Abstract Expressionism and the American experience: a reevaluation

Abstract

When Irving Sandler published The Triumph of American Painting in 1970, this groundbreaking study quickly became the canonical account of Abstract Expressionism. Now, nearly 40 years later, Sandler, the preeminent chronicler of postwar American art, returns to the subject with this new study. Sandler focuses on two new aims: first, to present the fresh conclusions about Abstract Expressionism that he has arrived at since 1970, and second, to counter what he sees as the distorted interpretations of the movement offered by some younger art historians. This new study focuses on the decade (1942-1952) when the Abstract Expressionists matured as artists and created their most important works and also identifies the distinctly American character of Abstract Expressionism, in particular the painters Sandler sees as the movement's most important figures: Jackson Pollock and Clifford Still.