ART-TRIBUTE:Epic Abstraction, Pollock to Herrera,Part I

Robert Motherwell, Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 70, 1961, Oil on canvas, 175.3 x 289.6 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Anonymous Gift, 1965, Accession Number: 65.247, © Dedalus Foundation /Licensed by VAGA, New York, NYWhile Jackson Pollock was celebrated and canonized for his drip paintings for a significant portion of his short life, Carmen Herrera, an immigrant woman from Cuba, only began receiving recognition very recently. She had been practicing and refining the idea of abstraction since the fifties in New York, alongside her more publicized peers such as Leon Polk Smith and Barnett Newman (Part II).

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archive

A new vanguard emerged in the early 1940s, primarily in New York, where a small group of loosely affiliated artists created a stylistically diverse body of work that introduced radical new directions in art—and shifted the art world’s focus. Never a formal association, the artists known as “Abstract Expressionists” or “The New York School” did, however, share some common assumptions. The exhibition “Epic Abstraction: Pollock to Herrera” begins in the 1940s and extends into the 21st Century to explore large-scale abstract painting, sculpture, and assemblage through more than 50 works from The Met collection, a selection of loans, and promised gifts and new acquisitions. In the wake of unprecedented destruction and loss of life during World War II, many painters and sculptors working in the 1940s grew to believe that traditional painting and figurative sculpture no longer adequately conveyed the human condition. In this context, numerous artists, including Barnett Newman, Pollock, and others associated with the New York School, were convinced that abstract styles, often on a large scale, most meaningfully evoked contemporary states of being. Many of the artists represented in the exhibition worked in large formats not only to explore aesthetic elements of line, color, shape, and texture but also to activate scale’s metaphoric potential to evoke expansive ideas and subjects, including time, history, nature, the body, and existential concerns of the self. Highlights of the exhibition include a group of paintings by Pollock and a selection of his experimental sketchbook drawings from the late 1930s and early 1940s that demonstrate the artist’s exploration of automatic techniques and his interest in Jungian psychoanalysis. Major works by Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, and Clyfford Still expand the representation of mid-century American painting, while a space devoted to Mark Rothko’s meditative compositions offer a powerful immersion in color, feeling, and sensation. These heralded Abstract Expressionists are joined by Hedda Sterne and Philippines native Alfonso Ossorio, who were also associated with the movement. A significant ink painting from 1966 by Japanese artist Inoue Yūichi illuminates the international practice of large-scale calligraphic abstraction. Monumental painterly canvases by Joan Mitchell and Mark Bradford evoke Abstract Expressionism’s long and profound legacy.The exhibition also features a gallery of works by the next generation of artists, including Carmen Herrera, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Mangold, Alejandro Puente, and Anne Truitt, who tamed the highly pitched emotionalism of Abstract Expressionism by working in the hard edge and minimalist styles that came to define modern art in the 1960s and 1970s. An adjacent gallery with key works by Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis explore the reductive technique of staining canvas in painting. Also the exhibition includes a range of major works composed of found objects and repurposed materials, including the installation’s centerpiece, Louise Nevelson’s “Mrs. N’s Palace”, Chakaia Booker’s “Raw Attraction“ (2001), and Thornton Dial’s “Shadows of the Field” (2008), which evokes the history of American slavery.

Info: Curator:  Randall Griffey, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 5th Ave, New York, Duration: 18/12/18- , Days & Hours: Mon-Fri & Sun 10:00-17:30, Fri-Sat 10:00-21:00, www.metmuseum.org

Carmen Herrera, Equilibrio, 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 121.9 × 152.4 cm, Estrellita and Daniel Brodsky Collection
Carmen Herrera, Equilibrio, 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 121.9 × 152.4 cm, Estrellita and Daniel Brodsky Collection, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

 

Helen Frankenthaler, Western Dream, 1957, Oil on unsized, unprimed canvas, 177.8 × 218.4 cm, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation
Helen Frankenthaler, Western Dream, 1957, Oil on unsized, unprimed canvas, 177.8 × 218.4 cm, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

 

