I’ve been meaning to check out the Abstract Expressionist New York exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario all summer, and realized that this weekend was my last chance as the show is coming down.  Although I am very familiar with the work of most of the featured artists, this is a strong collection from the Museum of Modern Art and an opportunity for another look at this work here in Toronto.

There are no big surprises in the show. It features many of the big names of the period, lumping together not just the work we call Abstract Expressionism but also some samples of what became known as colour field painting along with a little bit of sculpture. Missing are a good sample of David Smith’s sculpture and also the massive Pollocks, the big in your face, signature Pollocks.

The exhibition has some highlights in my mind, and the greatest of those is a painting done by Philip Guston after he turned his back on Abstract Expressionism and started making his powerfully strange late figurative paintings. The exhibition has Edge of Town, one of the “hood” paintings Guston made in that period.  There is a room full of Guston’s work, the last room of the exhibition and I think it is also the best room in the exhibition.

The Franz Kline black & white pieces held up for me very well in this show. I’ve known his work and liked it for many years, but in this show, in the context of a broad range of work from the period, I thought these stark paintings really flexed some muscles. Another black & white painting was a highlight for me as well, a single painting by Richard Pousette-Dart. I hadn’t been thinking about his work at all when I considered what work I might see in the exhibition, and this painting surprised me with its singularly powerful presence.

If there is one artist besides Guston who really comes off well in this show, it’s Mark Rothko. There are several excellent Rothko paintings in the exhibition, hung in one of the larger rooms. I don’t really know what to say about Rothko’s work except that it is quietly, stubbornly captivating. Even with a crowd of people at the show milling about, I found it hard to leave those paintings behind. What I find fascinating about his work is that his mature paintings defy explanation, and yet, I can’t take my eyes off of them. They aren’t loud but they are insistent.

Overall, with a few limitations, this was a strong survey of post-war American art with an emphasis on painting. This was a period when American artists started making a lot of noise in the art world. It was a big, bold, loud noise. Although there were some small works in the show, on the whole, this “movement” wasn’t about easel painting. Painters like Pollock worked on the floor. The gestures were bold and uncompromising. I suppose it represents a break from a tradition of work that was strongly influenced by surrealism in Europe.

I was happy to see a crowd at the exhibition, happy to see people out considering these ideas. Outside of my friends in the art scene, for many people I know, Abstract Expressionism represents some difficulties, even though these works were being made in some cases over 60 years ago. Pollock remains to some “Jack the Dripper”, and painters from this period are often compared still to art jokes such as painting monkeys. I’m sure most readers have seen the occasional art quizzes that circulate on the internet, the ones that compare “real” art, residing in famous museums, with computer generated random images and so forth.  Here in Canada, many will recall all the noise made when the National Gallery of Canada bought a large Barnett Newman piece called Voice of Fire. Many said, “oh, my child could do that…how much did they pay for it?” and yet how different Newman’s expression was, troublesome as it may be,  compared to the interests of children. Maybe an exhibition like this one, putting these works into context all these years later, will change some minds and create more interest in the painting of this period.

I’m glad I was able to make it out and see this show before it closes. It was well worth-while to have another look at the Ab-Ex and related artists.