This document summarizes action painting, a style of abstract expressionism characterized by energetic and expressive application of paint. It was pioneered by artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s. While some viewed action paintings as random splatters, the document analyzes works by Joan Mitchell, Jackson Pollock, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Helen Frankenthaler, and Willem de Kooning to show how they demonstrate control and composition despite their gestural styles. It addresses the criticism of whether such works can truly be considered art.

1. McKensie Schepers
Survey of Art History 2
2014
Action Painting: Is It Really Art?

2. Introduction
action painting
o noun. Also called tachism. A style of
American abstract expressionist painting
typified especially in the works of Jackson
Pollack and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s,
in which the furiously energetic and free
application of the paint is seen as being
expressive of the psychological and emotional
state of the artist at the moment of creation.

3.  Action Painting is a category of Abstract expressionism that’s
popularity began in the 1940’s and onward. These paintings are also
called gestural abstraction. This style of painting emphasizes the
process of making art with a variety of energetic techniques, some
being; flinging, splattering, dripping, dabbing and smearing paint. The
artists uses these techniques to explore a sense of control while
interacting with random occurrences.
 The term was coined by the American art critic Harold Rosenberg to
describe the work of American Abstract Expressionists who utilized
the method.
 Abstract Imagists and Color Field painters made up the other major
direction of paintings style in Abstract Expressionism. These painters
had preconceived work instead of mostly completely random
occurrences.
 Action Paintings along with many other abstract styles come under
critism as to whether or not it can be considered art. As you will see
in this exhibition, these pieces are not simply random splatters that

4.  Joan Mitchell (1925-1992)
 Ladybug
 1957
 Oil on Canvas
 Museum of Modern Art, New York

5.  This piece is a good example of, ‘is this really art?’ It
appears to the untrained eye to be a bunch of
random strokes of random colors.
 Joan managed to create energetic yet controlled
rhythms with the brush strokes. She shows the
relationship between figure and field seen in
traditional paintings. She also uses a distinct palette
against a neutral background to achieve this.

6.  Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
 Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)
 1950
 Oil on Canvas
 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

7.  Many people view Pollock’s work as simply chaotic.
 Here in Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), he takes the
viewer through his composition like a maze of
complex paths that led to natural and biomorphic
forms.
 This painting contains a lot of energy in the way that
the paint itself never leaves the edges of the canvas.
There is a top and bottom just like any other
traditional painting.

8.  Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002)
 Knight Watch
 1953
 Oil on Canvas
 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

9.  At first glance, this painting looks like a mess of
melted crayons or a sloppy mess made by a young
child.
 Riopelle used a technique of squeezing paint directly
onto the canvass and then spreading it with a palette
knife. The bright colors spread across the canvass in
a vivid rainbow of smears connected by thin, spidery
lines.

10.  Helen Frankenthaler (b.1928)
 Mountains and Sea
 1952
 Oil and Charcoal on Canvas
 National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

11.  This piece takes a different approach than the
previous scene. This work is not nearly as chaotic,
but still has a randomized feel to it.
 Helen used thin washes of paint that soaked into the
canvass instead of sitting heavily on top. This
creates a more lyrical version of action painting. She
used the process of pouring paint and then outlining
in charcoal to form an image.

12.  Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
 Woman I
 1950-1952
 Oil on Canvas
 Museum of Modern Art, New York

13.  This final piece takes another step away from those
previously shown, in the fact that it is more figurative.
 The painting, Woman I, was a process. Kooning
started with a sketch then painted several layers on
top of it. He would paint, then scrape it off, then paint
again, forming the sporadic looking gestural piece.
 He was one of the action painters that surprised the
art world by moving away from pure abstraction.
 Even though this painting may appear messy and
simple to some, many hours of experimentation was
put into it

14. Works Cited
 The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Action
Painting (art)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 08 May 2014.
 Slifkin, R. "The Tragic Image: Action Painting
Refigured." Oxford Art Journal 34.2 (2011): 227-46.
Print.
 Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Cothren. Art History.
Boston: Pearson, 2013. Print.