II until December 1940. The term "Abstract Expressionism" is misleading. On itsfirst appearance, it seemed like any genuine innovative style,breaking away with the past in a radical manner. By a clearerunderstanding it revealed that Abstract Expressionism flourisheddue to some reliable understanding of the painters' formal andtechnical concerns and their relationship to previous art.Unlike European tradition, American art had no classical roots.In the mainstream America art has not been monumental anddecorative, but basically popular and realistic. After givingprimary debt of the Abstract Expressionism to the European art,the artists managed to preserve some unique and compellingqualities of American expression. These included boldness ofimagery, directness of technique, stress on the materialphysicality of medium and surface, and sincerity of statement. Abstraction embodied the intellectual achievement andadventurous outlook of the twentieth century, along with othertechnological breakthroughs. Evolving after photography hadproven its ability to capture appearances, abstract expressionismin every walk of art conveyed that could not be captured througha set of lens. It gave complete freedom from conventionalconcerns and restrains, which led to unobstructed expressivenessand individual exhalation. Even though the work may seemspontaneous, abstract artists employed highly calculated methods. The relationship between abstract art and modernarchitecture was particularly strong. Many painters paid homageto architectural principles in their compositions. KazimirMalevich, in architectonics, experimented with three-dimensionalexploration of ideas. A number of artistic groups and movementsevolved which taught the integration of art, architecture anddesign. German architect, Walter Gropius, developed a series ofinterlocking geometric forms around a central matrix, whichembodied the transformation of abstract planar composit...