Left: Jean Tinguely, Narva, 1961, Steel bars, metal wheel, tubes, cast iron, wire, aluminum, string, electric motor 220 volt, 218.4 x 198.1 x 160 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Purchase, Bequest of Gioconda King, by exchange, and The Louis S. and Mary Myers Foundation Gift, 2006, Accession Number: 2006.277a-fff, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Right: Isamu Noguchi, Kouros, 1945, Marble, H: 297.2 cm), Base: 106.7 × 86.7 cm, Fletcher Fund, 1953, Accession Number: 53.87a-I, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Left: Jean Tinguely, Narva, 1961, Steel bars, metal wheel, tubes, cast iron, wire, aluminum, string, electric motor 220 volt, 218.4 x 198.1 x 160 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Purchase, Bequest of Gioconda King, by exchange, and The Louis S. and Mary Myers Foundation Gift, 2006, Accession Number: 2006.277a-fff, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Right: Isamu Noguchi, Kouros, 1945, Marble, H: 297.2 cm), Base: 106.7 × 86.7 cm, Fletcher Fund, 1953, Accession Number: 53.87a-I, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

 

Judit Reigl, Guano (Menhir), 1959–64, Oil on canvas, 185 × 212 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Purchase, Gift of The A.L. Levine Family Foundation, by exchange, 2015, Accession Number: 2015.420
Judit Reigl, Guano (Menhir), 1959–64, Oil on canvas, 185 × 212 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Purchase, Gift of The A.L. Levine Family Foundation, by exchange, 2015, Accession Number: 2015.420, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

 

Mark Rothko, No. 16, 1960, Oil on canvas, 259.1 x 303.5 x 4.4 cm, Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, George A. Hearn Fund and Hugo Kastor Fund, 1971, Accession Number: 1971.14, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Mark Rothko, No. 16, 1960, Oil on canvas, 259.1 x 303.5 x 4.4 cm, Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, George A. Hearn Fund and Hugo Kastor Fund, 1971, Accession Number: 1971.14, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

 

Jackson Pollock, Number 28, 1950, Enamel on canvas, 173 x 266.7 x 3.8 cm, The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, in honor of her grandchildren, Ellen Steinberg Coven and Dr. Peter Steinberg, 2006, Accession Number: 2006.32.51, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Jackson Pollock, Number 28, 1950, Enamel on canvas, 173 x 266.7 x 3.8 cm, The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, in honor of her grandchildren, Ellen Steinberg Coven and Dr. Peter Steinberg, 2006, Accession Number: 2006.32.51, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

 

Alejandro Puente, Untitled, 1967, Acrylic on canvas, 150 × 176 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2016, Accession Number: 2016.33a–d
Alejandro Puente, Untitled, 1967, Acrylic on canvas, 150 × 176 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2016, Accession Number: 2016.33a–d, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

 

Left: Jackson Pollock, Untitled, ca. late 1937–39, Colored pencils and graphite on paper, 43.2 x 34.9 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Anonymous Gift, 1990, Accession Number: 1990.4.31, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Center: Chakaia Booker, Raw Attraction, 2001, Rubber tire, steel, and wood, 106.7 × 81.3 × 101.6 cm, Weight: 119.3 kg, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Hortense and William A. Mohr Sculpture Purchase Fund, 2001, Accession Number: 2001.413, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Right: Franz Kline, Black, White, and Gray, 1959, Oil on canvas, 266.7 × 198.1 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection,George A. Hearn Fund, 1959, Accession Number: 59.165, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Left: Jackson Pollock, Untitled, ca. late 1937–39, Colored pencils and graphite on paper, 43.2 x 34.9 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Anonymous Gift, 1990, Accession Number: 1990.4.31, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Center: Chakaia Booker, Raw Attraction, 2001, Rubber tire, steel, and wood, 106.7 × 81.3 × 101.6 cm, Weight: 119.3 kg, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Hortense and William A. Mohr Sculpture Purchase Fund, 2001, Accession Number: 2001.413, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Right: Franz Kline, Black, White, and Gray, 1959, Oil on canvas, 266.7 × 198.1 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection,George A. Hearn Fund, 1959, Accession Number: 59.165, © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

 

Thornton Dial, Shadows of the Field, 2008, String, twine, synthetic cotton batting, wood, burlap, sheet metal, cloth rags, nails, staples, and enamel on canvas on wood. 200.7 × 266.7 × 12.7 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Gift of Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2014, Accession Number: 2014.548.4, © Thornton Dial
Thornton Dial, Shadows of the Field, 2008, String, twine, synthetic cotton batting, wood, burlap, sheet metal, cloth rags, nails, staples, and enamel on canvas on wood. 200.7 × 266.7 × 12.7 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, Gift of Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2014, Accession Number: 2014.548.4, © Thornton Dial