Post-painterly Abstraction
Post-painterly abstraction is a term created by art critic Clement Greenberg as the title for an exhibit he curated for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1964, which subsequently travelled to the Walker Art Center and the Art Gallery of Toronto.
Post-painterly Abstraction
- Period
- 1960
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Post-painterly abstraction is a term created by art critic Clement Greenberg as the title for an exhibit he curated for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1964, which subsequently travelled to the Walker Art Center and the Art Gallery of Toronto.
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wikidata · Q1962478 · wikipedia · Post-painterly abstraction
In this article
History
History
Greenberg had perceived that there was a new movement in painting that derived from the abstract expressionism of the 1940s and 1950s but "favored openness or clarity" as opposed to the dense painterly surfaces of that painting style. The 31 artists in the exhibition included Walter Darby Bannard, Jack Bush, Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, Friedel Dzubas, Paul Feeley, John Ferren, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Al Held, Ellsworth Kelly, Nicholas Krushenick, Alexander Liberman, Kenneth Lochhead, Morris Louis, Arthur Fortescue McKay, Howard Mehring, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Ray Parker, David Simpson, Albert Stadler, Frank Stella, Mason Wells, Ward Jackson, Emerson Woelffer, and a number of other American and Canadian artists who were becoming well known in the 1960s. Among the prior generation of contemporary artists, Barnett Newman has been singled out as one who anticipated "some of the characteristics of post-painterly abstraction." As painting continued to move in different directions, initially away from abstract expressionism, the term "post-painterly abstraction", was used for works alongside minimalism, hard-edge painting, lyrical abstraction, and color field painting.
Course of the movement
Dated record
Course of the movement
The full dated record · 2 entries
1960
Post-painterly Abstraction first recorded.
1960
Post-painterly Abstraction is recorded from 1960.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1962478: Post-painterly Abstraction
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Post-painterly abstraction”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Literature
Literature
Literature
Historical Dictionary of Contemporary Art, 2017
Review of "Modernism’s Masculine Subjects: Matisse, the New York School, and Post-Painterly Abstraction" by Marcia Brennan. Caa.reviews, 2005
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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