New York Figurative Expressionism
Encyclopedia
New York Figurative Expressionism of the 1950s represented a trend where "diverse New York artists countered the prevailing abstract mode to work with the figure."
Willem de Kooning
, (1904 - 1997); Jackson Pollock
, (1912 - 1956); Conrad Marca-Relli
, (1913 - 2000)
Larry Rivers
, (1923 - 2002); Grace Hartigan
(1922 - )
Elaine de Kooning
, (1918 - 1989); Balcomb Greene
, (1904 - 1990); Robert de Niro, Sr.
, (1920 - 1993); Fairfield Porter
, (1907 - 1975); Gregorio Prestopino
, (1907-1984); Lester Johnson, (1919 - 2010); George McNeil, (1909 - 1995); and Robert Goodnough, (1917 - ); Irving Kriesberg
(1919-2009)
Jan Müller, (1922 - 1958); Robert Beauchamp, (1923 - 1995); Nicholas Marsicano
, (1914 – 1991) and Bob Thompson
, (1937 - 1966)
According to Klaus Kertess, during the 1950s the figure in its role as harbinger of conservatism
became an obvious target for abstractionist defensiveness—a defensiveness prone to blur the vast distinctions between figurative
painters and to exaggerate the difference between the figurative and the nonfigurative. It was not until the late sixties and early seventies that the figure was permitted to return from exile and even to make claims to centrality
.
The Journal’s intention was “to rise to the defense of any painter’s right to paint any ways he wants.”
In the Autumn of 1959 Philip Pavia, the “partisan publisher” of It is, a magazine of abstract art wrote in an open letter to Leslie Katz, the new publisher of Arts Magazine: “I am begging you to give the representational artist a better deal. The neglected representational and near-abstract artists, not the abstractionists, need a champion these days.”
Although the New York Figurative Expressionists lacked advocates of the stature of Clement Greenberg or Harold Rosenberg, they were recognized by critics who perceived them as the new radicals. “representatives of a new generation to whom figurative art was in a sense more revolutionary than abstraction.”
The literary historian, Marjorie Perloff
has made a convincing argument that Frank O'Hara
’s poems on the works of Garace Hartigan and Larry Rivers proved “that he was really more at home with painting that retains at least some figuration than with pure abstraction.” Frank O’Hara wrote an elegant defense in ”Nature and New Painting," 1954. He listed the following artists:
who responded to “the siren-like call of nature.” O’Hara aligned the New York Figurative Expressionists within abstract expressionism, which had always taken a strong position against an implied protocol, “whether at the Metropolitan Museum or the Artists Club.” Thomas B. Hess, wrote that “the ‘New figurative painting’ which some have been expecting as a reaction against Abstract Expressionism was implicit in it at the start, and is one of its most lineal continuities.”
Categories of figurative expressionist modes
- The figure can refer to an armatureArmatureArmature may refer to:* Armature , the kinematic chains used in computer animation to simulate the motions of virtual characters...
or framework on which expressionist canvases are built:
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
, (1904 - 1997); Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
, (1912 - 1956); Conrad Marca-Relli
Conrad Marca-Relli
Conrad Marca-Relli was an American artist who belonged to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized across the Atlantic, including Paris...
, (1913 - 2000)
- The figure was influenced by Old Master and historyHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
painting:
Larry Rivers
Larry Rivers
Larry Rivers was an American artist, musician, filmmaker and occasional actor. Rivers resided and maintained studios in New York City, Southampton, New York and Zihuatanejo, Mexico.-Biography:...
, (1923 - 2002); Grace Hartigan
Grace Hartigan
Grace Hartigan was an American Abstract Expressionist painter of the New York School in the 1950s.-Biography and early career:...
(1922 - )
- Representational portraiture:
Elaine de Kooning
Elaine de Kooning
Elaine de Kooning was an Abstract Expressionist, Figurative Expressionist painter in the post-World War II era and editorial associate for Art News magazine...
, (1918 - 1989); Balcomb Greene
Balcomb Greene
Balcomb Greene and his wife, artist Gertrude Glass Greene, were heavily involved in political activism to promote mainstream acceptance of abstract art. They were founding members of the American Abstract Artists organization. His early style was completely non-objective. Juan Gris and Piet...
, (1904 - 1990); Robert de Niro, Sr.
