' The Abstract Impulse ' at the National Academy

Written by Martin Myrick Tuesday, 16 November 2010 21:08

New York City - Abstraction has been the dominant artistic mode of the last fifty years and has recently received renewed interest from artists and scholars. For decades following the emergence of Abstract Expressionism, the National Academy had a capricious relationship with abstract art, often rejecting it, occasionally embracing it, and ultimately accepting it. While there are some New York School artists who never became Academicians, others exhibited in the Annual exhibitions and many were eventually elected to membership in the Academy. The Abstract Impulse Fifty Years of Abstraction at the National Academy, 1956–2006

The Abstract Impulse illuminates the often contentious history of abstraction at the National Academy over the last fifty years and reveal just how pervasive abstraction became as a vital and viable artistic avenue.

Comprised of forty-seven paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, The Abstract Impulse highlights Academicians who were participants in such critical movements as Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Op Art, and more. Organized both thematically and chronologically, the exhibition is divided into three general sections: gesture, geometry, and introspection. Gesture is the hallmark of Abstract Expressionism and signified a groundbreaking development in abstract art which has continued to flourish. Gesture may be seen in some of the earliest works such as Reuben Tam’s Monhegan Night (1956) as well as in the more recent lyrical forms of Richard Hunt’s sculpture, Offset (2002).

By the mid-1960s, an abstraction based on primary geometric structures began to eclipse earlier gestural work. Many artists, such as Robert Mangold have refined their use of a geometric vocabulary in works such as Frieze Study I (1994). Others such as Angelo Ippolito combined this with an expressionist tendency in Roundabout (1982). Abstraction, absent of representation, is an inherently hermetic mode of creation. Its meaning or intention may often lie far beyond the surface of the painting, print, or sculpture, as in Pat Adams’s Des Clefs (1990) which transgresses stylistic boundaries to convey a potent element of psychological introspection.

These three designations of gesture, geometry, and introspection are not intended as hard and fast designations and there are many works in the exhibition that may fit into two or three of these categories. These groupings are presented as a loose guide to help organize the innumerable ways in which artists have continued to create abstract art over the last fifty years.

 The Abstract Impulse will be accompanied by a full color catalogue containing a forward by artist Jules Olitski, N.A. (1922-2007), an introduction by the Academy’s Director, Annette Blaugrund, Ph.D., and an essay by Marshall Price, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, detailing the history of abstraction at the National Academy. Additional contributions by Cindy Medley Buckner and Monica Steinberg. Reception – September 18, 2007.

The National Academy was founded in 1825, and is currently an honorary association of professional artists, a museum, and a school of fine arts. The Academy has an outstanding collection of American art, and its holdings represent all of the major and minor movements from the 19^th-century to the present. The Academy Museum presents changing exhibitions of paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, and architecture. Fashioned after the great European academies of art, The School of Fine Arts offers classes in painting, sculpture, and printmaking for students of all ages and levels of experience.

Web site: www.nationalacademy.org

Where: 1083 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street - New York, NY