Articulating an American Art Form

While America had long been considered a cultural backwater compared to Europe, following the Second World War, a movement of loosely associated abstract painters gained prominence on the world stage, with critics like Greenberg eventually declaring that New York, instead of Paris, had become the new center of the art world. With this heightened attention on American art, Americans became increasingly concerned about the reputation of their country abroad, with the spotlight shining brightly on the new global superpower. As a movement, Abstract Expressionism was the perfect target for those wishing to project certain values. The artists were generally politically neutral, the absence of recognizable figures and objects lent itself to a wide variety of interpretations, and it was perceived to be a totally American style, free from influence from abroad. Accordingly, government officials began organizing exhibitions explicitlyaimed at foreign audiences to display American art. While the new art was abstract, gestural, and to many incomprehensible or even offensive, it was useful because it could be said to display one key value of importance to America: freedom.