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Site for posting class reading responses as comments. Feel free to comment on other posts. History of Art, U.C. Berkeley. Instructor Sarah Hamill.
Fur-Lined Cup, Meret Oppenheim, 1936
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- Minimalism: For Class 3/31
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Abstract expressionist painting is invested in the sublime and how, as Edmund Burke describes it, it takes over one’s state of mind completely. Interestingly, the sublime is represented in what Caroline Jones describes as an “‘artificial infinite’ created by the use of succession and uniformity, a lack of finish leaving more to the imagination, and an employment of ‘dark,’ ‘sad and fuscous’ colors” (481). The absence of something or the dark and indiscernible quality of a painting lures people in to the painting because the obscure parts transcend visual comprehension and cultivate curiosity. In the search for the sublime, artists such as Barnett Newman turned away from the external and found it by making it out of themselves; production thus became more personal. Jackson Pollock epitomized this view when he said, “I am Nature” (483).
ReplyDeleteArtists in this genre aimed to bridge their experience to the viewer’s experience, eliminating the space and barrier through large-scale paintings. For example, Pollock’s paintings are all larger than a human being, giving the impression of surrounding the viewer; the size helps the viewer situate him or herself into the painting, to feel what it was like to be Pollock creating the work of art. Through this, the artist is able to translate the concept of the piece almost directly to the viewer and allow the experience and idea to be shared. Also, the viewer is able to stand up close to the painting and be able to see all the details, what overlays what and which paint went on first.
Modernist paintings derived inspiration from nature or from environment. As illustrated by Paul Gauguin’s paintings, subject matter tended to be based off of live models so paintings would have a specific form and shape. Space and distance was another issue of modernist paintings, shown by Pablo Picasso’s play with space and distance, relinquishing a priori thought through distorting visual assumptions and incorporating all kinds of angles that are not possibly seen from one perspective. Modernist paintings have come a long way from Academic paintings in that subjects were not depicted accurately true to nature.
Similarly, abstract expressionist paintings are also not true to nature or true to the visual sensations someone would typically experience. In fact, Pollock’s paintings do not resemble anything at all at first glance. Like Modernist paintings, abstract expressionist paintings also incorporate symbolism and a message to reach to the audience, but the method is different from Modernist paintings. In Thomas Crow’s article, Crow explains that Pollock’s paintings are composed of many layers at which the fundamental base is of a discernible shape of a human or animal. However, these configurations are eventually lost or “veiled” as Pollock fills in the spaces and so that “underlying figures [were] being erased by yet more figures” (496). “The final effect of the painting stems from the incompatibility of the two marking systems involved in its manufacture” (497). Modernist paintings also embody incongruity and contrasts in angle, perspective, distance, shape, and form. Although the veiling results in another kind of image, the original picture is transformed; it is still there upon close inspection of details, but it is hidden and changed.
In the beginning of her essay, “The Abstract Expressionist Sublime”, Caroline A. Jones quotes W.B. Yeats: “Lie down where all the ladders start/In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart” (480). At first, I glanced over this quote, diving straight into the text; yet having looked back at the essay, I feel this quote lies directly in the heart of Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionism, as explained by Jones, bases itself in the individual’s sublime, which deals with a sense of power and horror. Abstract Expressionists would introspectively turn to their sublime to guide the creation of their artwork. In relation to Yeats’s quote, Abstract Expressionists are called to “lie down where all the ladders start”, or other words, begin their creations by turning to their sublime, which can be described as “the foul rag and bone shop of the heart”. Yeats’s words of “foul rag” and “bone shop” denote a sense of dread a fear, thereby relating with the horror characteristic of the sublime.
ReplyDeleteAlso in her essay, Jones discusses the difference between European and American Abstract Expressionists, mentioning how the Europeans rely on topographic sublime to inspire their creations, whereas the Americans depend on their individual sublime. In a sense, I feel such differences relate back to the modern movement into Impressionism. Artists preceding the Impressionist era painted scenes and landscapes with exact and excessive details so that the artwork resembled a photograph. To me, such artwork resembles that of the topographic artwork of the Europeans, for with topographic sublime, it seems like artists rely more on what they actually see and not what they feel. Impressionism moved into artwork where the artists relied on their first impressions to guide their creations, not on the details of the scene they saw before them; I feel that the American Abstract Expressionists similarly work like Impressionists, turning to something within for direction, thereby creating art out of themselves.
