Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976 Exhibit

Action/Abstraction proposes a fresh look at the painting and sculpture that transformed the art world in the years following World War II—a period when abstraction emerged as a dominant means of artistic expression. Key works by such artists as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, Clyfford Still, David Smith, Helen Frankenthaler and Philip Guston represent a carefully chosen group of fifty examples from major institutions and collections throughout the U.S. and abroad. Against a background of Cold War politics, rising mass culture and growing consumerism, critic Harold Rosenberg championed the concept of action (the creative act of the artist) versus the ideal purity of a non-representational aesthetic defended by Clement Greenberg. Action/Abstraction re-examines how these critics' theories vied with each other and with the intentions of the artists—who nevertheless remained keenly aware of the critics' perspectives and were often influenced by them.