The incomparable personnel of the Albright Knox Art Gallery have done it again in one of the most anticipated exhibitions to debut this year.
Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976 is a spectacular tribute to art in the post-World War II era, demanding the viewer's full attention in order to absorb the history, depth and tremendous effort which has been put forth to bring such an amazing project together.
Revolving around two intersecting themes, the exhibition contains works by various influential American artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, alongside critics Clement Greenburg and Harold Rosenberg, whose writings were immensely significant in spreading the awareness and popularity of abstract art.
Every piece in the gallery deals with "grappling with the meanings of modernism" and intended to "shed light on the cultural and social climate of the '40s and '70s."
The gallery combines pieces devoted purely to this exhibit as well as pieces from the museum's permanent collection and is arranged into thematic sections of sorts.
They are grouped to "evoke the rivalry between Greenberg, Rosenberg, and the epic transformation of art in the postwar period." The critic/artist orientation is, "admittedly a compelling slant, which we hope will inspire other interpretations of this still fascinating period of American art and culture."
The core of the Greenberg/Rosenberg debate lies in the works displayed by de Kooning and Pollock.
One is brought to consider the merits to either side of the artists' work, and with that the center of the action/abstraction debate is brought into question.
There is virtually no segment of this artistic movement untouched.
A particular section of the exhibit is devoted entirely to issues of magazines and periodicals such as The Nation, The New Yorker, Life, and even MAD magazine chronicling the movement's growing popularity.
Cold War political tensions and controversies are also brought to light, especially the rise of McCarthyism in the early 1950s.
Max Ernst and the Dada movement are also recognized, along with a special exhibition devoted entirely to the use of modern art from the worldview.
There is no doubt that the unveiling of this gallery is truly a citywide must-see event. Art lovers will be enthralled while those with a fading interest will be nothing less than intrigued.
Albright Knox has started the year off right as visitors wait with bated breath for the next one-of-a-kind gallery to be revealed.