Near the end of her essay, Jones refers to Rothko’s words in her statement that “the Abstract Expressionist painters sought ‘the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea and between the idea and the observer’” (490). Through this quote, readers can learn that Abstract Expressionism also dealt with creating the strongest bond between the painter, the idea, and the viewer, a bond that truly attempted and prevented obstacles from destroying their understanding of one another. In my opinion, this characteristic of Abstract Expressionism relates to the characteristics of sculpture. The objects that compile the sculpture are the concrete idea; the viewer does not have to go through any medium to reach the meaning of the artwork. Similarly, if Abstract Expressionists seek to get rid “of all obstacles”, then I think their artwork resembles sculpture in that the concrete idea is presented right in front of the viewer. There is a sense of immediacy, of irreducible understanding where there is nothing standing in between the painter and the idea, and the idea and the viewer.
Caroline Jones discusses how the natural sublime directly influenced abstract expressionism. Jones describes the natural sublime as a mix between the psychoanalytic and the phenomenological in which “all [the soul’s] motions are suspended, with some degree of horror” (481). Within this state artists would separate themselves from society and homely comforts in order to identify with the sublime and thus reproduce it in artistic form. This style of art focused on what Burkes notes as “the succession and uniformity, a lack of finish leaving more to the imagination and an employment to the dark” (481). Burke highlights the gloomy qualities of the style as well as its desire to inspire meaning within the viewer. Abstract expressionism is similarly derived out of an artist’s solidarity and isolation. However within abstract expressionism the artist seeks the subjective sublime, which is personified from within the artist. Unlike the natural sublime, which sough inspiration from the sublime, abstract expressionist artists seek to embody the sublime. Abstract expressionism as described by Jones, worked to “exclude the beautiful and feminine” from their artwork as women lacked the “depth of true understanding in the face of the sublime” (483). This is because women were seen as having only a “beautiful understanding” as apposed to the male “deep understanding” (483). The rejection of femininity was an attempt to find a deeper and more analytical response to the genius of man’s creativity. This style of art ultimately desires to “eliminate all obstacles between the painter and the idea and between the idea and the observer” meaning the artists attempts to connect the viewer directing to the meaning of the artwork (490). The artist attempts to draw in his viewer and attach them to his message or idea.
ReplyDeleteAbstract Expressionism paintings seeks to envelope their viewers, as it attempts to “absorb and the surround the viewer in a shallow shimmering space” were the viewer can become part of the paintings world (486). This sense of enmeshment allows the viewer to absorb a sense of “oceanic or unbounded state” of thought, which has limitless confines, which restrict the sublime. By creating large scale paintings abstract expressionist artists seek to further envelope the viewer, as the painting looms dramatically over the on looker. Instead of paint strokes color is placed on the canvas through techniques that involve “pouring, spattering, drizzling, trailing, splashing, stabbing and lashing” (494). These non-traditional techniques develop the sensory effects of the painting
Abstract expressionism is similar to surrealism as it focuses on the “encounter with [the artist’s] own subconscious” (483). Both styles seek to embody subconscious thought, which is less limited in creativity. However surrealism focused on the portrayal of sexuality and femininity, which abstract expressionism does not. Dali’s le Jeu lugubre has been inspired out of the dream state, a state which is controlled by the subconscious, yet unlike the abstract expressionist pieces it uses line, shadow and perspective to display the artists idea. Cubists artists such as Georges Braque sought to break up the ways in which form and line could be seen. Similarly abstract expressionism seeks to reform the ways that which their ideas can be seen. Braque’s Castle at La Roche Guyon portrays his idea in an illogical and disoriented way. Similarly abstract expressionism paintings depict ideas in manner where realistic line and shape are absent. Here abstract shape reforms reality.
What is abstract expressionist painting and how does is it similar to and different from other modernist paintings that we have studied?
