The Proto-Abstract Expressionism

But she has a difficult time assigning much direct Surrealist influence to the Proto-Abstract Expressionism of painters such as Pollock and Rothko. Anna Moszynska agrees with Sawica that Surrealism had the greatest influence on Proto-Abstract Expressionism. But her focus on the broader topic of abstraction causes her to overlook the importance of the transitional stage that preceded Abstract Expressionism. Finally, Jonathan Fineberg allows for the influence of Surrealism and of European modernism in general. But he views the painting of the 1940s as an important separate transitional phase and, therefore, pays special attention to the transformation of early influences as in the relationships between Pollock and Benton, Rothko and Avery, and Gorky and Kandinsky.

The name Abstract Expressionism was an umbrella term that was usually rejected by the painters to whom it was applied. The New York School, the preferred name, included the gestural artists such as Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and the color-field painters such as Rothko and Barnett Newman. The group included others, such as Gorky, Robert Motherwell and Adolph Gottlieb, who did not fit well into either category. In addition, not all their work was abstract "nor obviously expressive" (Moszynska 141). A comparison of the four art historians' views of Proto-Abstract Expressi Rothko's Proto-Abstract Expressionist works show a regular progression toward his color-field works, even though the 1940s works had little to do with color until the end of the decade. Indeed, in the important works discussed by the four historians, color is the least important element. These works include: a series based on classical themes including Untitled (1939-1940) (Anfam 66), Antigone (c. 1941) (Fineberg 109), and Untitled (Rothko no. 3079.40) (c. 1942) (Sawica 301); Entombment I (1946) (Sawica 362); and, Number 18 (c. 1948) (Anfam 110) which is also identified as Untitled (Multiform) (1947) by Moszynska (166).

Anfam, David. Abstract Expressionism. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990.

Sawica seems more sensitive to the early development of this particular formal aspect of Rothko's work. She cites, for instance, the importance of Milton Avery for Rothko's early works such as Untitled (Figures around a Piano) (1935-1940) (Sawica 99). In this painting the childish figures are only nominally connected to their setting within a room. Sawica notes that it may well have been from Avery that Rothko "learned how to soften edges to achieve his characteristic effect of floating, hovering forms" (98). Fineberg also sees the influence of Avery as a major contribution to early Rothko. In his comparison of Rothko's Subway Scene (1938) (Fineberg 107) and Avery's Matisse-like Interior with Figure (1938) (Fineberg 107), Fineberg sees the large flat color areas and the "planar frontality" of Rothko's painting as a reflection of Avery's influence and an anticipation of Rothko's late style (108). Yet Fineberg also ignores the same sort of formal connections between the late work and the 1941-1943 series. Sawica, however, takes note of the transformation of the elements of this early series in Rothko's Entombment I of 1946.

Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.