In the 1940s, surrealist artists fled to New York City where abstract expressionism developed as the dominant avant-garde movement, influenced by surrealism and existentialism. This diminished figuration and emphasized pure expression and the flatness of the canvas. Meanwhile in Europe, art informel emerged as the equivalent to abstract expressionism. By the 1950s, pop art began as a critique of modernism by embracing popular culture, while minimalism stripped art down to basic materials and forms.

1. New York in the 1940s

Surrealists escaped from Europe to settle in New York

Already well established artistically, encompassing the Ashcan
School and the Harlem Renaissance

Populist and political themes, as well as an interest in Freudian
psychoanalysis

Early Abstract Expressionists begin to craft individual styles

Hans Hoffman presents his 'Push/Pull' theory of composition

“The Irascibles” protest the Met museum for failure to include new
abstract painting in major exhibitions

2. Abstract Expressionism

Draws on the ideas of the surrealists and existentialism.

Focus on the flatness of the picture plane.

Established the American avant-garde as the driving force in post-
war art

Influenced by American regionalism as well as European Modernism

Many artists had worked in the WPA and studied at
The Art Students League

Strong male-dominated aesthetic

Diminished the role of the figurative image in favor of pure
expression.

Also known as “action painting”.

Became a propaganda tool of the US government as a form of 'soft
power'
during the Cold War.

3. Europe After the War

Art Informel, the European equivalent to Abstract-Expressionism,
with more of a focus on the European master tradition of technique
and surface.

Heavy influence of Sartre and existentialist thought.

Art Brut and CoBra movements take an interest in the art of the
primitive, children, and outsiders.

Italian painters focus on new approaches to surface, incorporating
collage and altered canvases

British painters present a fractured realism, drawing on the
devastation of London and Europe after WWII

A frank rejection of the optimism of Modernism

4. The Death of Modernism

Nouveau Realistes begin to focus on subject matter from the world
around them, taking inspiration from the streets of Paris and
incorporating real world objects in their work.

Conceptual art, or art about ideas, begins to establish itself.

The idea of the avant-garde comes back into vogue, though with
more focus on philosophy and ideology

Jospeh Beuys agitates in Germany for a holistic art form, dubbed
'social sculpture' that states that everyone is a potential artist and
art can have socio-political effects. He creates the persona of artist
as Shaman, giving lectures and performances about the nature of
art.

5. The Beat Generation

A new generation of post-war thinkers begins to define the American
concept of the avant-garde.

Beginnings of a 'counter-culture' to the accepted norms of the day.

Encompasses artists, filmmakers, poets, and intellectuals.

Neo-Dada takes hold in New york, emphasizing surface and
spontaneity rather than personal expression. The movement also
has a strong presence in Japan.

Waning influence of existentialism and the rise of popular culture as
a subject matter.

The independent Group in England begins to look to advertising and
consumer culture for inspiration.

The first Happenings take place under the guidance of Alan Kaprow
and begin an interest in performance as a viable artistic medium.

6. Pop Art Rising

Began in England with lectures by The Independent Group

Primary focus was popular culture and 'lowbrow' forms of art such
as television, comic books, and advertising.

Direct challenge to Modernist notions of art, especially the idea that
nature and the expression of self was the function of 'high art'

“New Paintings of Common Objects” opens in Pasadena, CA and
introduces the world to American Pop Art.

Rejected the distinction between 'high and low' culture.

Focus on appropriation as an artistic practice.

More a celebration of consumerism than a critique.

Strongly influenced by the advertising world.

Shift in the nature of art that would soon be defined as 'Post-
Modernism

7. Pop Art Rising

Began in England with lectures by The Independent Group

Primary focus was popular culture and 'lowbrow' forms of art such
as television, comic books, and advertising.

Direct challenge to Modernist notions of art, especially the idea that
nature and the expression of self was the function of 'high art'

“New Paintings of Common Objects” opens in Pasadena, CA and
introduces the world to American Pop Art.

Rejected the distinction between 'high and low' culture.

Focus on appropriation as an artistic practice.

More a celebration of consumerism than a critique.

Strongly influenced by the advertising world.

Shift in the nature of art that would soon be defined as 'Post-
Modernism

8. Art on the West Coast

Bay Area Figurative School established artistic precedence and
many Bay Area artists taught in Universities in CA.

The Ferus Gallery was an important hub of activity and was the site
of Andy Warhol's first major solo role.

Beginnings of installation art.

Very experimental scene, with forays into video, light and coior.

New approaches to ceramics, treating them not strictly as craft but
instead more like traditional scuplture.

Light & Space begins to incorporate new technologies to make art
with minimalist understines.

9. Minimalism & Material

Stripped all expression and craft out of art objects.

Heavy focus on fabrication and erasing the artists hand.

Reaction against the philosophy of Abstract-Expressionism.

Attempted to also blur distinctions between mediums such as
painting and sculpture.

Abstraction taken to its logical conclusion.

Criticized for deliberately confusing the line between art and objects.

Constituted an ideological statement about the nature of art and
attempted to subvert the 'salability of much contemporary art.

Some female artists developed their own idiosyncratic working
processes, including the use of latex, plastics, and synthetic
materials. Differed from Minimalism in that it focused more on
surface, material, and process.