October 19, 2008–January 11, 2009

Action/Abstraction proposes a fresh look at the painting and sculpture that transformed the art world in the years following World War II—a period when abstraction emerged as a dominant means of artistic expression. Key works by such artists as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, Clyfford Still, David Smith, Helen Frankenthaler and Philip Guston represent a carefully chosen group of fifty examples from major institutions and collections throughout the U.S. and abroad. Against a background of Cold War politics, rising mass culture and growing consumerism, critic Harold Rosenberg championed the concept of action (the creative act of the artist) versus the ideal purity of a non-representational aesthetic defended by Clement Greenberg. Action/Abstraction re-examines how these critics' theories vied with each other and with the intentions of the artists—who nevertheless remained keenly aware of the critics' perspectives and were often influenced by them. Curated in St. Louis by Charlotte Eyerman, curator of modern and contemporary art, Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940–1976 has been organized by The Jewish Museum, New York in collaboration with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo and the Saint Louis Art Museum. An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The exhibition will be on view in the Main Exhibition Galleries.