ReplyDeleteAbstract expressionist painting is a genre that focuses on eliminating boundaries between the artist and the viewer by seeking to evoke individualized emotions, also known as the sublime. It uses techniques such as utilizing large-scale canvases, obscurity (no clear indication of form, shape, or line), lack of finish (apparent, unclean brushstrokes and incomplete shapes), and dark colors. These techniques are used to elicit a sublime feeling, defined by Edmund Burke as an individualized experience connected to “self-preservation and survival” (481). Sublime in Burke’s definition is a synonym for terror since terror is one of the strongest fundamental emotions. The terror signaled by the amygdala is connected with survival since it warns us to avoid harmful environments. But like in horror films, the sublime or terror “produces a delight when it does not press too close” (481). So we are drawn to these terrifying and strong emotions seen in art. One version of the sublime is through experiencing the solitude of artists as they create their art. Newman intended viewers to few large canvases in close distances to experience the same feelings of insignificance and envelopment as the artist did while composing the painting. Another way artists accessed the sublime is through creating images that are indescribable and horrifically unknown images. Jackson Pollock created an “indefinite depth of space, and its seemingly indefinite extendibility, contribute to the sense of an oceanic or unbounded state” (486). His layers of dripped, splattered, and poured-on paint on a large scale elicits the sublime from viewers since the chaos and unfinished aspects (such paint lines dripping to the edges and off the canvas) is somewhat terrifying. Rothko and Newman focused on exploring pigments and color to stimulate personalized feelings. The viewer recognizes that their engagement with the large canvases of only 2 or 3 colors evokes individualized feelings stemming from their own body rather than touching or using other senses to experience art.
I found it amusing that Abstract Expressionism follows Hegel’s dialectic which describes history as a cycling thesis, antithesis, and synthesis which becomes the new thesis. Previously Modern art celebrated empirical experiences, such as Gauguin’s travels to paint on-site at Tahiti (thesis). Then the human experiences were eradicated through Dada art, readymades, and technologically reproducible art (antithesis). This was synthesized into Surrealism which explored the emotional/sexual drives of humans through antifigural representations (synthesis). Abstract Expressionism is also a synthesis of the human empirical, emotional experience and the antifigural representations found in Dada and Surrealism. But Surrealism is interested in the female form since Surrealist artists viewed women as more primitive and closer to the unconscious (thesis). Whereas Abstract Expressionism completely avoids and disregards the ability of women to reach the sublime, and therefore artist avoid any traditional feminine qualities such as beauty (antithesis). I am a bit confused why Surrealists saw women as better in accessing the chaos and freedom of the unconscious but why Abstract Expressionist artists viewed women as only able to be beautiful but not terrifyingly chaotic or powerful.
The Abstract Expressionist movement began shortly after World War Two. Caroline A. Jones offers an interesting definition of Abstract Expressionism in her essay “The Abstract Expressionist Sublime.” In this essay she explains Abstract Expressionism has a unique relationship to the sublime. In order to explain Abstract Expressionism, one must first consider its roots in the sublime. Jones explains the sublime as an individual experience and is tied to the basics of human survival. The sublime contrasts with primitive beauty in that it is primal. Rather than attempt to create an enjoyable or artistic experience, the sublime is rooted in the most basic of human emotions. Abstract Expressionist art, Jones argues, captures this sense of subliminality; Abstract Expressionist pieces do not focus on traditional skill or beauty, but seek to encompass viewers into an experience where they undergo overwhelming sensations of the basic human existence.
ReplyDeleteThis experiential viewing is very similar to other genera of modernist paintings. Pollock was one of the most prominent abstract expressionist artists. He created his paintings by simply dripping and throwing paint on canvases layed out across the floor. Though his paintings may not have required any sort of technical skill, nor knack for color coordination, Pollock had an extreme talent in creating an experiential artwork. Though nothing but paint dripped onto a canvas, his work Cathedral provides a subliminal religious experience. Though the painting clearly depicts no sort of religious edifices, Pollock conveys a religions experience. This conveyance of mood without literal depiction is similar to the work of impressionist pieces. Like Pollock, impressionist paintings may not have been able to paint exact replications of a scene or a model, however they used the effects of color, line, and dimension to create an illusion.
