Being a post-World War 2 movement there was a lot of influence derived in the paintings of the new Abstract Expressionism movement. This movement was primarily based off of the Surrealistic and Abstract art style and heavily influenced by the Great Depression. This art movement is a home to many different abstract and aggressive art styles. The artists who grew up in the Great Depression were influenced the most. Artists such as Barnett Newman. Newman was one of the most famous Abstract Expressionistic artists for works such as Onement VI and Ulysses. His incorporation of minimalist color schemes is highly unique and praised. Another artist who helped influence the art world was Jackson Pollock. Perhaps the most famous Abstract Expressionist Pollock used the unique and famous style of "drip painting". These artists both gained influence from one of the most difficult times in history which in turn helped develop a unique style of art. Joan Mitchell was a another famous Expressionist. She used large scale canvases, some of her work such as "Rose Cottage" are extremely influential to modern day contemporary artists. She used many of the styles of abstract artists in the late 1800's, her paintings though old styled looked extremely modern. These artist's influence is reflected through their art and helps influence people today. Abstract expressionism was also known to be one of the first contemporary art movements, or modern art movements. After World War 2 many different types of art were classified as contemporary. Contemporary art is still used today because it is modern.
These art pieces show the various amount of style used in the 1950's. This movement was the first hand-off towards a new generation of modern art which is still used today. I believe these pieces are good examples of the unique styles and inspiration that was used to make them because of their modernistic look with both old and new school art styles. These art pieces were extremely reflective of their difficult beginnings of the depression to a new and more lively time in life. Another art, Richard Diebenkorn, had a unique style that was used often in expressionism. He used landscape which in turn would become popular among expressionists for reflecting a "vast but simple" reflection of the human life and soul.