Presented by: Presented by The Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions

Organized by: Organized by the Tampa Museum of Art

Abstract Expressionism: A Social Revolution focuses on the rise of a new generation of artists active in post-World War II America whose works challenged the institutional status-quo and altered the course of art history. The artists in this show, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Rothko, though never formally associated, are unified by their rejection of academicism and commitment to pushing the boundaries of modern art. These artists, today called Abstract Expressionists, abandoned narrative painting, focusing instead on relationships between color, gesture, and texture.

Additionally, the exhibition examines a group of artists whose works express the legacy of Abstract Expressionism and the effect it had on the art of the late twentieth century. The work of artists like Sam Francis, Judy Pfaff, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella signifies the indistinct boundaries between art movements and builds on the complexity of mark making established by the earlier generation.

Abstract Expressionism: A Social Revolution is divided into three sections: Abstraction and Revolution, Abstractions and Repetition, and Abstraction and Its Legacy. Through these categories, the exhibition interrogates how the artists expanded the language of abstraction and experimented with new materials and methods. Exemplary works by twenty-five artists reveal how these men and women, while working in their own distinct abstract styles, together forged a significant turning point in art history.

Catalogue will be available in the museum store.

Sponsored by: Armstrong Relocation Companies & First Tennessee Foundation

Theodore W. and Betty J. Eckels Foundation | Kate and Michael Buttarazzi | Karen and Preston Dorsett | Andrea and Doug Edwards | Amanda and Nick Goetze | Anne and Mike Keeney | Ellen and William Losch | Nancy and Steve Morrow | Irene Orgill | Gwen and Penn Owen | Trish and Carl Ring | Sue and Al Saltiel | Jeff and Mary Baird Simpson | Craig Simrell and Mark Greganti | Irene and Fred Smith | Adele Wellford | Barbara and Lewis Williamson