The Shape of Freedom : International Abstraction after 1945

Author: Michael Philipp

Format: Hardback | 296 pages

Dimensions: 251 x 308 x 28mm | 1,831g

Publication date: 30 Aug 2022

Following World War II, Western painting went in completely new directions.

A young generation of artists turned their backs on the dominant styles of the interwar period: Instead of figurative representation or geometric abstraction, painters in the orbit of Abstract Expressionism in the US and Art Informel in Western Europe pursued a radically impulsive approach to form, color, and material.

As an expression of individual freedom, the spontaneous artistic gesture gained symbolic significance. Large-scale color-field compositions created a meditative space for ruminating the fundamental questions of human existence. The exhibition and catalogue examine the two sister movements against the background of a vibrant transatlantic exchange, from the 1940s through to the end of the Cold War.