Robert De Niro, Sr.
Robert Henry De Niro, Sr. was an American abstract expressionist painter and the father of actor Robert De Niro.-Life and career:...
, (1920 - 1993); Fairfield Porter
Fairfield Porter
Fairfield Porter was an American painter and art critic. He was the brother of photographer Eliot Porter and the brother-in-law of federal Reclamation Commissioner Michael W. Straus....
, (1907 - 1975); Gregorio Prestopino
Gregorio Prestopino
Gregorio Prestopino, was an American artist, according to the art historian Irma B. Jaffe:one of the major American painters who refused to reject the image, has devoted his career to depicting the human condition with a warmth tempered only by honesty.-Biography:Prestopino was born in New York...
, (1907-1984); Lester Johnson, (1919 - 2010); George McNeil, (1909 - 1995); and Robert Goodnough, (1917 - ); Irving Kriesberg
Irving Kriesberg
Irving Kriesberg was an American painter whose work combined elements of Abstract Expressionism with figurative elements of human and animal forms...
(1919-2009)
- ”Allegorical Mythical painting that brought stylistic elements of the GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
expressionists to the heroic scaleMeasurementMeasurement is the process or the result of determining the ratio of a physical quantity, such as a length, time, temperature etc., to a unit of measurement, such as the metre, second or degree Celsius...
of the Abstract expressionists: "
Jan Müller, (1922 - 1958); Robert Beauchamp, (1923 - 1995); Nicholas Marsicano
Nicholas Marsicano
Nicholas Marsicano , American painter and teacher of the New York School, was married to Dancer/Choreagrapher Merle Marsicano...
, (1914 – 1991) and Bob Thompson
Bob Thompson (painter)
Bob Thompson was an African-American figurative painter known for his bold and colorful canvases, whose compositions were appropriated from the Old Masters. He was very prolific in his eight-year career, producing over 1000 works before his death in Rome, Italy in 1966. The Whitney Museum in New...
, (1937 - 1966)
According to Klaus Kertess, during the 1950s the figure in its role as harbinger of conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
became an obvious target for abstractionist defensiveness—a defensiveness prone to blur the vast distinctions between figurative
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
painters and to exaggerate the difference between the figurative and the nonfigurative. It was not until the late sixties and early seventies that the figure was permitted to return from exile and even to make claims to centrality
Centrality
Within graph theory and network analysis, there are various measures of the centrality of a vertex within a graph that determine the relative importance of a vertex within the graph...
.
Aspects of Figuration in New York, 1950-1964
According to Judith E. Stein, During the war years and into the fifties, the general public was to remain highly suspicious of abstraction, considered by many as un-American. While the art critic Clement Greenberg successfully fought the public’s negative response to abstraction his attempt to intimidate the New York figurative painters of the fifties was less successful. A conversation recollected by Thomas B. Hess emphasized the perceived power of the critic: “It is impossible today to paint a face, pontificated the critic Clement Greenberg around 1950. “That’s right,” said de Kooning, “and it‘s impossible not to.” In the winter of 1953 a new journal was founded, Reality. The editorial committee included:- Isabel BishopIsabel BishopIsabel Bishop was an American painter and graphic artist, who produced numerous paintings and prints of working women in realistic urban settings...
- Edward HopperEdward HopperEdward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
- Jack LevineJack LevineJack Levine was an American Social Realist painter and printmaker best known for his satires on modern life, political corruption, and biblical narratives.-Biography:...
- Raphael SoyerRaphael SoyerRaphael Soyer was a Russian-born American painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Soyer was referred to as an American scene painter...
- Henry Varnum Poor
The Journal’s intention was “to rise to the defense of any painter’s right to paint any ways he wants.”
In the Autumn of 1959 Philip Pavia, the “partisan publisher” of It is, a magazine of abstract art wrote in an open letter to Leslie Katz, the new publisher of Arts Magazine: “I am begging you to give the representational artist a better deal. The neglected representational and near-abstract artists, not the abstractionists, need a champion these days.”
Although the New York Figurative Expressionists lacked advocates of the stature of Clement Greenberg or Harold Rosenberg, they were recognized by critics who perceived them as the new radicals. “representatives of a new generation to whom figurative art was in a sense more revolutionary than abstraction.”