However, Abstract Expressionist pieces created this said experience in a manner different from impressionist painters. One noticeable feature of Abstract Expressionist paintings, especially Pollock’s work, was the size of the canvas. Abstract Expressionist pieces were often painted on wall-sized canvases, and in the essay “Moving Pictures” by Thomas Crow, he compares the size and engulfing nature of Pollock’s works to the cinematic experience. Through such expansive canvases, Pollock and other Abstract Expressionist can consume viewers. Able to see nothing but the vast expanse of the canvas, viewers almost lose their position as a viewer and are invited into the experience of the painting. However, in impressionist paintings the artist dictates the illusion. Through line, color, and shadow the impressionist painter contains the illusion within the two dimensions of the frame. However, Abstract Expressionist paintings expend the illusions and experiences of their art into a third dimension by virtually overwhelming, and thus including the viewer.
Mark Kohn
ReplyDelete03/11/09
A great deal of Abstract Expressionist painting centers on the notion of the sublime. Spatially, the sublime is located in the individual and is closely related to primal instincts of survival as well as self-preservation. In terms of emotional magnitude, the sublime reigns supreme in that it requires and operates in the most intense of psychological states. Often, the sublime can be so overwhelming to the individual that it induces a state of horror as demonstrated when Edmund Burke says, “Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger…or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling…terror in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently, the ruling principle of the sublime.” (481) Here, Burke reiterates how the sublime can be so pervasive to the individual that he/she becomes engulfed in emotion so much to the point that the mind becomes exhausted by sensational fatigue. Within the context of Abstract Expressionist painting, the sublime manifests itself as a “natural sublime” in which size and dominance become the focus. Examples of this often included magnificent American topographical landscapes but were in no way limited to only depictions of nature. In order to produce the emotional response of the sublime, Abstract Expressionist painters preferred to create their works of art in a very isolated setting. By extracting themselves from society and embracing solitude, the Abstract Expressionist painters were able to formulate the sublime as a reflection of their deepest emotions found hidden well within their souls. Caroline Jones provides a useful explanation of this notion when she states, “In their lonely studios they live as if dead to this world, creating the sublime by necessity—not from an external topography, but from the perilous existence of their souls, poised between a tempting, tawdry life, and a monastic self-abnegation in the studio’s ‘ivory tower’.” (482) This excerpt serves to show how Abstract Expressionist artists rejected what conventional society had to offer and turned to isolated introspection to conjure up sentiments of the sublime. The process of achieving the sublime through individual reflection was sometimes referred to as the “egotistical” sublime and was derived from the innermost emotions of the artist. Jones echoes this idea when she writes, “Instead of the topographic sublime that some critics would later locate in Abstract Expressionism, these artists’ experiences seems more logically described as an individual, subjective sublime (the ‘egotistical’ sublime, as some term it)—echoed or induced by topography but personified in the artist himself.” (483) Here, Jones highlights how the subjective sublime may have been derived from natural landscapes but ultimately is birthed from the idiosyncratic persona of the artist. In all, Abstract Expressionism sought to remove any barriers between the artist and the viewer in order to create an intimate exchange between the two as demonstrated when Rothko writes, “[The Abstract Expressionist painters sought] the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea and between the idea and the observer.” (490) The “idea” Rothko is referring to is understood as the canvas acting as a liaison between the artist and the viewer in order to produce a close connection between the two.
