Abstract expressionism — thought of as the most significant art movement since World War II — began in the late 1940s and early 1950s and carried through the 1970s. Abstract expressionism emphasizes the artists’ demand for freedom of expression by creating a style that accentuates surface qualities. These surface qualities stress the canvas’s flatness and emphasize the importance of the painting as a whole — unlike that of the traditional painting. Artists like Willem de Kooning, Theodoros Stamos and Alice Baber used abstract expressionism in the ’70s.
Color field was a method of painting used in the ’70s. Painters in the ’70s viewed the painting as a single plane that emphasized the flatness of the canvas. Traditional painters before this era were interested in the painting’s subject, background and gestural brushwork — which was thought of as boring by the nontraditional ’70s artists. Artists used colors to produce an innovative two-dimensional effect that focused the attention on the entire work of art.
Richard Hamilton, Tom Wesselmann and James Rosenquist were the original innovators on pop art, popularized in the ’70s and carried into the 21st century. Pop art consists of bright colors, noisy canvas subjects, and flat and unusual shapes. This style of art is a considerably flamboyant style that emphasized an artist’s need for self-expression and breaking the traditional methods of painting.
Concrete art introduced an innovative way for artists to use intelligence in their art. Concrete art uses mathematical ideas to idealize beauty by using geometrical shapes. It popularized in the ’70s because it emphasized the artist’s need for self-expression. This type of art was unusual because machines could create similar work, but the individual artist’s touch made the art standout from the machine-created art. Famous painters Hans Arp and Max Bill used concrete art.