Lyrical abstraction arose from either of two related but distinct trends in Post-war Modernist painting:
European Abstraction Lyrique: a movement that emerged in Paris, with the French art critic Jean José Marchand being credited with coining its name in 1947; considered a component of Tachisme when the name of this movement was coined in 1951 by Pierre Guéguen and Charles Estienne (author of L'Art à Paris 1945–1966); and American Lyrical Abstraction: a movement described by Larry Aldrich (founder of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut) in 1969.Aldrich, Larry. Young Lyrical Painters, Art in America, v.57, n6, November–December 1969, pp.104–113. Thomas B. Hess on Larry Aldrich, Retrieved June 10, 2010
A second definition is the usage as a descriptive term. It is a descriptive term characterizing a type of abstract painting related to Abstract Expressionism; in use since the 1940s. Many well known abstract expressionist painters such as Arshile Gorky seen in context have been characterized as doing a type of painting described as lyrical abstraction.Arshile Gorky a Retrospective at the Tate ModernKemper Museum Retrieved June 5, 2010interview with Richard Bellamy, 1963, Archives of American Art, retrieved February 1st, 2009
Origin The original common use refers to the tendency attributed to paintings in Europe during the post-1945 period and as a way of describing several artists (mostly in France) with painters like Wols, Gérard Schneider and Hans Hartung from Germany or Georges Mathieu, etc., whose works related to characteristics of contemporary American abstract expressionism. At the time (late 1940s), Paul Jenkins, Norman Bluhm, Sam Francis, Jules Olitski, Joan Mitchell, Ellsworth Kelly, and numerous other American artists were, as well, living and working in Paris and other European cities. With the exception of Kelly, all of those artists developed their versions of painterly abstraction that has been characterized at times as lyrical abstraction, tachisme, color field, Nuagisme and abstract expressionism.
The art movement Abstraction lyrique was born in Paris after the war. At that time, the artistic life in Paris, which had been devastated by the Occupation and Collaboration, resumed with numerous artists exhibited again as soon as the Liberation of Paris in mid-1944. According to the new abstraction forms that characterised some artists, the movement was named by the art critic, Jean José Marchand, and the painter, Georges Mathieu, in 1947. Some art critics also looked at this movement as an attempt to restore the image of artistic Paris, which had held the rank of capital of the arts until the war. Lyrical abstraction also represented a competition between the School of Paris and the new New York School of Abstract Expressionism painting represented above all since 1946 by Jackson Pollock, then Willem de Kooning or Mark Rothko, which were also promoted by the American authorities from the early 1950s.
Lyrical abstraction was opposed not only to the Cubist and Surrealist movements that preceded it, but also to geometric abstraction (or "cold abstraction"). Lyrical abstraction was, in some ways, the first to apply the lessons of Wassily Kandinsky, considered one of the fathers of abstraction. For the artists, lyrical abstraction represented an opening to personal expression.
Finally, in the late 1960s (partially as a response to minimal art, and the dogmatic interpretations by some to Greenbergian and Juddian formalism), many painters re-introduced painterly options into their works and the Whitney Museum and several other museums and institutions at the time formally named and identified the movement and uncompromising return to painterly abstraction as 'lyrical abstraction'.
European abstraction lyrique Just after World War II, many artists old and young were back in Paris where they worked and exhibited: Nicolas de Staël, Serge Poliakoff, André Lanskoy and Zaks from Russia; Hans Hartung and Wols from Germany; Árpád Szenes, Endre Rozsda and Simon Hantaï from Hungary; Alexandre Istrati from Romania; Jean-Paul Riopelle from Canada; Vieira da Silva from Portugal; Gérard Ernest Schneider from Switzerland; Feito from Spain; Bram van Velde from the Netherlands; Albert Bitran from Turkey; Zao Wou-Ki from China; Sugai from Japan; Sam Francis, John Franklin Koenig, Jack Youngerman and Paul Jenkins from the U.S.A and Yehezkel Streichman from Israel.
All these artists and many others were at that time among the "Lyrical Abstractionists" with the French: Pierre Soulages, Jean-Michel Coulon, Jean René Bazaine, Jean Le Moal, Gustave Singier, Alfred Manessier, Roger Bissière, Pierre Tal-Coat, Jean Messagier, Jean Miotte, and others.
Lyrical Abstraction was opposed not only to "l'Ecole de Paris" remains of pre-war style but to Cubist and Surrealist movements that had preceded it, and also to geometric abstraction (or "Cold Abstraction"). For the artists in France, Lyrical Abstraction represented an opening to personal expression. In Belgium, Louis Van Lint figured a remarkable example of an artist who, after a short period of geometric abstraction, has moved to a lyrical abstraction in which he excelled.
