When
Picasso and Braque invented Cubism, it was the result of a consciously
discussed approach, and their paintings during that period seem
interchangeable. Exhibition text at the beginning of the Royal Academy’s Abstract Expressionism notes significant
differences between the work of individual artists. How much, then, is it a movement? Is it more
than an imposition of art historians and critics? Well, all art movements do
not have to be as tightly formulated as Cubism. The impulses, establishment and
continuing recognition of Abstract Expressionism point to something definite,
and, post 1945, famously shifted the art world’s centre of gravity from Paris
to New York. It is also well named, being concerned with abstract responses to
subjective sensibilities and perceptions
(differentiating it from the figurative Expressionism of earlier in the
century).
Exhibition
text also provides a useful handle for getting some kind of grip on
understanding individual artists. It refers to two broad categories. There are
those who are gestural, with Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell good examples of
bold and at times ferocious mark making; and others, notably Rothko, who chose
to express themselves through areas of colour (sometimes labelled “colour
field” artists).
It is an
achievement of this exhibition that Jackson Pollock does not blot out the other
artists while at the same time retaining his position as one of the supreme
artists of the twentieth century, The curators have pulled off the spectacular
coup of Pollock’s two largest paintings — Blue
Poles (loaned from Australia) and Mural
(commissioned in 1943 by Peggy Guggenheim for her Manhattan townhouse)— being hung
on opposite walls of the same room. Pollock’s “action painting” was a
revolutionary, rhythmic way of composing paintings. As with other Abstract
Expressionists, what might seem random was actually deliberate, while simultaneously
in the moment. His dripped paint was a journey measured by the dimensions of
the canvas, but with a vast complexity of deviations. As we look at this work
we embark on a perceptual journey of our own, and it is constantly surprising
and fascinating.
In such a comprehensive
show, there are usually winners and losers. Barnett Newman, as much a proto-Minimalist
as an Abstract Expressionist, seems slightly diminished. The singular restraint
and elegance of his vision are not well served when offset against the more
muscular and dynamic work in other rooms. In contrast, Clyfford Still gains
from a powerful selection. He was based on the West Coast, rather than New York,
and many of Still’s paintings are now confined to a museum in Denver dedicated
to his work. Showing in London has meant his reputation, already high, has been
notched up. This is justified: his distinctive style, at times looking like
torn paper on a monumental scale, is a combination of energy and contemplation.
One of the exhibited paintings was completed in 1944, making it clear he was
there at the start of the movement.
The Royal
Academy has a track record of important exhibitions, but those, like this one,
that can be more loftily described as historic are rare at any institution. I
visited the Royal Academy’s Post-Impressionism
in 1980, and left knowing I had seen one of the greatest London art exhibitions
of the second half of the twentieth century. Abstract Expressionism has a similar status for the first half of
the twenty-first: it is a once in a generation event. The work encompasses intensity
and the sublime, and demands the commitment and perceptions of each viewer.
Such an experience creates its own lasting reward.
About the reviewer
Robert Richardson is a visual artist and writer. His work is included in Artists’ Postcards: A Compendium (edited by Jeremy Cooper, published by Reaktion Books, London). He is a member of the Biennale Austria association of artists, and recently exhibited online with the Paris based Corridor Elephant publishing project. In 2014, his solo exhibition TextSpaces was exhibited at Eugen Gomringer’s Kunsthaus Rehau in Germany. He is also the co-editor, with William Pratt, of Homage to Imagism (AMS Press, New York).
Robert Richardson is a visual artist and writer. His work is included in Artists’ Postcards: A Compendium (edited by Jeremy Cooper, published by Reaktion Books, London). He is a member of the Biennale Austria association of artists, and recently exhibited online with the Paris based Corridor Elephant publishing project. In 2014, his solo exhibition TextSpaces was exhibited at Eugen Gomringer’s Kunsthaus Rehau in Germany. He is also the co-editor, with William Pratt, of Homage to Imagism (AMS Press, New York).
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