Bøger af Barbara Hess

From vast, splattered canvases to quiet pools of color, enter the world of Abstract Expressionism, the movement which put feelings into paint and turned New York into the global center for contemporary art. This book features works from 20 key artists, including Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning.

Hailed as the first American-born art movement to have a worldwide influence, Abstract Expressionism denotes the non-representational use of paint as a means of personal expression. It emerged in America in the 1940s, with lead protagonists including Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning. Abstract Expressionism spawned many different stylistic tendencies but two particularly prominent sub-categories: action painting, exemplified by de Kooning and Pollock, and color field painting, made most famous by Rothko. Throughout, Abstract Expressionists strove to convey emotions and ideas through the making of marks, through forms, textures, shades, and the particular quality of brushstrokes. The movement favored large-scale canvases, and embraced the role of accident or chance. With featured works from 20 key Abstract Expressionist artists, this book introduces the movement which shifted the center of art gravity from Paris to New York and remains for many the golden moment of American art.

One of his generation's most popular artists, German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich is known for his allegorical landscapes that convey a deep sense of contemplation and melancholy. 2024 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of this outstanding artist, whose paintings continue to gain in topicality-hardly a discussion on climate change without one of his iconic paintings, such as The Sea of Ice, being invoked as a silent witness. Barbara Hess examines the painter's work and his life, from its lasting poignancy to the great themes of Romanticism and drawing. In the playful format of an A-Z book, the author takes us on a timely journey, showing how new views and perspectives can be gained from what has long been thought familiar. CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH (1774-1840) is the most important artist of the German Romantic period. Born in Greifswald, then part of the Kingdom of Sweden, he studied drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, before settling in Dresden in 1798. His compositions are visualizations of emotional landscapes that create an instant of sublimity. His works elude lucidity and have therefore continuously been open to new interpretations. Art historian BARBARA HESS (*1964) has published works on avant-garde galleries, Abstract Expressionism, the documenta, Lucio Fontana and Jasper Johns, among others. Most recently, she has co-edited the diary of the German post-war avant-garde artist HP Zimmer, published this spring by Hatje Cantz.