Art history timeline atlas
Abstract Expressionism And Color Field
Postwar abstraction turned scale, gesture, stain and color into immersive encounters with process, body and mood.
Postwar Experiments And Global Networks
Historical context
New York became a major postwar art center, but the story was never only New York or only men. Women artists and artists of color were often pushed to the margins of the official narrative.
Cold War politics, museums, critics and markets helped turn abstraction into a symbol of freedom, even as artists had more varied aims.
How to look
- Look beyond one center. Postwar art moves through New York, Paris, Mexico City, Lagos, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Seoul and many other networks.
- Notice how the artwork becomes action, environment, document, idea, institution critique, body politics or public argument.
Makers, works, and materials
Date range: c. 1945-1965
Regions: Americas, Europe
Media: Painting, Drawing
Movements: Abstract Expressionism, Color Field
Makers to research
- Jackson Pollock
- Mark Rothko
- Lee Krasner
- Helen Frankenthaler
- Norman Lewis
Named works to compare
- Action paintings
- Color field canvases
- Postwar abstraction
The canvas as arena
A large drip painting can make viewers feel the record of movement around the canvas. The image is also a trace of an event.
Legacy and why it matters
Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting shaped later debates about scale, authenticity, market myth, formalism and museum spectacle.