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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
POSTWAR TO POSTMODERN, 1945 1980
Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych
Betye Saar, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)
Nam June Paik, Internet Dweller: wol.five.ydpb
Richard Hamilton, Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes so Different, so Appealing?
Google Earth Coordinates:
Seagram Building, NYC
Videos and Podcasts:
Video Links:
Jackson Pollock at Work
Existentialism in New York: Abstract Expressionism
Key Images
Arshile Gorky, The Liver Is the Cock s Comb, p. 1037, 29.1
Primary Source: Jackson Pollock (1912- . 1038
170
Abstract Expressionism dates to the late 1940s with the work of Arshile Gorky whose
style bridges New York Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.
Abstract Expressionism later developed into the gestural paintings of Jackson Pollock
and Willem de Kooning, with the gesture, the physical application of the paint on
Existentialism in Europe: Figural Expressionism
Key Images
Jean Dubuffet, Le Métafisyx, from the Corps de Dames series, p. 1043, 29.7
Francis Bacon, Head Surrounded by Sides of Beef, p. 1043, 29.8
Jean Dubuffet discovered the Art brut art made by untrained artists or by the insane,
Rejecting Abstract Expressionism: American Art of the 1950s and 1960s
Key Images
Robert Rauschenberg, Odalisk, p. 1044, 29.9
Jasper Johns, Three Flags, p. 1046, 29.10
Allan Kaprow, Yard, p. 1047, 29.11
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Primary Source: Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), From an interview with Joan Marter, p.
1050
Pop Art responded to the relationship between commercialization and popular culture
Formalist Abstraction of the 1950s and 1960s
Key Images
Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, p. 1054, 29.18
Ellsworth Kelly, Red Blue Green, p. 1054, 29.19
Primary Source: Frank Stella (b. 1936), Pratt Institute Lecture, p. 1056
Formalist abstraction was based on the formal qualities of the works with no visible
brushstroke.
The Pluralist 1970s: Post-Minimalism
Key Images
Eva Hesse, Untitled, p. 1058, 29.23
Richard Serra, Corner Prop, p. 1059, 29.24
Lens: Studying the Absent Object, p. 1059
Post-minimalist response to the Minimalist movement was diverse.
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Christo and Jeanne-Claude transformed landscapes with temporary environmental
sculptures.
Conceptual art was launched during this period.
Art with a Social Agenda
Key Images
Robert Frank, Drug Store, Detroit, p. 1065, 29.30
Primary Source: Romare Bearden (1911-1988), From a 1984 interview with Joseph
Jacobs, p. 1066
A key part of the 1970s Post-Minimalism movement was art that had a social agenda.
Late Modernist Architecture
Key Images
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, Seagram Building, New York, p. 1070,
29.35
Le Corbusier, Nôtre-Dame-du-Haut (from the southeast), Ronchamp, France, p. 1071,
29.36
Key Terms/Places/Names
Abstract Expressionism
gesture paintings
action paintings
allover paintings
color-field painting
existentialism
Figural Expressionism
Art brut
stain painting
process art
Discussion Questions
?
2. How did Abstract Expressionism in the United States differ from Figural
Expressionism in Europe?
6. What is an earthwork?
7. Why was Joseph Beuys performance piece, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare
(29.28) so effective?
Resources
Books
Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1998.
174
Pollock, Jackson, Susan Davidson, David Anfam, and Margaret Holben Ellis. No Limits,
Just Edges: Jackson Pollock Paintings on Paper. New York: Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation, 2005.
Rauschenberg, Robert, Paul Schimmel, and Thomas E. Crow. Robert Rauschenberg:
Combines. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2005.
DVDs
Andy Warhol. (2000). Image Entertainment. 76 min.
Artists of the 20th Century: Jackson Pollock (2004) Kultur Video. 110 min.
Jackson Pollock (2001). Image Entertainment. 52 min.
Robert Rauschenberg: Man at Work (2001). Image Entertainment. 57 min.