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What does it look like?

03  

▶ Non-objective imagery
▶ Abstract but not abstracted
▶ Lack of a clear focal point
▶ No unified artistic practice
▶ Large scale

The high point in modern art

 

▶ New York School is a high point in modern art, where artists were stepping away from the representation of nature, something that had been central to the making of art, to show interest in something that was not abstract in nature, but it was purely abstract.

Turner
↑ "Sunset" by Romantic painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851)
Turner
↑ "No 14“ by Color Field painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970)
 

▶ The "Sunset" is a representation of abstract subjects in nature, such as water and clouds. The Composition "No. 14" is a non-objective painting which expresses the feelings of the colors.

Drag the white button on the image to compare the romantic painting representing the abstract aspects of nature with the abstract expressive work that directly reflects the expression of colors with personal meaning.

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▶ Abstraction is the process of reducing material references and the result is an abstracted imagery.

Move the mouse over the surface to observe how an objective photo (left) evolves in the process of abstraction to an abstracted work in the middle and finally to a non-objective painting (right).

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▶ Piet Mondrian (one of the pioneers of 20th century abstract art) explored within approx. 10 years the process of abstraction from a representational image of a real tree (Objectivism), to abstracted tree images, to non-representational images which are abstract (Non-Objectivism).

First there is a realistic photo of a tree.

In steps 1, 2 and 3, the spectrum of abstracted paintings of trees can be seen.

The image of step 4 is an abstracted painting in which the tree is so reduced that it is no longer recognizable. After step 5, the paintings are in the realm of non-objective art. Finally, in Step 6, Mondrian no longer needs to trace the tree, instead he starts painting with purely visual elements.

So his paintings are no longer abstracted, but pure abstract. For this reason, the works bear abstract names after the visual elements, like Piet Mondrian's "Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow" from 1930.

 

▶ Abstract expressionism was a high point in modern art because it was interested in something that was not abstract in nature, but purely abstract.

a high point in modern art

Kline

purely abstract

like this „Action painting“
by „Franz Kline“

↑ Mahoning, 1956, collage & oil on canvas, 203.2 x 254 cm

This style lacks a clear focal point

Rothko

like this „Color Field painting“
by „Mark Rothko“

New York school paintings do not have a clear focal point because most of the artists held strong convictions based on Marxist ideas of social and economic equality.

↑ No. 16 (Red, Brown, and Black), 1958, oil on canvas, 8′ 10 5/8″ x 9′ 9 1/4″

Works of the New York school are in large scale

Rothko

like this „Action painting“
by „Jackson Pollock“

↑ Number 31, 1950, oil and enamel paint on canvas, 269.5 x 530.8 cm
Armstrong
music
Pollock

Abstract expressionism is characterized as
non-objective

Newman

like this „Color Field painting“
by „Barnett Newman“

↑ The Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1951, oil on canvas, 242.3 cm × 541.7 cm

There is no unified artistic practice

Rothko

Unlike the works of other painters, in this "ACTION PAINTING" by "WILLEM DE KOONING" the figure is still recognizable.

↑ „Woman I“, 1952, oil on canvas, 192.72 cm x 150 cm

If you can now list the five characteristics and understand the difference between objective and non-objective, abstract and abstracted art, it's time to know when new york school started.
Please click the Botton below to start chapter 04.