When I began reading the intro to gestural abstraction, I got lost in all the words and terms, but as I actually sat back and continued, it started to come together. I didn't recognize most of the artists' names in the Americans section and none in the Europeans section. What really popped out at me was the comparison made by the art historian Werner Haftmann of Wols to Jackson Pollock:
"Because of their unprecedented acceptance of the terrible events of the desolate years before and during the war, the lives and works of Wols and Pollock seem to provide documentary evidence of that period. Pollock was rebellious, Wols passive and resigned; he merely recorded whatever happened to him--not the simple facts of his life, but the images which streamed from his wounded soul."
I have to say, just by looking at Wols' work and Pollock's, I see both as rebellious. I don't know how passive Wols seems to me. If anything, I feel that Wols' work is much darker than Pollock's, but the introduction to this chapter suggests that the Americans were more aggressive and dark, but Wols' work seemed so dark and heavy to me.
I do agree that the art of this time was somewhat political. It would have been hard to avoid any politics at the time, because of the war. It would be seemingly impossible to not include anything involving the war.
Reading the interview with Jackson Pollock was a refresher for me, because a clip from the movie about Pollock was shown in art appreciation with this intreview. I find Pollock to be a revolutionary of his time. It was unheard of to lay your canvas on the ground and randomly splatter paint. He would just get into a trance and let the paint fall where it may. I find something very calming about that, almost like a release. It seems like it would be good therapy for the stressed.
As far as geometic abstraction, I find it very intersting to look at, but I feel it lacks emotion. I suppose that's what these artists were trying to do, but I have always tied my realm of thoughts about art to emotions. I just feel like the geometric designs take less creativity, because you can take out your ruler and pencil and make shapes and lines.
Max Bill explained his mathmatical approach to art. I am not a huge math whiz, so I prefer to leave math out of my art. I think the concrete art is nice to look at, but it is nowhere close to anything I would willingly go to a museum to see or own in my own home.
