Abstract expressionism
The two artworks emerged from abstract expressionists, a group of artists from the United States who rejected figuration artwork. Before World War II, most artists settled in the U.S as immigrants from Europeans and started teaching other artists new artwork styles. I realized that “the abstract expressionists were deeply influenced by the idea of exploring the unconscious which reigned in surrealism” (Shira 2019). So, I think there was a great relationship between abstract expressionism with surrealism. The first artwork was done by Jackson Pollock in 1950, a remarkable painter who emerged after postwar. The painting was titled “One: Number 31, 1950,” and its medium was oil and enamel paint on unprimed canvas. It “exemplifies at a grand scale the radical drip technique that defined Pollock’s abstract expressionism style” (Pollock 1950) of drip painting. The drip painting involved dripping and flinging paint on canvas. The painter used commercial enamel paints and never advocated titles or numbers to his pieces. He believed it would be better to number his pieces as a sign of neutrality.
The second piece is part of the abstract expressionism painted by Barnett Newman’s. The artwork had no title like Pollock’s paintings and instead numbered as “Onement I 1948,” oil on canvas. It appeared like a thick vertical band, “which Newman later started calling a zip, was to become Newman’s signature mark” (Shira 2019). Just like Pollock, Newman painted from scratch, and both used the compositions of their paintings to express their thought and experience of life rather than illustrating. Newman also applied gestural brushstrokes to his pieces, similar to Pollock, who never carefully applied paint. As Pollock concentrated on the drip painting, Newman got interested in color field painting. The colors used in these paintings were to create emotive cultural themes of what was happing in society. The colors of the pieces were also “meant to engulf the viewer and inspire spiritual contemplation and intense feeling” (Shira 2019). As abstract expressionists, the two artists did not use traditional oil paints but rather to experience the pure painting. Space and time were essential aspects of abstract expressionism.