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Abstract Expressionism Universe

Atlas · Information-dense records, chronology, relationships, evidence, and structured research.

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Explore by question, not by hierarchy.

Choose a path, follow a relationship, or enter through a single work, artist, technique, or idea. Every artwork visual in this foundation obeys its RightsRecord decision.

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Four doors

I’m new to thisStart with four questionsI want to look closelyEnter through works and scaleI care about how it was madeFollow material and gestureI’m studying or researchingUse the evidence-aware atlas

Personalized discovery adapters / AEU031

Anonymous contextual fallback

Context before profile

No consented ICU saved-state context is bound in this portable build. These deterministic suggestions come from explicit AEU relationships and remain fully usable anonymously.

artist

Jackson Pollock

From One: Number 31, 1950, AEU can show Jackson Pollock through the stored artist created artwork relationship.

Evidence: source.moma.pollock-one-31

artist

Mark Rothko

From No. 10, AEU can show Mark Rothko through the stored artist created artwork relationship.

Evidence: source.moma.rothko-no-10

artist

Lee Krasner

From The Seasons, AEU can show Lee Krasner through the stored artist created artwork relationship.

Evidence: source.whitney.krasner-seasons

artwork

Evening Rendezvous

From Norman Lewis, AEU can show Evening Rendezvous through the stored artist created artwork relationship.

Evidence: source.saam.evening-rendezvous

Curated traversals

Featured paths

galleryAvailable now

Scale is not just a number

Compare three monumental works and treat dimensions as part of bodily viewing rather than a line of metadata.

3 connected records in the current path

studioAvailable now

Process without the mythology

Begin with documented making methods, then separate what a source states from what later viewers infer.

5 connected records in the current path

atlasAvailable now

The canon is a history, not a neutral list

Use Krasner, Lewis, and Morrison to enter questions of recognition, movement membership, cultural context, and later institutional framing.

3 connected records in the current path

atlasAvailable now

Abstraction has edges

Explore a case where institutional interpretation moves between abstract and semi-abstract description instead of forcing one permanent label.

2 connected records in the current path

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Recovery is an institutional history

Trace how later exhibitions can broaden a historical narrative without pretending that one exhibition settles the canon or makes every artist stylistically equivalent.

2 connected records in the current path

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Spiral was a debate, not a style

Enter the 1963 collective through documented membership while keeping its artists’ divergent styles and views about art and politics visible.

3 connected records in the current path

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Black abstraction is not one style

Compare routes through gesture, geometry, color, landscape, stained canvas, and material experiment without treating race as a formal category.

4 connected records in the current path

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Native modernism is not one style

Follow distinct routes through George Morrison, Oscar Howe, Leon Polk Smith, and later Native abstraction without treating Indigenous identity as a formal category or movement credential.

4 connected records in the current path

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IAIA was an experimental network, not a house style

Enter the Institute of American Indian Arts through artists whose practices diverged sharply. Shared schooling or teaching documents a network; it does not prove one aesthetic, worldview, or political position.

4 connected records in the current path

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Second generation is a lens, not a style

Use MoMA’s later historical framing, Washington color networks, and artists who departed toward objects or figuration to see why one generational label cannot describe one formal program.

4 connected records in the current path

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Abstract Expressionism was never only painting

Enter sculpture, collage, drawing, and photography through source-backed New York School and adjacent histories without converting shared context into one medium, style, or movement credential.

4 connected records in the current path

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Criticism is an argument, not a final answer

Move between Coates, Greenberg, Rosenberg, Ashton, Hess, and Sandler through their own texts, archives, galleries, and discussion networks without turning one critic’s vocabulary into AEU’s definition of the movement.

4 connected records in the current path

atlasAvailable now

Circulation is not the same as influence

Follow a transatlantic exhibition tour, Art Informel terminology, Gutai’s distinct postwar history, and a San Francisco context without letting chronology, location, or resemblance turn into a single origin story.

4 connected records in the current path

Random access / deterministic fallback

Surprise me

Static HTML always has a useful destination. Optional enhancement can deterministically cycle the same curated pool.

One movement, competing definitions →

Enter criticism through a source-backed disagreement rather than a single authoritative label.

Current validated records

Follow a record

AEU004 will turn artist and artwork records into full reusable pages. AEU003 uses only the minimum card layer needed for discovery.

