The Philosophy and Politics of Abstract Expressionism, 1940-1960

The Philosophy and Politics of Abstract Expressionism reexamines the relationship between a flourishing artistic movement of the 1940s and 50s and the concomitant ‘new liberalism’ as defined and supported by the American left. Tracing conceptual networks among mid-century intellectuals, and the impact of French existentialism on artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman, Nancy Jachec reinterprets the international success of Abstract Expressionism. She argues that American avant-garde painting was promoted by the United States government, not because of its affinities with American values, but rather because of its radical character which was considered to appeal to a Western European populace perceived by the State Department as inclined toward Socialism. Bringing together the histories of art, philosophy and politics of postwar America, this interdisciplinary study uses previously unpublished archival materials to examine systematically the influence of European philosophy on America’s first internationally recognized avant-garde art form.