Abstract Artists of the 1950s

Abstract art is defined as nonrepresentational art. It means that what you see is basically an interpretation of the painter and how he sees the object he is looking at. Apart from just what he sees (literally), abstract artists of the 1950s, who were really practicing abstract expressionism, struggled to convey their feelings or interpretations of an object.

For instance, a bowl of bright red apples may convey to him a feeling of love (ah, the bright red?) so it's not at all unlikely to see an abstract painting called 'radiant red' or 'love in a bowl' and no matter how hard you stare at the painting all you see is a mass of that great color called RED.

Abstract Art - Reclaiming Life after World War II

Abstract expressionism painters flourished after World War II as a result of a general feeling of artistic and fresh outlook after the war. This also probably explains why abstract art (most of it anyway) shows vibrant colors. Perhaps it is the painter's way of reflecting the current mood or need of the people to feel ALIVE after such a war.

And so this was how abstract expressionism was born and its most notable members were the following painters - Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Franz Kline and Clyfford Still. These artists were so popular that they were often referred to as the New York School. Of course, opinions about these artists, popular though they were, were not always of the positive kind and they were also called eccentrics, self-involved and others.