Jackson Pollock · 1950

One: Number 31, 1950

Oil and enamel paint on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1950
  • Oil and enamel paint on canvas
  • 269.5 × 530.8 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses technique Pour, drip, and fling
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Enamel paint
Evidence sources (1)

Mark Rothko · 1950

No. 10

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1950
  • Oil on canvas
  • 229.6 × 145.1 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork has formal property Field structure
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Lee Krasner · 1957

The Seasons

Oil and house paint on canvas · Whitney Museum of American Art

  • 1957
  • Oil and house paint on canvas
  • 235.6 × 517.8 cm
  • Whitney Museum of American Art
  • artwork has formal property Allover field
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material House paint
Evidence sources (2)

George Morrison · 1961

Untitled

Oil on canvas · National Gallery of Art

  • 1961
  • Oil on canvas
  • 96.2 × 111.4 cm
  • National Gallery of Art
  • artwork has formal property Surface relief / heavy impasto
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Willem de Kooning · 1950–52

Woman I

Oil and metallic paint on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1950–52
  • Oil and metallic paint on canvas
  • 192.7 × 147.3 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Figuration–abstraction boundary
Evidence sources (1)

Barnett Newman · 1948

Onement I

Oil on canvas and oil on masking tape on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1948
  • Oil on canvas and oil on masking tape on canvas
  • 69.2 × 41.2 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Field structure
Evidence sources (1)

Barnett Newman · 1950–51

Vir Heroicus Sublimis

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1950–51
  • Oil on canvas
  • 242.2 × 541.7 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Field structure
Evidence sources (1)

Clyfford Still · 1944

1944-N No. 2

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1944
  • Oil on canvas
  • 264.5 × 221.4 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Monumental scale
Evidence sources (1)

Clyfford Still · 1951

1951-T No. 3

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1951
  • Oil on canvas
  • 238.8 × 208.3 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Monumental scale
Evidence sources (1)

Robert Motherwell · 1941–44

The Little Spanish Prison

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1941–44
  • Oil on canvas
  • 69.2 × 43.5 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork related to concept Political abstraction
Evidence sources (1)

Robert Motherwell · 1965–67

Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 108

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1965–67
  • Oil on canvas
  • 208.2 × 351.1 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Monumental scale
Evidence sources (1)

Franz Kline · 1950

Chief

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1950
  • Oil on canvas
  • 148.3 × 186.7 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork related to concept Chance and control
Evidence sources (1)

Adolph Gottlieb · 1957

Blast, I

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1957
  • Oil on canvas
  • 228.7 × 114.4 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Monumental scale
Evidence sources (1)

Arshile Gorky · 1947

Agony

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1947
  • Oil on canvas
  • 101.6 × 128.3 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Hans Hofmann · 1944–45 (dated on reverse 1940)

Spring

Oil and enamel on wood · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1944–45 (dated on reverse 1940)
  • Oil and enamel on wood
  • 28.5 × 35.7 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Enamel paint
Evidence sources (1)

William Baziotes · 1947

Dwarf

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1947
  • Oil on canvas
  • 106.7 × 91.8 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Philip Guston · 1954

Painting

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1954
  • Oil on canvas
  • 160.6 × 152.7 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Surface relief / heavy impasto
Evidence sources (1)

Ad Reinhardt · 1963

Abstract Painting

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1963
  • Oil on canvas
  • 152.4 × 152.4 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Field structure
Evidence sources (1)

Mary Abbott · about 1954

All Green

Oil paint on linen · Denver Art Museum

  • about 1954
  • Oil paint on linen
  • 124.5 × 111.8 cm
  • Denver Art Museum
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Linen
Evidence sources (1)

Jay DeFeo · 1958–1966

The Rose

Oil with embedded fabric, string, and wood on canvas · Whitney Museum of American Art

  • 1958–1966
  • Oil with embedded fabric, string, and wood on canvas
  • 327.3 × 234.3 × 27.9 cm
  • Whitney Museum of American Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Perle Fine · 1948

Sub-Marine

Opaque watercolor and graphite pencil on paper · Whitney Museum of American Art

  • 1948
  • Opaque watercolor and graphite pencil on paper
  • 56.8 × 78.7 cm
  • Whitney Museum of American Art
  • artwork exhibited in Labyrinth of Forms: Women and Abstraction, 1930–1950
Evidence sources (1)

Helen Frankenthaler · 1952

Mountains and Sea

Oil and charcoal on unsized, unprimed canvas · On extended loan to the National Gallery of Art

  • 1952
  • Oil and charcoal on unsized, unprimed canvas
  • 219.4 × 297.8 cm
  • On extended loan to the National Gallery of Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (2)

Sonia Gechtoff · 1956

Mystery of the Hunt

Oil on canvas · San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

  • 1956
  • Oil on canvas
  • 114.9 × 269.2 cm
  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Judith Godwin · 1955

Seated Figure

Oil on canvas · National Gallery of Art

  • 1955
  • Oil on canvas
  • 210.8 × 119.4 cm
  • National Gallery of Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Grace Hartigan · 1957

Shinnecock Canal

Oil on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1957
  • Oil on canvas
  • 229.8 × 193 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork exhibited in Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction
Evidence sources (1)

Elaine de Kooning · 1959

Bullfight

Oil paint on canvas · Denver Art Museum

  • 1959
  • Oil paint on canvas
  • 197.2 × 331.5 cm
  • Denver Art Museum
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Joan Mitchell · 1955