The literary historian, Marjorie Perloff
Marjorie Perloff
Marjorie Perloff is an Austrian-born U.S. poetry critic.Perloff was born Gabriele Mintz into a secularized Jewish family in Vienna. Faced with Nazi terror, her family emigrated in 1938 when she was six-and-a-half, going first to Zürich and then to the United States, settling in Riverdale, New York...
has made a convincing argument that Frank O'Hara
Frank O'Hara
Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara was an American writer, poet and art critic. He was a member of the New York School of poetry.-Life:...
’s poems on the works of Garace Hartigan and Larry Rivers proved “that he was really more at home with painting that retains at least some figuration than with pure abstraction.” Frank O’Hara wrote an elegant defense in ”Nature and New Painting," 1954. He listed the following artists:
- Grace HartiganGrace HartiganGrace Hartigan was an American Abstract Expressionist painter of the New York School in the 1950s.-Biography and early career:...
- Larry RiversLarry RiversLarry Rivers was an American artist, musician, filmmaker and occasional actor. Rivers resided and maintained studios in New York City, Southampton, New York and Zihuatanejo, Mexico.-Biography:...
- Elaine de KooningElaine de KooningElaine de Kooning was an Abstract Expressionist, Figurative Expressionist painter in the post-World War II era and editorial associate for Art News magazine...
- Jane Freilicher
- Robert de Niro, Sr.Robert De Niro, Sr.Robert Henry De Niro, Sr. was an American abstract expressionist painter and the father of actor Robert De Niro.-Life and career:...
- Felix Pasilis
- Wolf KahnWolf KahnWolf Kahn is a German-born American painter.Kahn is known for his combination of realism and Color Field, and known to work in pastel and oil paint. He studied under Hans Hofmann, and also graduated from the University of Chicago...
who responded to “the siren-like call of nature.” O’Hara aligned the New York Figurative Expressionists within abstract expressionism, which had always taken a strong position against an implied protocol, “whether at the Metropolitan Museum or the Artists Club.” Thomas B. Hess, wrote that “the ‘New figurative painting’ which some have been expecting as a reaction against Abstract Expressionism was implicit in it at the start, and is one of its most lineal continuities.”
Books
- Paul Schimmel and Judith E Stein, The Figurative fifties : New York figurative expressionism, (Newport Beach, Calif. : Newport Harbor Art Museum : New York : Rizzoli, 1988.)ISBN 0847809420 9780847809424 0917493125 9780917493126
- Bram Dijkstra, American expressionism : art and social change, 1920-1950, (New York : H.N. Abrams, in association with the Columbus Museum of Art, 2003.) ISBN 0810942313 9780810942318
- Marika Herskovic, American Abstract and Figurative Expressionism Style Is Timely Art Is Timeless (New York School Press, 2009.) ISBN 9780967799421
- Marika Herskovic, ed. New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-0-6
- Dore Ashton, The New York school; a cultural reckoning. (New York, Viking Press 1973, ©1972.) ISBN 0670509124 9780670509126 0670003689 9780670003686
- Gregory Battock, ed. The new art; a critical anthology, (New York: Frederick A. Prager, 1957or 3rd ed. New York, E.P. Dutton, 1973.) OCLC 788661
External links for image reproductions
- Willem de Kooning, Woman, I. 1950-52. Oil on canvas, from MoMA.org
- Jackson Pollock, Easter and the Totem. 1953. Oil on canvas from MoMA.org
- Conrad Marca-Relli, Seated Figure, 1953-54 Oil and canvas on linen from artic.edu
- Larry Rivers, Study for George Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1953. Pencil on paper, from MoMA.org
- Grace Hartigan, Homage to Matisse, 1955 oil on canvas from RISD.edu/museum.cfm
- Elaine de Kooning, Fairfield Porter, 1954 oil on canvas from kemperart.org
- Robert de Niro, Sr., Lola Montez, 1958 - 1959 charcoal and pencil on paper from hirshhorn.si.edu
- Fairfield Porter, Katie and Anne, 1955 oil on canvas from hirshhorn.si.edu
- George McNeil, Jezebel, 1960 oil on canvas from collections.walkerart.org
- Jan Muller, (1922 - 1958), The Search for the Unicorn, 1957 oil on canvas from michaelrosenfeld.com
- Bob Thompson, Untitled, 1962 oil on canvas from hirshhorn.si.edu
