Hailed as the first American-born art movement to have a worldwide influence, Abstract Expressionism denotes the non-representational use of paint as a means of personal expression. It emerged in America in the 1940s, with lead protagonists including Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning. Abstract Expressionism spawned many different stylistic tendencies but two particularly prominent sub-categories: action painting, exemplified by de Kooning and Pollock, and color field painting, made most famous by Rothko. Throughout, Abstract Expressionists strove to convey emotions and ideas through the making of marks, through forms, textures, shades, and the particular quality of brushstrokes. The movement favored large-scale canvases, and embraced the role of accident or chance. With featured works from 20 key Abstract Expressionist artists, this book introduces the movement which shifted the center of art gravity from Paris to New York and remains for many the golden moment of American art. About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art History series features: approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions a detailed, illustrated introduction a selection of the most important works of the epoch, each presented on a two-page spread with a full-page image and accompanying interpretation, as well as a portrait and brief biography of the artist

ON THE CONTEMPLATION OF NATURE One of his generation’s most popular artists, German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich is known for his allegorical landscapes that convey a deep sense of contemplation and melancholy. 2024 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of this outstanding artist, whose paintings continue to gain in topicality - hardly a discussion on climate change without one of his iconic paintings, such as The Sea of Ice, being invoked as a silent witness. Barbara Hess examines the painter’s work and his life, from its lasting poignancy to the great themes of Romanticism and drawing. In the playful format of an A–Z book, the author takes us on a timely journey, showing how new views and perspectives can be gained from what has long been thought familiar.

The book offers representative excerpts from the manuscript reviewed by the artist in the early 1990s. Stylistically aware and (self-)critical, the author comments on the cultural and social climate in postwar Germany. He offers new insights into the German art scene of the postwar period and its European network, the relations between the SPUR group and the Situationist International around Guy Debord - provocations and scandals included.