Hudson River Day Line

Oil on canvas · McNay Art Museum

  • 1955
  • Oil on canvas
  • 200.7 × 210.8 cm
  • McNay Art Museum
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Ethel Schwabacher · 1958

Antigone I

Oil paint on canvas · Collection of Christopher C. Schwabacher and Brenda S. Webster

  • 1958
  • Oil paint on canvas
  • 129.5 × 215.9 cm
  • Collection of Christopher C. Schwabacher and Brenda S. Webster
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Hedda Sterne · 1954

New York, VIII

Acrylic on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1954
  • Acrylic on canvas
  • 183.2 × 106.7 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork in series Hedda Sterne’s Roads series
  • artwork exhibited in Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction
Evidence sources (1)

Charles Alston · 1958

Walking

Oil on canvas · National Museum of African American History and Culture

  • 1958
  • Oil on canvas
  • 121.9 × 162.6 cm
  • National Museum of African American History and Culture
Evidence sources (1)

Beauford Delaney · 1954–1956

Composition 16

Oil on canvas · Museum of Modern Art

  • 1954–1956
  • Oil on canvas
  • 80 × 94 cm
  • Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Herbert Gentry · 1971

Faced Faces

Color lithograph on paper · Smithsonian American Art Museum

  • 1971
  • Color lithograph on paper
  • 66.7 × 49.5 cm
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
Evidence sources (1)

Felrath Hines · 1964

Abstract Landscape

Oil on linen · Smithsonian American Art Museum

  • 1964
  • Oil on linen
  • 183 × 183 × 2.2 cm
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Linen
Evidence sources (1)

Ed Clark · 1959

Winter Bitch

Acrylic, oil, and pastel on canvas · Whitney Museum of American Art

  • 1959
  • Acrylic, oil, and pastel on canvas
  • 195.6 × 195.6 cm
  • Whitney Museum of American Art
Evidence sources (1)

Alma Thomas · 1970

The Eclipse

Acrylic on canvas · Smithsonian American Art Museum

  • 1970
  • Acrylic on canvas
  • 157.5 × 126.4 cm
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
Evidence sources (1)

Sam Gilliam · 1968

April 4, (Part III)

Acrylic on canvas · The Studio Museum in Harlem

  • 1968
  • Acrylic on canvas
  • 289.6 × 53.3 × 10.2 cm
  • The Studio Museum in Harlem
  • artwork part of series Martin Luther King Jr. series
  • artwork contextualized by context.civil-rights-era-artistic-context-1954-1968
Evidence sources (1)

Jack Whitten · 1967

NY Battle Ground

Oil on canvas · Museum of Modern Art

  • 1967
  • Oil on canvas
  • 152.4 × 213 cm
  • Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork contextualized by context.civil-rights-era-artistic-context-1954-1968
Evidence sources (1)

Norman Lewis · September 23, 1946

Phantasy II

Oil on canvas · Museum of Modern Art

  • September 23, 1946
  • Oil on canvas
  • 71.4 × 91.2 cm
  • Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Leon Polk Smith · 1961

Stretch of Black III

Oil on canvas · National Gallery of Art

  • 1961
  • Oil on canvas
  • 61.1 × 48.2 cm
  • National Gallery of Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
Evidence sources (1)

Fritz Scholder · 1966

New Mexico #40

Acrylic on canvas · IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

  • 1966
  • Acrylic on canvas
  • 186.7 × 130.8 cm
  • IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork exhibited in Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
Evidence sources (1)

T. C. Cannon · 1965

Trail of Tears

Oil on canvas · IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

  • 1965
  • Oil on canvas
  • 78.7 × 170.2 cm
  • IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork exhibited in Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
Evidence sources (1)

Linda Lomahaftewa · ca. 1965

The Quiet Land, the Warm Land

Oil on canvas · IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

  • ca. 1965
  • Oil on canvas
  • 94.6 × 122.2 cm
  • IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork exhibited in Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
Evidence sources (1)

Kevin Red Star · 1966

Blackbird

Mixed media, collage, newsprint on canvas · IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

  • 1966
  • Mixed media, collage, newsprint on canvas
  • 154.9 × 124.5 cm
  • IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork exhibited in Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
Evidence sources (1)

George Morrison · 1965

White Painting No. 1

Oil on canvas · IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

  • 1965
  • Oil on canvas
  • 128.3 × 128.3 cm
  • IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork in series White Paintings
Evidence sources (1)

George Morrison · ca. 1967

White Environ VI

Oil on canvas · IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

  • ca. 1967
  • Oil on canvas
  • 121.9 × 121.9 cm
  • IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork in series White Paintings
Evidence sources (1)

Morris Louis · 1961

Beta Lambda

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1961
  • Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
  • 262.6 × 407 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork has formal property Monumental scale
  • artwork has formal property Field structure
  • artwork in series Unfurleds
Evidence sources (1)

