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:An American born art movement that was inspired by Surrealism and its exploration of the subconcious and its emotional apppeals.
:It specifically started in New York, as many European Surrealist artists had emigrated here during the 1930s.
:This movement experimented with art's many aspects, including color, form and texture. Which emphasized rugged individualism and a romantic mood.
:many paintings of this movement were incredibly large, and as such were heavily planned. -
Jackson Pollock, Full Fathom Five,1947, o/c, nails, buttons, tacks, key, coins, cigarettes, matches,etc.;129.2x76.5cm, MoMA, New York.
:One of the two most common kinds of paintings for the abstract expressionist movement.
: Action paintings like these emphasized spontaneity and improvisation, and these kinds were what Pollock is probably the most famous for.
: Action paintings like these, and especially the drip paintings like these, more directly expressed the emotional state of the artist. -
Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952, oil on canvas,7x10ft, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
:Helen was introduced to the art world by Clement Greenberg, and since then started making paintings.
:These color field paintings of hers are a bit different from others however, as she used a particular method of diluting the paint and effectively staining the canvas instead.
:Color field paintings were meant to use plain colors and to have the viewer think on their emotional state with it. -
:A new wave of Dada-esque artworks, they demanded that the viewer thinks critically about the artwork they're viewing, rather than emotionally like how the Ab. Exp.ists do.
:They worked to disrupt the establishment, and had to be subversive as this was the time of great suspicion in America. (Red Scare, Lavender Scare, McCarthyism, etc.)
:Mocked and celebrated consumer culture by appropriating odd materials like discarded consumer goods and images from pop culture. -
Robert Rauschenberg, Erased de Kooning Drawing, 1953, 64.1x55.25cm, Remnants of drawing media on paper with label and gilded frame, MoMA, San Francisco.
: For this, Robert asked de Kooning for a drawing that he could erase, and de Kooning eventually gave him one, though it was heavily scrawled upon to make any erasing incredibly difficult.
: It took Rauschenberg two months to fully erase it.
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Jasper John, Target With Four Faces,1955, encaustic on newspaper and cloth over canvas, 85.3x66x7.6cm, MoMA, New York.
: Jasper and Rauschenberg were big names in Neo Dadaism, and were partners in work and in love, despite having to hide it during the era of the Lavender Scare.
: This is one of his combines (painting?), as Neo Dadaism really started to synthesize all different art forms together in their experimenting.
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Mark Rothko, Four Darks in Red, 1958, oil on canvas, 258.6x295.6cm, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
: a great example of an iconic color field painting.
:these were meant to have a contemplative effect on the viewer, inspiring emotion.
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Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon, 1959, combine of oil, pencil, paper, metal, photograph, fabric, wood, canvas, buttons, mirror, taxidermied eagle, cardboard, pillow, paint tube and other materials. 207.6x177.8x61cm,MoMA, New York.
: While hard to see in the middle of it all, there is a photograph of roberts son in here as well.
: the eagle was a gift from another artist, and was supposedly killed before before the 1940 Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and Rauschenberg came under fire for it.
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Jasper John, According To What, 1964, oil, charcoal and graphite on canvas with various objects, 223.5x487cm, private collection.
: 16feet? Good lord. Very cool however. It was made by connecting several canvases together along with several objects as well.
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Helen Frankenthaler, Canyon, 1965, acrylic on canvas, 111.8x132.1cm, Phillips Collection, New York.
: another example of a color field painting, 13 years after "Mountain and Sea"
:contemplation is a common requirement for these kinds of pieces.
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Folland, Dr. Thomas. “Smarthistory – Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon.” Smarthistory, 9 Aug. 2015, smarthistory.org/robert-rauschenberg-canyon/.
Folland, Dr. Thomas. “Smarthistory – in 1953, Robert Rauschenberg Erased a Drawing by de Kooning.” Smarthistory, 16 Aug. 2019, smarthistory.org/erased-dekooning-rauschenberg/.
“Mark Rothko: Four Darks in Red.” Mark Rothko | Four Darks in Red | Whitney Museum of American Art, whitney.org/collection/works/897. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025. -
“Jackson Pollock. Full Fathom Five. 1947 | Moma.” Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/works/79070?locale=en. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
Harris, Dr. Beth, and Dr. Steven Zucker. “Smarthistory – Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea.” Smarthistory, 19 June 2018, smarthistory.org/frankenthaler-sea/.
Maurer, Renee. “Canyon.” The Phillips Collection, 2021, www.phillipscollection.org/collection/canyon-0. -
“Jasper Johns. Target with Four Faces. 1955 | Moma.” MoMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/78393?locale=en. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
Dorfman, John. “Double Vision.” Art Antiques Magazine - For Collectors of the Fine and Decorative Arts, 1 Oct. 2021, www.artandantiquesmag.com/double-vision/.