Nonfigurative, adhere, diverse, tendencies, spontaneity, embraced, saturated, prime, assertion, unified, quintessential

Abstract Expressionism, movement in mid-20th-century painting that was primarily concerned with the spontaneous __________ of the individual through the act of painting. The movement contains a variety of styles and is characterized more by the concepts behind the art than by a specific look. Generally, abstract expressionist art is without recognizable images and does not __________ to the limits of conventional form.

The roots of abstract expressionism are in the totally __________ work of the Russian-born painter Wassily Kandinsky and that of the surrealists, who deliberately used the subconscious and __________ in creative activity.

The abstract expressionist movement centred in New York City. Although the styles __________ within abstract expressionism were as __________ as the styles of the painters themselves, two major __________ were noted in the movement. Action painters were concerned with paint texture and consistency and the gestures of the artist, while colour field painters gave their works impact by using __________ colour and shape. Jackson Pollock was the __________ action painter. Mark Rothko created pulsating rectangles of __________ colour in his works; many of these works are __________ examples of colour-field painting.

34 Look into the two descriptions above and answer the questions that follow. Make use of the language of the passages, as well as the functional exponents in the box below.

a. What is the quintessence of the two trends?

b. Where is the difference in their depictions?

c. How are these conceptual points exemplified in pictures that you know of?

d. What are your preferences?