Kenneth Noland · 1961

Turnsole

Acrylic on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1961
  • Acrylic on canvas
  • 239 × 239 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork has formal property Field structure
  • artwork has formal property Monumental scale
Evidence sources (1)

Cy Twombly · 1955

Academy

Oil-based house paint, pencil, colored pencil, and pastel on canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1955
  • Oil-based house paint, pencil, colored pencil, and pastel on canvas
  • 191.1 × 241 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material House paint
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Allover field
Evidence sources (1)

Robert Rauschenberg · 1955

Bed

Oil and pencil on pillow, quilt, and sheet on wood supports · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1955
  • Oil and pencil on pillow, quilt, and sheet on wood supports
  • 191.1 × 80 × 20.3 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork has formal property Surface relief / heavy impasto
  • artwork has formal property Figuration–abstraction boundary
Evidence sources (1)

Jasper Johns · 1954–55

Flag

Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on plywood, three panels · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1954–55
  • Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on plywood, three panels
  • 107.3 × 153.8 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork has formal property Surface relief / heavy impasto
  • artwork has formal property Figuration–abstraction boundary
Evidence sources (1)

Larry Rivers · 1953

Washington Crossing the Delaware

Oil, graphite, and charcoal on linen · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1953
  • Oil, graphite, and charcoal on linen
  • 212.4 × 283.5 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Linen
  • artwork has formal property Figuration–abstraction boundary
Evidence sources (1)

Alfred Leslie · 1957

Big Green

Oil and enamel on linen, four parts · Whitney Museum of American Art

  • 1957
  • Oil and enamel on linen, four parts
  • 370.8 × 354.7 cm
  • Whitney Museum of American Art
  • artwork uses material Oil paint
  • artwork uses material Enamel paint
  • artwork uses material Linen
Evidence sources (1)

Friedel Dzubas · 1966

Kanton

Magna on canvas · National Gallery of Art

  • 1966
  • Magna on canvas
  • 172.7 × 304.8 cm
  • National Gallery of Art
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Field structure
Evidence sources (1)

Howard Mehring · 1960

Sequence

Acrylic on canvas · National Gallery of Art

  • 1960
  • Acrylic on canvas
  • 214.5 × 260.2 cm
  • National Gallery of Art
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Allover field
  • artwork has formal property Field structure
Evidence sources (2)

Paul Reed · 1966

Coherence

Acrylic on canvas · National Gallery of Art

  • 1966
  • Acrylic on canvas
  • 264.2 × 114.3 cm
  • National Gallery of Art
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork has formal property Field structure
Evidence sources (1)

David Smith · 1951

Australia

Painted steel on cinder-block base · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1951
  • Painted steel on cinder-block base
  • 202 × 274 × 41 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Steel
Evidence sources (1)

David Smith · 1950

Twenty-Four Greek Y’s

Painted steel · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1950
  • Painted steel
  • 108.6 × 73.9 × 15.2 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Steel
  • artwork uses technique Welding
  • artwork exhibited in Abstract Expressionist New York: Rock Paper Scissors
Evidence sources (1)

Ibram Lassaw · 1952

Kwannon

Welded bronze · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1952
  • Welded bronze
  • 184.2 × 109.2 × 73.7 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Bronze
  • artwork uses technique Welding
Evidence sources (1)

Louise Nevelson · 1958

Sky Cathedral

Painted wood · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1958
  • Painted wood
  • 343.9 × 305.4 × 45.7 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Wood
  • artwork uses technique Assemblage
Evidence sources (1)

Herbert Ferber · 1949

Jackson Pollock

Lead · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1949
  • Lead
  • 44.8 × 76.2 × 16.5 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Lead
Evidence sources (1)

Seymour Lipton · 1948

Imprisoned Figure

Wood and sheet lead · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1948
  • Wood and sheet lead
  • 215.2 × 78.3 × 59.9 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Wood
  • artwork uses material Lead
  • artwork exhibited in Abstract Expressionist New York: Rock Paper Scissors
Evidence sources (1)

Seymour Lipton · c. 1951

Untitled

Graphite pencil on paper · Whitney Museum of American Art

  • c. 1951
  • Graphite pencil on paper
  • 27.9 × 21.6 cm
  • Whitney Museum of American Art
  • artwork uses material Graphite
  • artwork uses material Paper
Evidence sources (1)

Anne Ryan · 1948

Number 13

Cut-and-pasted colored and printed paper, cloth, and crayon on paper · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1948
  • Cut-and-pasted colored and printed paper, cloth, and crayon on paper
  • 20 × 17.1 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Paper
  • artwork uses material Cloth
  • artwork uses material Crayon
Evidence sources (1)

Conrad Marca-Relli · 1953–54

Sleeping Figure

Collaged painted canvas · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1953–54
  • Collaged painted canvas
  • 132.4 × 197.3 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Canvas
  • artwork uses technique Collage / cut-and-paste construction
Evidence sources (1)