Much like Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism has the tendency to alienate women from its artistic endeavors. Whereas Surrealism excluded women by focusing on the heterosexual male fantasy, Abstract Expressionism championed the notion that women were incapable of comprehending the sublime in any significant way. Jones concisely summarizes this occurrence when she states, “The depth of true understanding in the face of the sublime was unavailable to women; and what might be construed as ‘feminine’ qualities were incompatible with sublimity by definition...the feminine was to serve as the boundary delimiting the art of the sublime.” (483)
Abstract Expressionism, as described by Caroline Jones is a style in which “painters sought ‘the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea and between the idea and the observer’” (The Abstract Expressionist Sublime 490). Abstract Expressionist artists want the audience to experience this idea of sublimation, where the viewers submit themselves into the painting, in which they may get lost in the painting, however, in the process of analyzing the painting they rediscover their individuality. Sublimation, the backbone of abstract expressionism, is a new way to experience a painting. A way in which, the audience has to remove all obstacles in the way to fully experience what the artist has created and put themselves into the painting. “An encounter with the sublime entails the desire to be engulfed wedded to a fear of being incorporated, in turn leading to a reaction formation in which the subject shifts from passive to active, desiring to posses the Other through a set of mechanisms including identification, metaphoric representation, and alienation” (Sublime 484). The artist wants the audience to be inundated into the painting so they are actively experiencing the artwork and learning their contribution to the piece of art that they are observing.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to abstract expressionism, surrealism needs the audience to remove obstacles between themselves and the artwork to fully experience the purpose of the piece of art. Without the removal of certain factors, the audience would be unable to understand the artists purpose because the product would be abstract enough that to grasp the purpose would be difficult. To fully understand both types of art, the viewer needs to submerge themselves into the painting so that they can imagine and experience the painting through the surroundings that the painting creates, not reality’s surroundings. For both, the audience is in more of an imaginary world that in ways helps them discover and express their individuality because they have to remove society’s ideals and views, in the end allowing them to express themselves through experiencing the artwork.
In contrast, abstract expressionist artwork does not always idealize the woman, whereas almost all other types of artwork that specifically depict women glamorously that we have studied look at a woman as a goddess; more of and object of desire rather than a human being. Where the woman is generally the subject of interest of the painting, abstract expressionist artists believe that “‘the fair sex has just as much understanding as the male’” and that “‘feminine’ qualities were incompatible with sublimity by definition” (sublime 483). Because the feminine was not consistent with the ideals of abstract expressionism, they used the feminine as “the boundary delimiting the art of the sublime” (sublime 483).
While other art styles want the audience to experience the artwork once it is finished, abstract expressionist want the audience to put themselves into the painting to experience the artwork through the eyes of the painter from the studio. Experiencing the artwork in a way that allows them to acknowledge the process and final product, along the way hoping to heighten their sense of individuality and personal connection with the painting and the painter.
Abstract Expressionist painting coincided with the post World War II era in both Europe and America, but it was in America that this abstract expressionism succeeded. Modern artists, according to Caroline Jones, “were seeking to create a sublime art,” and because Europe is tied down by tradition it could not accomplish this goal. Americans, on the other hand, take pride in and strive for individualism, which is the key to abstract expressionism. The artist must free themselves of culture and society and find their creativity within themselves and their own emotions and feelings. Modernist European artists were involved with culture and reflected on societal values and attitudes with their artworks. For example, they commented on the industrial revolution at the end of the nineteenth century, African primitivism, and the role of sexuality in society through Surrealism. While abstract expressionism is a type of modern art, this is the main difference between it and other art we have seen in this class. The American abstract expressionist ostracizes himself from the outside world, using his own thoughts and feelings to create his artwork rather than outside cultural influences. Jones claims “In their lonely studios they live as if dead to this world, creating the sublime by necessity.”
ReplyDeleteWhat is the sublime exactly? According to Jones, “The purest form of the sublime, and the one most operative in the arts, was the natural sublime – a state ‘in which all [the soul’s] motions are suspended, with some degree of horror.’” Some characteristics of the sublime in abstract expressionist painting are “obscurity, greatness of size, and power,” the use of dark colors, and a lack of finish to leave the meaning of the work more open-ended and allow the viewer to use his/her imagination. Artists were able to create an artificial infinite through succession and uniformity in their paintings. Jackson Pollock uses all of these characteristic elements of abstract expressionism in his artworks. His paintings envelop the viewer so that instead of simply seeing the artwork, the viewer and the artwork become one, just like how the artist and the artwork were one. Rothko states, “The Abstract Expressionist painters sought the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea and between the idea and the observer.” Within each work, Pollock chooses to “veil and unveil” different layers and figures so that the viewer is unable to see everything, thus causing them to use their imagination to fill in the veiled gaps. Michael Fried makes a comment on Pollock’s relationship with modernism when he says, “Pollock’s vision was grounded in one of the guiding ideals of pictorial modernism. But he gave that ideal an aggressive, uncompromising, powerfully physical interpretation that was something new under the sun.” Pollock wanted every inch of his painting to be filled with the utmost intensity and the most bodily energy he could muster. It is this intensity that creates the constant feeling of terror that never seems to pass that is characteristic of the sublime in abstract expressionism.
