Ellen G. Landau
Ellen G. Landau is Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emerita of the Humanities, Department of Art History and Art, Case Western University.
Landau, Ellen G.
Landau, Ellen G.
United States of America
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Description: Women of Abstract Expressionism
There they are, the de Koonings—New York’s art-world king and queen—preserved exactly as we’d like to remember them by photographer Hans Namuth in 1953 (fig. 18).As art dealer Leo Castelli put it, “Elaine and Bill de Kooning—this...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.30-41
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00244.003
Description: Reading Abstract Expressionism: Context and Critique
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00098
Abstract Expressionism is arguably the most important art movement in postwar America. Many of its creators and critics became celebrities, participating in heated public debates that were published in newspapers, magazines, and exhibition catalogues. Written to accompany an anthology of carefully selected readings, published in 2005, Ellen G. Landau’s masterful essay here stands alone, presenting and analyzing the major arguments and crucial points of view that have surrounded the movement decade by decade. It offers many insights into the development of Abstract Expressionism and demonstrates the ongoing impact of this revolutionary and controversial movement. The bibliography from the original print edition, an invaluable resource for students and scholars, is also available.
Print publication date May 2005 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780300106138
EISBN 9780300233803
Illustrations 35
Print Status in print
Description: Mexico and American Modernism
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00082
In the years between the two world wars, the enormous vogue of "things Mexican" reached its peak. Along with the popular appeal of its folkloric and pictorialist traditions, Mexican culture played a significant role in the formation of modernism in the United States. Mexico and American Modernism analyzes the complex social, intellectual, and artistic ramifications of interactions between avant-garde American artists and Mexico during this critical period.

In this insightful book, Ellen G. Landau looks beyond the well-known European influences on modernism. Instead, she probes the lesser-known yet powerful connections to Mexico and Mexican art that can be seen in the work of four acclaimed mid-century American artists: Philip Guston (1913–1980), Robert Motherwell (1915–1991), Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), and Jackson Pollock (1912–1956). Landau details how these artists' relationships with the Mexican muralists, expatriate Surrealists, and leftist political activists of the 1930s and 1940s affected the direction of their art. Her analysis of this aesthetic cross-fertilization provides an important new framework for understanding the emergence of Abstract Expressionism and the New York School as a whole.
Print publication date May 2013 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780300169133
EISBN 9780300232684
Illustrations 39 color + 71 b/w illus.
Print Status in print