Dorothy Dehner · 1951

From Japan

Watercolor, ink, and charcoal on paper · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1951
  • Watercolor, ink, and charcoal on paper
  • 46 × 58.1 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Watercolor
  • artwork uses material Ink
  • artwork uses material Charcoal
Evidence sources (1)

Louise Bourgeois · 1954

Figure

Wood, paint, stainless steel, and nails · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1954
  • Wood, paint, stainless steel, and nails
  • 120 × 30.6 × 30.6 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Wood
  • artwork uses material Stainless steel
Evidence sources (1)

Louise Bourgeois · 1950

Untitled

Ink on paper · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1950
  • Ink on paper
  • 27 × 21.2 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Ink
  • artwork uses material Paper
Evidence sources (1)

Aaron Siskind · 1946

Martha’s Vineyard

Gelatin silver print · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1946
  • Gelatin silver print
  • 15.2 × 21.6 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses technique Gelatin silver printing
Evidence sources (1)

Aaron Siskind · 1950

New Jersey 5

Gelatin silver print · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1950
  • Gelatin silver print
  • 20.7 × 33.7 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses technique Gelatin silver printing
Evidence sources (1)

Robert Motherwell · 1943

Pancho Villa, Dead and Alive

Cut-and-pasted printed and painted papers, wood veneer, gouache, oil, and ink on board · The Museum of Modern Art

  • 1943
  • Cut-and-pasted printed and painted papers, wood veneer, gouache, oil, and ink on board
  • 71.7 × 91.1 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Paper
  • artwork uses material Wood veneer
  • artwork uses material Gouache
Evidence sources (1)

Jackson Pollock · c. 1951

Untitled

Ink and colored ink on Japanese paper · The Museum of Modern Art

  • c. 1951
  • Ink and colored ink on Japanese paper
  • 62.1 × 87.3 cm
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • artwork uses material Ink
  • artwork uses material Paper
  • artwork uses technique Ink staining through absorbent paper
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Jackson Pollock

American painter represented in AEU001 as a process- and gesture-oriented validation case.

  • 1912–1956
  • American
  • artist created artwork One: Number 31, 1950
  • artist represented in exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York
  • artist created artwork Untitled
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Mark Rothko

Painter represented in AEU001 as a field-, scale-, and viewer-immersion validation case.

  • 1903–1970
  • American
  • born in Dvinsk, Russian Empire (now Daugavpils, Latvia)
  • artist created artwork No. 10
  • artist represented in exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Lee Krasner

First-generation Abstract Expressionist represented as a historically under-recognized artist and a monumental allover-painting case.

  • 1908–1984
  • American
  • artist created artwork The Seasons
  • artist participated in exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism
  • artist participated in exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction
Evidence sources (2)

Artist

Norman Lewis

New York painter and first-generation Abstract Expressionist whose abstraction, political activism, jazz-informed formal language, and Spiral participation are kept distinct rather than reduced to a single political or stylistic reading.

  • 1909–1979
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork Evening Rendezvous
  • artist created artwork Phantasy II
  • artist member of historical collective Spiral forms in New York
Evidence sources (4)

Artist

George Morrison

Ojibwe (Grand Portage) artist with direct New York School participation; AEU keeps his Anishinaabe worldview, federal-boarding-school biography, and later museum framing as separate evidence layers rather than a single explanation of his abstraction.

  • 1919–2000
  • American
  • Ojibwe (Grand Portage)
  • artist created artwork Untitled
  • artist created artwork White Painting No. 1
  • artist created artwork White Environ VI
Evidence sources (4)

Artist

Willem de Kooning

AEU011 corpus expansion artist whose record foregrounds the documented coexistence of abstraction and representation in his work.

  • 1904–1997
  • American
  • born the Netherlands
  • artist created artwork Woman I
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Barnett Newman

AEU011 corpus expansion artist represented through the development of the zip, field structure, scale, and close viewing.

  • 1905–1970
  • American
  • artist created artwork Onement I
  • artist created artwork Vir Heroicus Sublimis
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Clyfford Still

AEU011 corpus expansion artist represented through materially assertive surfaces, large scale, and resistance to easy associative readings.

  • 1904–1980
  • American
  • artist created artwork 1944-N No. 2
  • artist created artwork 1951-T No. 3
  • artist participated in exhibition The New American Painting as Shown in Eight European Countries 1958–1959
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Robert Motherwell

AEU011 corpus expansion artist represented through automatism, political memory, and long-running serial practice.

  • 1915–1991
  • American
  • artist created artwork The Little Spanish Prison
  • artist created artwork Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 108
  • artist created artwork Pancho Villa, Dead and Alive
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Franz Kline

AEU011 corpus expansion artist used to test the gap between the appearance of spontaneity and documented preparatory process.

