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Abstract Expressionism: Figurative Painting Of The 1930s

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Abstract Expressionism that the roots of the movement lie in the figurative painting of the 1930s. Almost all the artists who would later become abstract painters in New York in the 1940s and 1950s were stamped by the experience of the Great Depression.

they came to maturity whilst painting in styles influenced by social realism and the Regionalist movement. By the late 1940s most had left those styles behind, but they learned much from their early work. It encouraged them in their commitment to an art based on personal experience. Time spent painting murals would later encourage them to create abstract paintings on a monumental scale. The experience of working for the government - sponsored Works Progress Administration also brought many

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