Victor Gonzalez
ReplyDeleteSection 7
Abstract Expressionism
In order to understand Abstract Expressionism as an art style, one must recognize that it is grounded upon the rhetoric of the sublime. According to Edmund Burke, “terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently the ruling principle of the sublime” (481). This terror, or passion, is found within the individual. The natural sublime, which emphasized the notion of “astonishment” (481), was incorporated into Abstract Expressionism in America and was characterized by “obscurity, greatness of size, and power” (481). Although these techniques seem foreboding (especially when one considers the connection between Abstract Expressionism and post-war sentiments), they collectively created an intimacy between the artist, audience, and artwork that did not exist in traditional paintings.
The similarities between Abstract Expressionism and other forms of modern painting are subtle. The only clear connection that I could find was the motif of aberration. Like most modern art, Abstract Expressionism deviates from classical painting in style and subject. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that Abstract Expressionism deviates from modern art by emphasizing the importance of the sublime in modern art.
Pollock’s Number 29 is very different from paintings within the modern tradition. For example, Pollock’s painting does not appear to have a recognizable subject, unlike Cezanne’s representations of still-life paintings or Picasso’s cubist representation of guitars. Instead, Pollock is more concerned with creating the “astonishment” of the natural sublime. Considering that Pollock redefines technique by incorporating what appear to be arbitrary drips and splashes, his art elicits astonishment in viewers by depicting an unintelligible jumble for a subject. In this sense, he fits Burke’s description of Abstract Expressionism and the natural Sublime.
Although I cannot distinguish the colors of the Jackson Pollock’s Number 29, (1950) I can tell by the darkness of the replica in the reader, that Pollock used dark colors—a staple of the natural sublime in Abstract Expressionism, as Caroline A. Jones mentioned in her article. The painting is a whopping 48” by 72”. So far, Pollock’s painting fits Burke’s concept of the natural sublime. The astonishment that Burke mentions comes mainly from the painting’s large size. Because the painting is life size, it is meant to engage the viewer more than a smaller-sized painting would. This intimacy exposes the symbolic aspect of the sublime—although the sublime takes place within an individual, an artist can capture the sublime in a painting for viewers to experience. In this sense, the sublime is not merely an individual process because it can be conveyed in art.
Abstract Expressionism is rooted in individualism, an aspect allowed it to gain success in the United States during the post-war era of the late 1940s and 1950s. The central modes of representation with Abstract Expressionism are inseparable from the idea of the ‘sublime’, an experience that Caroline Jones describes as related to strong emotions that are always “located in the individual”. Abstract Expressionist artists, like Jackson Pollack, would search for the sublime experience within themselves, trying to find these deep, raw, and intense emotions from within. This introspective process lends to the individualistic nature that is emphasized with this type of painting.
ReplyDeleteI found that Abstract Expressionism is most relatable to Impressionism. It seems as though the ideas of personal interpretation create a significant overlap. In impressionism, artists depict scenes or images according to the feelings or impressions they receive from observation. Artists make a point to rid themselves of preconceptions that are traditionally attributed to whatever their subject matter may be. This shedding of external influences of the visual experience lends to a more personal, individualized painting. The artists are liberated to visually express their feelings and sensations that they experienced while viewing their subject matter. Thus, the two styles overlap in their emphasis on the individual experience.
Abstract expressionism departs, and becomes a unique art movement, by removing barriers between the meaning of the message and the viewer of the artwork. Artists like Rothko and Newman sought to “envelope” the viewer in the painting. When reading about Rothko’s reasoning for using large canvases, the reasons why I have always been so inexplicably impressed by No. 14. While the his use of colors are obviously striking and create a rich sense of emotion, it is the size of the canvas that have the engaging, enveloping effect that is so characteristic of abstract expressionism. As Jones described, the size almost invited the viewer into the scene. He removed the barrier of reduced scale, which complicated the representational qualities of a painting. With these choices, he creates a more individualistic experience for the observer.