  • 1910–1962
  • American
  • artist created artwork Chief
  • artist participated in exhibition The New American Painting as Shown in Eight European Countries 1958–1959
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Adolph Gottlieb

AEU011 corpus expansion artist represented by a large-format late-1950s painting and institutional exhibition history.

  • 1903–1974
  • American
  • artist created artwork Blast, I
  • artist participated in exhibition The New American Painting as Shown in Eight European Countries 1958–1959
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Arshile Gorky

AEU011 corpus expansion artist whose approximate birth year and interpretive biography are preserved without false precision.

  • 1904–1948
  • American
  • born Van Province, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
  • artist created artwork Agony
  • artist participated in exhibition The New American Painting and Sculpture: The First Generation
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Hans Hofmann

AEU011 corpus expansion artist represented with an early oil-and-enamel work that broadens material and scale comparisons.

  • 1880–1966
  • American
  • born Germany
  • artist created artwork Spring
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

William Baziotes

AEU011 corpus expansion artist represented through a 1947 painting and documented participation in major MoMA exhibitions.

  • 1912–1963
  • American
  • artist created artwork Dwarf
  • artist participated in exhibition 15 Americans
  • artist participated in exhibition The New American Painting as Shown in Eight European Countries 1958–1959
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Philip Guston

AEU011 corpus expansion artist represented by a 1954 abstraction with documented thick strokes, small brushes, and close-range working process.

  • 1913–1980
  • American
  • born Canada
  • artist created artwork Painting
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Ad Reinhardt

AEU011 corpus expansion artist represented through near-black structure, prolonged looking, and a deliberately reduced painted surface.

  • 1913–1967
  • American
  • artist created artwork Abstract Painting
  • artist participated in exhibition Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America
  • artist participated in exhibition The New American Painting and Sculpture: The First Generation
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Mary Abbott

American abstract painter included in the 2016 Women of Abstract Expressionism exhibition. AEU012 treats her as an individual artist record, not as a token representative of a single women’s style.

  • 1921–2019
  • American
  • artist created artwork All Green
  • artist participated in exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism
Evidence sources (2)

Artist

Jay DeFeo

San Francisco–based artist whose material experimentation and long process on The Rose complicate any narrow New York-only account of postwar abstraction.

  • 1929–1989
  • American
  • artist created artwork The Rose
  • artist participated in exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism
  • artist participated in exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Perle Fine

American abstract painter represented in both the Denver 2016 recovery exhibition and Whitney’s 2021 pre-1950 abstraction reassessment.

  • 1905–1988
  • American
  • artist created artwork Sub-Marine
  • artist participated in exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism
  • artist participated in exhibition Labyrinth of Forms: Women and Abstraction, 1930–1950
Evidence sources (4)

Artist

Helen Frankenthaler

Second-generation postwar abstract painter whose documented soak-stain process became a major technical development in American abstraction.

  • 1928–2011
  • American
  • artist created artwork Mountains and Sea
  • artist participated in exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism
  • artist participated in exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Grace Hartigan

American painter whose work crossed abstraction and figuration; MoMA also documents gendered prejudice in the 1950s and her brief use of the name George Hartigan.

  • 1922–2008
  • American
  • artist created artwork Shinnecock Canal
  • artist participated in exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism
  • artist participated in exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Elaine de Kooning

American painter represented by Bullfight (1959). AEU intentionally withholds a normalized birth year because NGA and MoMA institutional records disagree.

  • American
  • artist created artwork Bullfight
  • artist participated in exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism
  • artist participated in exhibition Labyrinth of Forms: Women and Abstraction, 1930–1950
Evidence sources (4)

Artist

Joan Mitchell

American abstract painter whose career spanned New York and France; represented here by Hudson River Day Line (1955) and multiple later institutional recovery exhibitions.

  • 1925–1992
  • American
  • artist created artwork Hudson River Day Line
  • artist participated in exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism
  • artist participated in exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Hedda Sterne

Romanian-born American painter represented through New York, VIII (1954), its documented Roads series, and later MoMA/Whitney recovery contexts.

  • 1910–2011
  • American
  • Romanian-born
  • artist created artwork New York, VIII
  • artist participated in exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction
  • artist participated in exhibition Labyrinth of Forms: Women and Abstraction, 1930–1950
Evidence sources (4)

Artist

Charles Alston

Harlem/New York modernist, educator, and Spiral cofounder represented through the tension between abstraction, figuration, collective politics, and artistic autonomy.

  • 1907–1977
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork Walking
  • artist member of historical collective Spiral forms in New York
  • artist documented in exhibition Spiral: Perspectives on an African-American Art Collective
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Beauford Delaney

Modernist painter active in New York and later Paris whose gestural abstractions intersect the New York School without collapsing his broader portrait, color, and expatriate practice into one movement label.

