| New York Figurative Expressionism | |
|---|---|
 Marsden Hartley's 1941 painting of "Lobster Fishermen" inspired by fishermen from his home state of Maine. | |
| Years active | Beginning in the 1930s, reaching a height in the 1950s-1960s, but with practitioners still working in the style today |
| Location | United States |
| Major figures | Artists Max Weber, Marsden Hartley, Milton Avery, Edwin Dickinson |
| Influences | German Expressionism is the most direct influence, but representational painting has roots inOld Master andhistory painting |
New York Figurative Expressionism is a visual arts movement and a branch ofAmerican Figurative Expressionism. Though the movement dates to the 1930s, it was not formally classified as "figurative expressionism" until the term arose as a counter-distinction to the New York–based postwar movement known asAbstract Expressionism.[1]
Commenters like Museum of Contemporary Art of Detroit (MOCAD) curator Klaus Kertess observed that "[o]n the eve of the newabstraction's purge offiguration and its rise to all-encompassing prominence, the figure began to acquire a new and forceful vigor,"[2] elsewhere explaining that "[d]uring the late forties and early fifties," figurative work was associated with a conservatism abstractionists sought to avoid. Their response was defensive, and "prone to blur the vast distinctions betweenfigurativepainters and to exaggerate the difference between the figurative and the nonfigurative. It was not until the late sixties and early seventies that the figure was permitted to return from exile and even to make claims to centrality."[3] But that was not true of all abstract expressionists.Willem de Kooning (1904–1997) andJackson Pollock (1912–1956), for example, started incorporating figurative elements far sooner.[4] They, along with abstract expressionistConrad Marca-Relli (1913–2000) among others, built upon the figure as a framework for expanding their otherwise abstract canvases.[2]
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Early New York figurative expressionists includedMax Weber (1881–1961) andMarsden Hartley (1877–1943), known for their work with myth and spirituality. Other early practitioners spanned the lyrical restraint ofMilton Avery (1885–1965) and the clear, direct work ofEdwin Dickinson (1891–1978).
The use of the figure was influenced byOld Master andhistory painting for some of the New York Expressionists, notablyLarry Rivers (1923–2002) andGrace Hartigan (1922–). For many others, the figure served as the logical subject of representational portraiture:Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989);Balcomb Greene, (1904–1990);Robert De Niro Sr. (1920–1993);Fairfield Porter, (1907–1975);Gregorio Prestopino (1907–1984);Lester Johnson (1919–2010);George McNeil (1909–1995);Henry Gorski (1918–2010);Robert Goodnough (1917–); andEarle M. Pilgrim (1923–1976).
The figure also served as a stylistic element reminiscent of theGermanExpressionists, but with theheroicscale of theAbstract Expressionists for many of those withallegorical ormythical interests. Artists in this category included:Jan Müller, (1922–1958);Robert Beauchamp, (1923–1995);Nicholas Marsicano, (1914–1991);Bob Thompson, (1937–1966);Ezio Martinelli, (1913–1980)Irving Kriesberg, (1919–2009).[5]
"During the war years and into the 1950s," Judith E. Stein writes, "the general public was to remain highly suspicious of abstraction, which many considered un-American. While theart criticClement Greenberg successfully challenged the public's negative response to abstraction, his attempt to communicate to the New York figurative painters of the fifties was less successful."[6] A conversation recollected by Thomas B. Hess emphasized the perceived power of the critic:"It is impossible today to paint a face, pontificated the critic Clement Greenberg around 1950. "That's right," said de Kooning, "and it's impossible not to."[7]
In 1953, the journalReality was founded "to rise to the defense of any painter's right to paint any ways he wants."[8] Backing this mission statement was an editorial committee that includedIsabel Bishop (1902–1988),Edward Hopper (1882–1967),Jack Levine (1915–2010),Raphael Soyer (1899–1987) andHenry Varnum Poor (1888–1970).
The sculptorPhilip Pavia became "partisan publisher" ofIt is. A Magazine for Abstract Art that he founded in 1958. In an open letter to Leslie Katz, the new publisher ofArts Magazine, he wrote: "I am begging you to give the representational artist a better deal. The neglected representational and near-abstract artists, not the abstractionists, need a champion these days."[9]
Although none of these figurative advocates had the stature of critics likeClement Greenberg orHarold Rosenberg, they were recognized by critics as radicals, "represent[ing] a new generation to whom figurative art was in a sense more revolutionary than abstraction."[10]
The literary historianMarjorie Perloff has made a convincing argument thatFrank O'Hara's poems on the works of Garace Hartigan and Larry Rivers proved "that he was really more at home with painting that retains at least some figuration than with pure abstraction."[11] Frank O'Hara wrote an elegant defense in "Nature and New Painting," 1954, listingGrace Hartigan (1922–2008),Larry Rivers (1923–2002),Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989),Jane Freilicher (1924–),Robert De Niro Sr. (1922–1993), Felix Pasilis (1922–),Wolf Kahn (1927–) andMarcia Marcus (1928–) as artists who responded to "the siren-like call of nature."[12] O'Hara aligned the New York Figurative Expressionists within abstract expressionism, which had always taken a strong position against an implied protocol, "whether at the Metropolitan Museum or the Artists Club."Thomas B. Hess wrote: "[T]he 'New figurative painting' which some have been expecting as a reaction against Abstract Expressionism was implicit in it at the start, and is one of its most lineal continuities."[13]
