American Abstraction

ACA Galleries is pleased to present an exhibition investigating the arc of American Abstraction from the 1930s to the 1980s. Opening November 21, this exhibition features a selection of paintings and works on paper by prominent artists associated with the New York School of Abstract Expressionists and the American Abstract Artists.

 

Founded in 1936, the American Abstract Artists (AAA) was a predecessor to Abstract Expressionism and contributed to the broader development and acceptance of abstract art in the United States. American Abstraction will feature rarely exhibited and lesser-known works by artists including Ilya Bolotowsky, Helen Frankenthaler, Gertrude Greene, Balcomb Greene, Grace Hartigan, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, Jean Paul Riopelle, Rolph Scarlett, Sam Francis, Norman Bluhm, Willem de Kooning, and Theodoros Stamos.

 

The gallery’s pioneering interest in progressive American art was established early on in exhibitions featuring—often for the very first time—the work of Rockwell Kent, Alice Neel, Barnett Newman, Irene Rice Pereira, David Smith, and Charles White, among many others. In 1935, ACA hosted the inaugural meetings of the American Artists’ Congress (AAC), the influential precursor to the Federal Art Project (FAP) and Works Project Administration (WPA), federal programs that aided American artists and funded public art projects throughout the depression. In the 1960s, ACA Galleries established its first foreign branch in Rome, and the ACA Heritage Gallery in Los Angeles and New York City, signaling a vital foray into 19th and early 20th century American and European art.