  • 1901–1979
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork Composition 16
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Herbert Gentry

Paris-active postwar painter whose abstract fields frequently retain fragmentary faces and memory-like figuration.

  • 1919–2003
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork Faced Faces
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Felrath Hines

Painter, conservator, and Spiral member whose practice moved from semiabstract landscape toward geometric abstraction.

  • 1913–1993
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork Abstract Landscape
  • artist member of historical collective Spiral forms in New York
  • artist participated in exhibition Local Color: Washington Painting at Midcentury
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Richard Mayhew

Painter and Spiral member represented through abstract landscape, color, atmosphere, and a source-documented refusal of a single overt political narrative.

  • 1924–2024
  • American
  • African American
  • Native American
  • artist created artwork Morning Bush
  • artist member of historical collective Spiral forms in New York
  • artist documented in exhibition Spiral: Perspectives on an African-American Art Collective
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Ed Clark

Postwar abstract painter known for monumental push-broom gestures and shaped canvases, with documented intersections with Abstract Expressionist material and emotional concerns.

  • 1926–2019
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork Winter Bitch
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Alma Thomas

Washington-based colorist whose late abstraction intersects Color Field and gestural traditions while remaining distinctly rooted in nature, music, and space.

  • 1891–1978
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork The Eclipse
  • artist participated in exhibition Local Color: Washington Painting at Midcentury
Evidence sources (2)

Artist

Sam Gilliam

Washington-based painter whose staining, folding, and unstretched canvases expanded Color Field painting into sculptural space while resisting demands that Black abstraction be overtly representational.

  • 1933–2022
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork April 4, (Part III)
  • artist participated in exhibition Local Color: Washington Painting at Midcentury
Evidence sources (2)

Artist

Jack Whitten

New York painter whose early practice engaged Abstract Expressionism and civil-rights-era urgency before evolving through radical material and technological experimentation.

  • 1939–2018
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork NY Battle Ground
  • artist documented in exhibition Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties
  • artist network connected to Norman Lewis
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Al Loving

Experimental abstractionist whose geometric and later fabric/collage practices test color, frame, material, and the politics of abstraction without becoming a single racialized style.

  • 1935–2005
  • American
  • African American
  • artist created artwork Variations on a Six Sided Object
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Fritz Scholder

Painter and IAIA instructor whose work moved between abstraction, Pop-inflected figuration, and Native subject matter; AEU preserves Smithsonian’s description of his variable self-identification.

  • 1937–2005
  • American
  • Luiseño and European ancestry; source-described identity is variable
  • artist created artwork New Mexico #40
  • artist taught at institution Institute of American Indian Arts
  • artist participated in exhibition Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

T. C. Cannon

Caddo/Kiowa painter whose IAIA training included Abstract Expressionist and other modern-art vocabularies but whose mature practice cannot be reduced to one of those sources.

  • 1946–1978
  • Caddo/Kiowa (IAIA source wording)
  • artist created artwork Trail of Tears
  • artist studied at institution Institute of American Indian Arts
  • artist participated in exhibition Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Linda Lomahaftewa

Hopi/Choctaw painter from IAIA’s first cohort whose early work included Color Field experimentation before later layered print and symbolic-abstraction practices.

  • Hopi/Choctaw (IAIA source wording)
  • artist created artwork The Quiet Land, the Warm Land
  • artist studied at institution Institute of American Indian Arts
  • artist participated in exhibition Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Kevin Red Star

Crow painter from IAIA’s first cohort whose early experimentation with contemporary abstraction later shifted toward historically grounded Crow portraiture.

  • Crow (IAIA source wording)
  • artist created artwork Blackbird
  • artist studied at institution Institute of American Indian Arts
  • artist participated in exhibition Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Kay WalkingStick

Cherokee Nation painter whose 1970s textured abstractions developed alongside explicit reflection on family, grief, gender, and Native identity; AEU keeps those contexts artist-specific.

  • American
  • Cherokee Nation
  • artist created artwork Homage to Chief Joseph (Chief Joseph #1)
  • artist participated in exhibition Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Dick West

Southern Cheyenne artist whose 1949–1950 Spatial Whorl provides an early Native modernist abstraction case distinct from the New York School and from later IAIA experimentation.

  • 1912–1996
  • Southern Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
  • artist created artwork Spatial Whorl
  • artist participated in exhibition Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Morris Louis

Washington-based painter whose staining and Unfurled works connect Abstract Expressionist-era concerns to a distinct Color Field trajectory; AEU preserves MoMA’s qualification that he was of the generation but removed from the New York School.

  • 1912–1962
  • American
  • artist created artwork Beta Lambda
  • series created by artist Unfurleds
  • artist influenced by Helen Frankenthaler
Evidence sources (2)

Artist

Kenneth Noland

Painter associated with Washington Color School and later hard-edge/expanded-field abstraction; AEU treats his relation to Abstract Expressionism through documented influence and historical transition, not automatic second-generation membership.