Like the Surrealists that came before them, abstract expressionists had great interest in the interaction between the mind and the production of art. Unlike the Surrealists, however, they did not primarily have interest in the subconscious but rather in the “sublime”, a state of mind characterized by, according to Edmund Burke, a passion like astonishment, “in which all [the soul’s motions are suspended, with some degree of horror”. Abstract expressionists used big canvases, obscurity, succession and uniformity, a lack of finish, and “dark” colors like black and brown to artificially create this effect of sublime within their paintings.
ReplyDeleteUnlike the Surrealists that celebrated the female and the feminine as closer to the subconscious and to nature, abstract expressionists in search of the sublime eschewed such notions in favor of traditionally masculine attributes. Artists were supposed to isolate themselves like “wise and holy hermits of old”, taking in the natural sublime (“the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling”) in solitude at their studios. This ideal, while originating in Europe, rooted itself strongly in American art; this image became a part of the mythos of the American artist, and greatly influenced abstract expressionism when it came about.
People like Jackson Pollock almost built a myth around themselves around this image and of the sublime. He became known largely through secondary sources, media reports and rumors that circulated about him, that cultivated an impression of mystery, of working “out there alone in the woods, doing his stuff”. Hans Namuth filmed him painting on glass under open sky, from behind the glass and the perspective of the canvas. Combined with Pollock’s narration, this film allowed viewers to experience the sublime of his painting process by literally putting them in the painting, which Pollock professed as the stated goal of his painting process, of being lost in the painting.
Abstract expressionism, as its name implies, did not feature recognizable subjects but consisted of lines and fields of color placed on the canvas. In this way, abstract expressionism departed from the previous modernist paintings we have studied, which mostly remained at least somewhat within the realm of representation, even if they did not try to create an illusionistic space but subjectively translate the painter’s experiences onto the canvas. They certainly do share the characteristic that they acknowledge the limits and particulars of their medium as a two-dimensional surface.
Overall, abstract expressionist paintings encourage us to fully absorb ourselves in the painting, not only by using such large and expansive canvases but through their use of sublime shape and color. Despite their abstractness, they still manage to evoke emotions within us through how abstract expressionists sought to “elimat[e] all obstacles between the painter and the idea and between the idea and the observer”. We can more directly feel the individual sense of sublime that the artist felt and sought through the individualistic encounters with the paintings that these characteristics enable.
Abstract Expressionism is based on the idea of the sublime. However, sublime has no exact definition because it varies from person to person. Generally speaking, “the sublime belongs wholly to the individual, tied to basic and primitive drives of self-preservation and survival.” In other words, the sublime is not influenced by society, but by individual beliefs and feelings. Similar to modern artwork, including cubism and surrealism, abstract expressionist represented the sublime using dark images and often required that the viewer use their imagination. Unlike traditional works of art, the sublime was a direct contrast to displaying anything that resembled beauty. While an artist can’t escape the beauty of nature, in his artwork, he must find a way of representing the object without adding a feminist touch. In fact, anything related to women seemed shunned by abstract artists, believing that “the depth of true understanding in the face of sublime was unavailable to women.” Beauty in an artwork doesn’t give enough depth. Abstract expressionist also disregarded any work done by women, claiming all of their artwork was done on pieces that were created by civilization (such as baskets) and the sublime has nothing to do with civilization. “The American sublime, in the developing mythology of Abstract expressionism, was uncontaminated by “civilization.” The artists wanted the purest form of inspiration; nothing coming or created by society could influence them. Thus, artists often put themselves in isolation, including bare rooms and deserted locations in the country. From these locations, abstract artists, similar to modern artist we have previously studied, could create works of art that were inspired from their emotions, feelings, and internal ideas. They had no distractions from the outside world. The method for creating sublime works of art comes from a mechanism of letting one become completely engulfed by something. Once that has happened, one can fight to possess that which possesses him through identification and representation. The identifications and representations are displayed on the canvas. Abstract expressionists were American artists who said Europeans could never achieve the sublime because they “were doomed by the burden of their traditions.” Similar to modern artists, abstract expressionists, through the use of large canvases, hoped the viewer would have the same experience when looking at the painting that they did while creating it. Every artist had an individual message that he wanted to be felt and passed on to the viewer.