Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)

Lisa Mintz Messinger

Abstract Expressionist works on paper from the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art are presented in this volume, which documents the wealth of the Museum's holdings in that area. Many of them are published here for the first time, and several are recent additions to the collection. All are illustrated in full-page color reproductions that show the nuances of each work in great detail. The Abstract Expressionists are best known for their paintings and sculptures, and virtually all of the many publications about these artists concentrate on those large-scale works. This unique catalogue deals exclusively with their smaller, more intimate works on paper, providing many new insights about the routes that led to the Abstract Expressionists' innovative artistic accomplishments. The nineteen artists included are William Baziotes, James Brooks, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Philip Guston, Gerome Kamrowski, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Richard Pousette-Dart, Theodore Roszak, Mark Rothko, Anne Ryan, David Smith, Theodoros Stamos, and Mark Tobey. Each of them is discussed in a separate essay, which encompasses information about the artist's background and development, commentary about the importance of drawing in his or her oeuvre, and an analysis of each work in the selection. Also included in the essays is technical information about a number of the individual works that enhances understanding of the variety and originality of these artists' media and techniques.

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