Norman L.