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first things I noticed about Pollock’s paintings, unlike past works of art we have looked at in class, is the lack of a main subject or central object. There is no structure to his works or any recognizable figures. Following the idea behind surrealism, Pollock has taken the line and removed it from its job as being a “boundary.” His lines are random and they are created through “spattering, drizzling, trailing, splashing, stabbing, lashing.” When looking at abstract expressionism, it is the details such as, “the actual matter of his pigments, their shifts in thickness, texture, and reflectivity” that must be examined carefully. Within the madness of the splattered paint there are feelings and emotions. It goes without saying that abstract expressionism is a complete opposite of traditional painting. Pollock, along with the other abstract expressionists, are not trying to paint a perfect picture or give an illusion. Instead, they are expressing their inner thoughts and sensations without boundaries. I found it odd that Pollock actually took complete works of art, some that had even been on display, and created entirely new works of art atop the old. He really set no boundaries when creating his works of art.
Abstract expressionist painting is where the artist doesn’t try to hint at the truth, but rather tries to represent how they feel with methods of painting that don’t have to have other meanings. The paintings done by abstract expressionists is very distinct, using paint and other mediums to make shapes or lines that are usually not meant to outline a specific shape the way most previous art did. Most significantly, abstract art rarely had an identifiable subject, relying on the artist’s vision to produce the art with a purpose, and leaving much more open to interpretation than other art forms.
ReplyDeleteThe most significant difference between abstract paintings and other modernist paintings is the idea of subject. In modernist painting, even when the paintings were less direct, there was almost always an identifiable subject. This made it so that the viewer had a form to contemplate, sometimes that form would be the point of focus, other times the focus would be on the style of painting. For abstract work there is rarely a form, and if there is it is hidden under the method of painting. Form in abstract art does not come from an organized attempt to portray a specific subject, but rather from the need to use paint to directly portray how the artist feels, something that does not come in a logical form. This distinct dissolution of form sets the abstract expressionists apart in a very visible way, but the underlying objective of their paintings remains the same as many modernists.
Both modernists and abstract expressionist have a common goal of portraying more than just their subject in their paintings. A common theme of most modernists is the need to include their feelings or perspective in the piece, whether that is the impression for the impressionists or the dreams of the surrealists, their paintings have a touch of personal thought and feeling. Abstract expressionism just takes that idea further, developing the art form to focus solely on that idea and not hide it in any veil of realism. This makes the abstract expressionists belong the modernist’s ranks.
Abstract Expressionism, as explained by Caroline A. Jones in "The Abstract Expressionist Sublime”, bases itself on individual’s sublime, dealing with a sense of power and horror. Abstract Expressionists would look inside themselves to their sublime to guide their art. Jones also addresses the difference between Abstract Expressionists from America and across the Atlantic to Europe. She tells how the Europeans rely on 'topographic' sublime to make their creations, whereas the Americans depend on a 'individual' sublime. Differences such as these recall back to the time when artist, mainly painters, started to fall in line with an Impressionistic style. Artists, before this switch in styles, created portraits and landscapes with heightened attention to detail to make the artwork a photorealistic representation. Artwork like that is similar to the artwork of the topographic sublime style adopted by the Europeans. With this topographic sublime, artists rely more on what they see and less on what what they feel, but still incorporate emotions into their depictions, just in a smaller way
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is a distinct difference between this sublime style of painting, American OR European, and any other modernist style. It seems that the sublime style of painting can be executed without a certain identifiable subject, using only the artist's creativity to guide the work. The use of the paint by abstract artists IS the form that they are depicting, therefore no actual form appears. The formation of the way the paint lands on the canvas tells the viewer the way the artist feels about this unknown subject, depicting emotions instead of tangible forms.