San Antonio College Library

Traces the evolution of a distinctive art form in the United States, noting how most of its contributors were first- or second-generation immigrants living in urban or disadvantaged regions, and examining how the art of the period reflects ideals about equality, dignity, justice, and the challenges of the working class.

"One of the most enduringly influential Abstract Expressionists, Barnett Newman (1905-1970) took the genre to a startling new sphere. His tough, spare, emotive paintings were misunderstood and reviled by most critics when they first appeared in 1950 but came to command wide respect and even veneration by the end of the 1960s. Seemingly simple on first viewing, the paintings are in fact richly complicated and unexpectedly diverse. Newman aspired to...

"The abstract paintings of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Lee Krasner, Clyfford Still, Helen Frankenthaler, and others revolutionized the art world in the 1940s and 1950s and continue to inspire passionate arguments to this day. What were these artists trying to achieve? Who were the critical voices of the time that rallied public interest in Abstract Expressionism and sparked rancorous debate?" "Drawing on recent critical, historical,...