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Gestural abstraction has been around for a long time. Some may be shocked
to learn that Gestural abstraction was used as a weapon in the Cold War with the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR). The Soviet Union incorporated a style known as "Socialist Realism." This style was intended to
depict and glorify the common workers struggle toward socialist progress. The grunt worker
was convinced through the arts that their life and work for the country were the most admirable. The style, also visually
known as "tractor art," had to be real so the people clearly understood the intent of the art. The everyday person became
the subject of the novel, the play, poetry, rousing music and art. Painters would depict happy, muscular peasants and
workers in factories and collective farms. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed
the Congress of Cultural Freedom (CCF) in 1950. The intent of the CCF was to counter the Socialist Realism style in literature,
philosophy, music, and art. Why? To remove the idea that the work of the common labor was meaningful. Under the CCF, the CIA
hosted 150 exhibits in Paris, France in 1952. In those exhibits, the art of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning,
and others were used to promote this abstraction as the most internationally accepted visual art. It took some help and promoting
by Nelson Rockefeller and John Whitney from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to pull this off. The end result was
the successful counter to Soviet "Socialist Realism."
NOTE:
Due to the large amounts of content on each artist, you can find the information, photos, links, and other tid-bits
under the link on this page to the "Artists notes."
Two Schools
of Gestural Abstraction:
Action
Painters:
At the root of "Action Painting", as mentioned, was a political change in the world. American artists considered "Social" or "Socialist Realism" a dead style. The term "Action Painting" was coined by art critic Harold Rosenberg
in late in 1952 as an off-shoot of the "Abstract Expressionist" style. These
artists work to create art that communicates largely through form and color in a seemingly quick, gestural stroke. This is
why I classify them as "Gestural Abstraction" artists. However one labels these artists, the art is a unique form
of abstraction because it is non-representational and non-objective, meaning that it is not based on actual objects, but based
on nothing in the physical world.
Wassily Kandinsky: Dec.16,1866- Dec.13,1944...Russia/France
Jackson Pollock: Jan. 28,1912-Aug. 11,1956...United States
Lee Krasner: Oct. 27,1908-June 19,1984...United States
Color Field Painters:
The color field painters are often referred to as the “second
generation” Abstract Expressionists. They evolved from the Action paintings of Jackson Pollock
and ideas of Arshile Gorky. The true innovator of color field art was Helen
Frankenthaler. This style impacted many artists (like those listed and a great many more).
Helen Frankenthaler: December 12,1928-****...United States
Robert Motherwell: January 24,1915-July
16,1991...United States
Mark Rothko: September 25,1903-February
25,1970...Russia/United States
Cy Twombly: April 25,1928-****...United States
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