La escuela de Nueva York

by Dore Ashton

With the emergence of Abstract Expressionism after World War II, the attention of the international art world turned from Paris to New York. Dore Ashton captures the vitality of the cultural milieu in which the New York School artists worked and argued and critiqued each other's work from the 1930s to the 1950s. Working from unsifted archives, from contemporary newspapers and books, and from extensive conversations with the men and women who participated in the rise of the New York School, Ashton provides a rich cultural and intellectual history of this period. In examining the complex sources of this important movement--from the WPA program of the 1930s and the influx of European ideas to the recognition in the 1950s of American painting on an international scale--she conveys the concerns of an extraordinary group of artists including Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, Philip Guston, Barnett Newman, Arshile Gorky, and many others. Rare documentary photographs illustrate Ashton's classic appraisal of the New York School scene.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Dore Ashton (1928, – January 30, 2017) was a writer, professor and critic of modern and contemporary art. She was the author or editor of more than thirty books on art.

Reviews

[Anastasiia Mozghova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Эштон удалось не только увлекательно рассказать об отдельных деятелях искусства, которые жили и работали в Нью-Йорке в первой половине 20 века, но и сконструировать комплексный и при этом понятный контекст, который скорее всего неизвестен обычному читателю.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t really fault a book for not being what I wanted it to be, so I’ll still give this book four stars because it’s well-written and well-argued. But I wanted this to be much more about the New York milieu of the midcentury Abstract Expressionists—how they lived, what inspired them, how they created their art, how they got along and/or didn’t get along with each other. There’s a lot of that here, but also a lot of abstract theory—artistic, yes, but also political and sociological theory that detracts from what is otherwise an interesting narrative.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essays in this book capture the thinking involved in the Abstract Expressionist School of New York.

[JabJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting this book to deal with the art itself and the development of styles from a critical point of view, as Dore Ashton is a well-known art critic. Instead, it is more a social-cultural history of why art in New York developed as it did. Very well written. Ashton takes us from early beginnings, when aspiring artists hightailed it out of rural America and headed for New York--the only place that might offer anything like an art school; describes the isolation of painters in America who had virtually no contact with developments in Europe, nor much interest from the American public; then the terrible poverty of the depression and the growing fear of war; finally the war itself, which drove a wave of European artists to American shores, enriching and validating the growth of the New York school.

Ashton describes the formation of a community of artists who had little in common esthetically, simply due to proximity and shared destitution. But finally came the unexpected shock of material success, something that had never occurred to them as a realistic possibility. Once the money came, the community became confused (Mark Rothko being a case in point) and disunited. Ashton quotes Auden: "The fellowship of suffering lasts only so long as none of the sufferers can escape. Open a door through which many but probably not all can escape, and the fellowship disintegrates."

The heyday of New York abstract expressionism probably really lasted only about ten years, but the reader experiences its gradual evolution over a much longer period: it wasn't born overnight. Some may find this to be a bit of a 'textbook,' but anyone interested in the subject, as I am, will enjoy the read and the information.

[Probibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of information about the Abstract Expressionists and also a fun read. It covers the art market and cultural history. Ashton has a graceful writing style. I first read this book in 1979 as a college freshman and have read it many times since.

[Lad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dore is the best. Period.

[Mills College Library]

700.97471 A828 1992

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

An invaluable context