ISBN: 9780810942318

During the 1920s and '30s and until the end of World War II, a distinctly American form of Expressionism evolved. Most of the artists in this movement, children of immigrants from eastern… More...

During the 1920s and '30s and until the end of World War II, a distinctly American form of Expressionism evolved. Most of the artists in this movement, children of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, African Americans, and other outsiders to American mainstream culture, grew up in the urban ghettoes of the East Coast or Chicago. Their art was sympathetic to the dispossessed and reflected a deep concern with the lives of working people. Providing a fascinating look at this art--and at the beginnings of a new movement, Abstract Expressionism, which followed it--cultural historian Bram Dijkstra offers new insights into the roots of painting in America today. Dijkstra examines the new emphasis these socially conscious artists brought to the pursuit of the American ideals of equality, dignity, and justice for all. Provocatively he suggests that Abstract Expressionism came to be used as part of a backlash, deliberately fostered by conservative political and corporate interests, against the socially conscious Expressionist paintings and the WPA projects supported by the Roosevelt administration. Profusely illustrated throughout with works of art seldom seen today, the book coincides with an important traveling exhibition of the art of this period. Media > Book, [PU: Harry N. Abrams]<