Expanding Abstraction: Pushing the Boundaries of Painting in the Americas, 1958-1980

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Expanding Abstraction: Pushing the Boundaries of Painting in the Americas, 1958-1980
Address:
200 E. Martin Luther King Blvd., Austin, TX 78712
Presented By:
Blanton Museum of Art
Dates:
June 21, 2020 - August 30, 2020
Recurrence:
Recurring daily
Location:
Blanton Museum of Art
Price:
Included with museum admission
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In the early 20th century, artists began exploring abstract, nonrepresentational forms for the first time and significantly changed the language of painting.  Several decades later, abstraction continued to evolve robustly, as its practitioners experimented with new materials and techniques. Dripping, pouring, staining and even slinging paint became common, as did the use of non-traditional media such as acrylic and industrial paints. Artists also challenged the flat, rectangular format—long the standard in painting—to create texture and dimensionality, blurring the lines between painting and sculpture and foregrounding the object’s materiality.  The Blanton’s collection is particularly strong in the painting of the 1960s and 70s from both the United States and Latin America.
Expanding Abstraction
will explore how painting was transformed in these decades.  Many of the works are large scale and have rarely been shown before.
Image credit: Alice Baber (Charleston, Illinois, 1928 – New York City, 1982)
Lavender High
, 1968 (left, detail)
Oil on canvas
75 1/2 x 75 1/2 inches
Michener Acquisition Fund, Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin
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