Abstract Expressionism

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Salut Tom by Joan Mitchell

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Joan Mitchell’s birth, the perfect occasion to reflect on her extraordinary contributions to Abstract...

Carlotta Mazzoli 23 March 2025

Painting

The First Abstract Expressionists: Carl Jung and Hilma af Klint

Before the art world embraced her as a pioneer of Abstract Expressionism, Hilma af Klint hid her revolutionary works behind layers of secrecy, driven...

Guest Author 20 March 2025

Abstract Expressionism

Michael West, Woman Artist Excluded from the Ab-E Gang

The American art world in the era of the post-war boom of Abstract Expressionism was definitely male-oriented. That is the reason why Corinne...

Magda Michalska 17 March 2025

Women Artists

Joan Hill’s Artistic Tribute to Her Native-American Heritage

On December 19, 1930, in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Joan Hill was born into an influential family of Creek and Cherokee descent. After dabbling in art...

Abreeza Thomas 10 March 2025

Abstract Expressionism

Keeping up with the Boys: Abstract Expressionist Helen Frankenthaler

It’s often the men of Abstract Expressionism who are best known: Jackson Pollock and his famous “drip” technique; Willem de Kooning’s...

Kelly Hill 4 March 2025

Alma Thomas, Earth Sermon – Beauty, Love And Peace, 1971, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. Women Artists

Celebrating Alma Thomas: An African American Expressionist

Abstract Expressionism was a movement dominated by male artists. Painters such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning have held center...

Heather Johnson 24 February 2025

Women Artists

Janet Sobel: Forgotten Female Artist Who Influenced Jackson Pollock

Although almost entirely erased from the canon of Abstract Expressionist art, Janet Sobel (born Jennie Olechovsky) is now slowly gaining recognition...

Isabella Hill 24 February 2025

Abstract Expressionism

The Irascibles: The Birth of American Abstract Expressionism

This photograph of New York-based Abstract Expressionist painters was published in Life magazine in January of 1951. The photograph, dubbed “The...

Tom Anderson 13 February 2025

Women Artists

Lee Krasner—Artist of Many Faces

For a long time, Lee Krasner’s (1908–1984) art has been overshadowed by that of her husband Jackson Pollock. Difficult to categorize, her work...

Michel Rutten 6 January 2025

Kandinsky video: Video

Watch Kandinsky Drawing on a Rare Footage from 1926

In 1926, filmmaker Hans Cürlis, a pioneer of art documentaries, took this rare footage of the abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky on video. The...

Zuzanna Stańska, Aniela Rybak-Vaganay 4 December 2024

Quiz

QUIZ: Abstract Expressionism for Nerds

Tommy Thiange 9 November 2024

Rothko's early art: Mark Rothko, Underground Fantasy, 1940 © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/Bildrecht Wien, 2019. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA. Artist Stories

Rothko’s Early Paintings That Will Surprise You

There is no doubt that when we think of Mark Rothko, we picture his large, abstract canvases with representations of human feelings and drama. He...

Zuzanna Stańska 25 September 2024