  • 1924–2010
  • American
  • artist created artwork Turnsole
  • artist influenced by Helen Frankenthaler
  • artist participated in exhibition The Washington Color Painters
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Cy Twombly

Artist whose mid-1950s canvases retained the physical format of painting while radically changing mark, medium, and pictorial expectation; represented as a transitional case rather than a homogeneous second-generation style.

  • 1928–2011
  • American
  • artist created artwork Academy
Evidence sources (2)

Artist

Larry Rivers

Painter whose figurative-historical imagery intersected with the New York School and was later included by MoMA among Younger Abstract Expressionists of the Fifties; the label remains an institutional framing rather than a fixed style assignment.

  • 1923–2002
  • American
  • artist created artwork Washington Crossing the Delaware
  • artist participated in exhibition Younger Abstract Expressionists of the Fifties
Evidence sources (3)

Artist

Friedel Dzubas

German-born American abstract painter represented here through Kanton (1966) as a mid-century transition record; AEU does not infer one fixed second-generation or Washington Color School label from chronology alone.

  • 1915–1994
  • American
  • artist created artwork Kanton
Evidence sources (2)

Artist

David Smith

Sculptor whose metal constructions and painterly training provide a major cross-media route through Abstract Expressionist-era New York.

  • 1906–1965
  • American
  • artist created artwork Australia
  • artist created artwork Twenty-Four Greek Y’s
  • artist participated in exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York: Rock Paper Scissors
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Ibram Lassaw

Sculptor represented through welded open-form construction and documented Abstract Expressionist New York exhibition history.

  • 1913–2003
  • American
  • born Egypt
  • artist created artwork Kwannon
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Louise Nevelson

Sculptor and assemblage artist whose monumental wood constructions intersect Abstract Expressionist histories without being reduced to painting-derived categories.

  • 1899–1988
  • American
  • born Ukraine
  • artist created artwork Sky Cathedral
  • artist participated in exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York: Rock Paper Scissors
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Herbert Ferber

Sculptor and draftsman represented through postwar sculpture and its documented placement inside Abstract Expressionist New York histories.

  • 1906–1991
  • American
  • artist created artwork Jackson Pollock
  • artist participated in exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York: Rock Paper Scissors
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Seymour Lipton

Sculptor and draftsman represented through three-dimensional construction and works on paper rather than a painting-only New York School model.

  • 1903–1986
  • American
  • artist created artwork Imprisoned Figure
  • artist created artwork Untitled
  • artist participated in exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York: Rock Paper Scissors
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Anne Ryan

Poet, painter, printmaker, and collagist represented through intimate collage and New York School-era artistic networks.

  • 1889–1954
  • American
  • artist created artwork Number 13
  • artist participated in exhibition American Collages
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Conrad Marca-Relli

Painter and collagist represented through large collaged-canvas practice and first-generation New York School exhibition history.

  • 1913–2000
  • American
  • artist created artwork Sleeping Figure
  • artist participated in exhibition American Collages
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Dorothy Dehner

Artist represented through drawing and later sculpture, complicating a painting-only account of postwar abstraction.

  • 1901–1994
  • American
  • artist created artwork From Japan
  • artist participated in exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York: Rock Paper Scissors
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Louise Bourgeois

Artist represented through sculpture and drawing as a documented participant in the expanded-media histories surrounding Abstract Expressionist New York.

  • 1911–2010
  • American
  • born France
  • artist created artwork Figure
  • artist created artwork Untitled
  • artist participated in exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York: Rock Paper Scissors
Evidence sources (1)

Artist

Aaron Siskind

Photographer whose increasingly abstract work was exhibited alongside Abstract Expressionist painters and later framed by MoMA as a key photographic connection.

  • 1903–1991
  • American
  • artist created artwork Martha’s Vineyard
  • artist created artwork New Jersey 5
Evidence sources (1)

Idea / lens

Chance and control

A recurring interpretive lens for examining the relationship between physical process, accident, momentum, and deliberate decision-making.

  • Interpretive lens
Evidence sources (1)

Technique

Pour, drip, and fling

A generalized process category for applying fluid paint by pouring, dripping, flicking, or flinging rather than only brushing conventionally.

  • Process / material
Evidence sources (1)

Technique

Assemblage

Constructing a three-dimensional work from assembled components or found elements, recorded only where institutional evidence explicitly supports the term or process.

  • Process / material
Evidence sources (1)

Material

House paint

A normalized AEU material term used only where a source record explicitly names house paint in the catalog medium.

  • paint
  • Explicit mapping only
Evidence sources (1)

Formal property

Field structure

A descriptive property for compositions organized through large interacting zones or passages rather than discrete depicted objects.

  • Descriptive lens
  • Not a quality score
Evidence sources (1)

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