Research Point 2: Abstract Expressionism - Tachisme and 'Action Painting'

Famous for his technique of 'all over painting' , Jackson Pollock employed exciting gestural marks - emitting a feeling of almost being able to step into them; they seem both calm and energetic at the same time. These paintings were done on a huge scale, painted on the floor, usually on massive canvases. Greatly inspired by the energy of ethnic art and later, Mexican muralists, European artists like Cezanne and Picasso also had an effect on him. His motivation came from within his head rather than from the real world. He is identified with pioneering the drip technique, very radical at the time and attracting a lot of attention, often criticism. Even so, some work is quite figurative; often I find it possible to discern figures,sometimes faces, in amongst the tangled mass of lines, as in the painting below:

Jackson Pollock, Black and White Number 5, 1952, 142.87x80.645cm, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
http://themodern.org/sites/default/files/pollock4a.jpg
His work was generally defined  by liquid paint flicked, dripped and poured onto the huge horizontal unstretched canvases. He would work on all sides, sometimes walking through it. At first glance it was seemingly uncontrolled but looks are sometimes  deceptive, and infact culminated in a complex interrelationship. As he became more experienced with the techniques he was able to precisely control the nature of the lines. Swirling lines appear to go on into infinity. Yet he didn't do preparatory drawing or studies.
Anything to produce the intended effect was used, including tools such as syringes, brushes and sticks in addition to his well known paint pouring from a container, which he sometimes had a hole cut in and swung from the end of a rope suspended from above.
Later on the paintings included a lot of black and white and had echoes of earlier works. Following this period he returned to colour.
Behind the scenes his life followed a destructive pattern which ended prematurely in a violent death.

Tachisme is translated from the French for spot or blob. It was a term first coined around 1951 and has many affinities with Art Informel, often the umbrella heading of Abstract Expressionism - intuitive and spontaneous, though it developed independently.
Paris based artists of note included: Georges Mathieu, Jean Fabrier and Wols. The general difference was their more carefully handled, subtle style than the raw energy of Abstract Expressionism. Franz Kline and Hans Hartung are also closely associated with Tachisme.  I find there are such a vast amount of fascinating artists whose work falls under this category, I can only scratch the surface here. I find them well worthy of further research and that is my intention.
Franz Klines's style was vigorous with large sweeping gestures on a large scale. It was energetic and crisp, even brusque - quite the opposite of subtle. He typically used calligraphic yet bold thick black lines crossing over one another, on a white background, and made many small preliminary brush drawings. These are often referred to as his 'signpost' technique. Tools used were: large decorator's brushes and commercial house paint. He included colour later in life. This one is a good example of his typical style - described as collage but I can't detect any signs. The name is New York 1953:
http://www.wikiart.org/en/franz-kline/black-and-white-png#supersized-artistPaintings-277514
This one is not described as a collage but yet it appears to have been used. Perhaps it was created using an old painting/s. It is simply named Black & White:
http://www.wikiart.org/en/franz-kline/black-and-white-png#supersized-artistPaintings-277497

Hans Hartung had a strong belief that his work should be a reflection on his innermost self, usually extreme emotion. The paintings were often on a large scale and with a plain calm background.
T 1956-9, 1956 180x157cm is painted in an energetic and dramatic manner, setting up a visible tension. Mid toned browns are  trapped between heavily applied dense blacks. It is made up of a web of roughly parallel agitated strokes crossing over one another in slight diagonals from one end of the canvas to the other. They reach out toward the edges, sometimes going off the edges.
http://arttattler.com/Images/Europe/Spain/Barcelona/Museu%20dArt%20Contemporani/B-Bomb/hartung.jpg

http://images.tate.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/grid-normal-8-cols/public/images/fig-14_0.jpg?itok=PSxCGgA-
Following a stroke in 1986 he became wheelchair bound yet his output was absolutely prolific, producing 360 paintings in his final year (1989)! This is a very interesting article about the experience:
http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/very-late-style-hans-hartung

Pierre Soulages   

 Illustrating some of the hallmarks of the artist's style in the early 1950s are:
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/art/10024/art-sales-eyes-of-the-world-turn-to-londons-art-fairs.html
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/soulages-painting-23-may-1953-n06199

  These paintings are dominated by black, interspersed with glimmers of white, pale yellow and bronzes, setting up dramatic contrasts. The backgrounds are calmer which appear to be scumbled on a dark ground.  As with Hartung, bands begin and end within the confines of the picture plane, occasionally crossing over the the edges, resulting in a strong impact. At the height of Abstract Expressionism during the 1950s and 60s he was regarded as a kind of French equivalent to the New York School. To apply  his broad straight swathes of heavily applied paint he uses special rubber spatulas, house painting brushes and rollers.

Soulages still uses a limited colour palette and is often referred to as the Master of Black, quoted as saying:

“Black is the color of the origin of painting — and our own origin. In French, we say the baby ‘sees the day,’ to mean he was born. Before that, of course, we were in the dark.”

Other artists of interest connected with this style of painting:
Gerard Schneider
http://www.wikiart.org/en/gerard-schneider/82c-1958#supersized-artistPaintings-313501
Jean-Paul Riopelle
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/riopelle-perspectives-t00123
Lee Krasner
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1995.595
John Hoyland
http://www.johnhoyland.com/











Hartung - sensuous free-flowing lines
vibrant - thick black