a school of painting in New York in the 1940s that combined the spontaneity of expressionism with abstract forms in unpremeditated, apparently random, compositions
See also action painting, tachisme
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
ab′stract expres′sionism, (sometimes caps.)
ab′stract expres′sionist.
- Fine Arta movement in experimental, nonrepresentational painting originating in the U.S. in the 1940s, with sources in earlier movements, and embracing many individual styles marked in common by freedom of technique, a preference for dramatically large canvases, and a desire to give spontaneous expression to the unconscious.
- 1950–55, American.
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'abstract expressionism' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):