Boston Expressionism
Strongly influenced by German Expressionism and by the immigrant, and often Jewish, experience, the movement originated in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1930s, continues in a third-wave form today, and flourished most markedly in the 1950s–70s.
Most commonly associated with emotionality, and the bold color choices and expressive brushwork of painters central to the movement like Hyman Bloom, Jack Levine and Karl Zerbe,[2][3][4] Boston Expressionism is also heavily associated with virtuoso technical skills and the revival of old master technique.
[2] Bloom tended to explore spiritual themes, while Levine was more inclined toward social commentary and dark humor,[8][9] but both came to prominence in 1942 when they were included in Americans 1942: 18 Artists from 9 States, a Museum of Modern Art exhibition curated by Dorothy Miller.
Known for their experimentation with new media,[10] they were also known for their interest in methodology through the ages, thus Zerbe, for example, helped revive the ancient Egyptian medium of encaustic, a mixture of pigment and hot wax, in the 1940s.
")[23] Other artists in this group included David Aronson, Jason Berger, Bernard Chaet, Reed Kay, Jack Kramer, Arthur Polonsky, Henry Schwartz, Barbara Swan, Mel Zabarsky, Lois Tarlow, and Arnold Trachtman.
[26] Looking back on his days there, Arthur Polonsky recalled an unspoken agreement among his classmates that there was something missing from the "academic" paintings of the Boston School, on the one hand, and the sterile "geometric purism" of some newer artists on the other.
[28] Later artists influenced by Boston Expressionism include Aaron Fink, Gerry Bergstein, Jon Imber, Michael Mazur, Katherine Porter, Jane Smaldone,[8] John Walker, and others.
[29][30] According to art historian Judith Bookbinder, "Boston figurative expressionism was both a humanist philosophy—that is, a human-centered and rationalist or classically oriented philosophy—and a formal approach to the handling of paint and space.
Having received their early art instruction in a religious community center, he reasoned, it was not surprising that their work would evince a certain respect for tradition and discipline.
[3] Conversely, art historian Alfred Werner suggested in 1973 that Jewish immigrants fleeing oppression were freer to embrace modernism than other Americans because they were "less chained to a genteel tradition".
Even slight abstraction or imaginative use of color was unacceptable to most Boston critics and collectors, including the Museum of Fine Arts, and impressionists such as Edmund C. Tarbell and Frank Benson were still seen as cutting-edge.
A few notable exceptions were the Addison Gallery and the Busch-Reisinger Museum,[33] and the art critic Dorothy Adlow, who supported the movement from its earliest days.
[34] In the forties, thanks in large part to Bloom and Levine and their New York successes, and to Zerbe's influence on his students, the art scene in Boston began to open up.
[3] Neglected at home and out of step with New York, Boston Expressionism fell out of favor in the 1960s and received little attention from art historians in the succeeding decades.