Many exhibitions were held in Paris for example in the galleries Arnaud, Drouin, Jeanne Bucher, Louis Carré, Galerie de France, and every year at the "Salon des Réalités Nouvelles" and "Salon de Mai" where the paintings of all these artists could be seen. At the Drouin gallery one could see Jean Le Moal, Gustave Singier, Alfred Manessier, Roger Bissière, Wols and others. A wind blew over the capital when Georges Mathieu decided to hold two exhibitions: L'Imaginaire in 1947 at the Palais du Luxembourg which he would have prefer to call abstraction lyrique to impose the name and then HWPSMTB with (Hans Hartung, Wols, Francis Picabia, François Stahly sculptor, Georges Mathieu, Michel Tapié, and Camille Bryen) in 1948.
In March 1951 was held the larger exhibition Véhémences confrontées in the gallery Nina Dausset where for the first time were presented side to side French and American abstract artists. It was organised by the critic Michel Tapié, whose role in the defense of this movement was of the highest importance. With these events, he declared that « the lyrical abstraction is born ».
It was, however, a fairly short reign (late 1957), which was quickly supplanted by the New Realism of Pierre Restany and Yves Klein.
Starting around 1970, this movement has been revived by a new generation of artists born during or immediately after the Second World War. Some of its key promoters include Paul Kallos, Georges Romathier, Michelle Desterac, and Thibaut de Reimpré.
An exhibition entitled "The Lyrical Flight, Paris 1945–1956" (L'Envolée Lyrique, Paris 1945–1956), bringing together the works of 60 painters, was presented in Paris at the Musée du Luxembourg from April to August 2006 and included the most prominent painters of the movement: Georges Mathieu, Pierre Soulages, Gérard Schneider, Zao Wou-Ki, Albert Bitran, Serge Poliakoff.The Lyrical Flight, Paris 1945–1956, texts Patrick-Gilles Persin, Michel and Pierre Descargues Ragon, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris and Skira, Milan, 2006, 280 p. .
Artists in Paris (1945–1956) and beyond
Geneviève Asse (1923–2021) Mino Argento (1927– )The Archives of American Art, Smithsonian, Betty Parsons Gallery Papers, Reel 4087–4089: Exhibition Records, Reel 4108: Artists Files, last names A–B. Alice Baber (1928-1982)Alice Baber, a painter known for her lyrically abstract work. The New York Times, October 7, 1982, Section D, Page 26 Jean René Bazaine (1904–2001) Roger Bissière (1888–1964)Flight lyric, Paris 1945–1956, texts Patrick-Gilles Persin, Michel and Pierre Descargues Ragon, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris and Skira, Milan, 2006, 280 p. . Albert Bitran (1931–2018) Norman Bluhm (1921–1999) Alexander Bogen (1916–2010) Camille Bryen (1907-1977) Jean-Michel Coulon (1920–2014) Olivier Debré (1920–1999) Piero Dorazio (1927–2005) Joe Downing (1925–2007) Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985) Endre Rozsda (1913–1999) Bracha Ettinger (1948– ) Jean Fautrier (1898–1964) Pierre Fichet (1927–2007) Francois Fiedler (1921–2001) Sam Francis(1923–1994) Annick Gendron (1939–2008) Marc-Antoine Goulard (1964– ) Hans Hartung (1904–1989) Simon Hantaï (1922–2008) Alexandre Istrati (1915–1991) Paul Jenkins (1923–2012) Antoni Karwowski (1948– ) John Franklin Koenig (1924–2008) André Lanskoy (1902–1976) Alfred Manessier (1911–1993) René Marcil (1917–1993) Georges Mathieu (1921–2012) Jean Messagier (1920–1999) Jean Miotte (1926–2016) Joan Miró (1893–1983)NY Magazine, Sept. 11, 1972, Vol. 5, #37 Francis Picabia (1879–1953) Serge Poliakoff (1906–1969) Thibaut de Reimpré (1949–2023) Seund Ja Rhee (1918–2009) Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923–2002)artnet retrieved May 24, 2010 Emilio Scanavino, (1922–1986) Vieira da Silva (1908–1992) Gustave Singier (1909–1984) Pierre Soulages (1919–2022) Nicolas de Staël (1914–1955) Yehezkel Streichman (1906–1993) Árpád Szenes (1897–1985) Gérard Ernest Schneider (1896–1986) Michel Tapié (1909–1987) Bram van Velde (1895–1981) François Willi Wendt (1909–1970) Wols, pseudonym of Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze (1913–1951) Zao Wou-Ki (1921–2013) Fahrelnissa Zeid (1901–1991)
United States
American Lyrical Abstraction is an art movementLyrical Abstraction: Color and Mood, Sheldon Museum of Art, exhibition review "New Exhibit goes big, bold" Lincoln Journal-Star, Sunday, May 30th, 1993 that emerged in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and then Toronto and London during the 1960s–1970s. Characterized by intuitive and loose paint handling, spontaneous expression, illusionist space, acrylic staining, process, occasional imagery, and other painterly and newer technological techniques.Ashton, Dore. Young Abstract Painters: Right On! Arts v. 44, n. 4, February, 1970, pp. 31–35. Lyrical Abstraction led the way away from minimalism in painting and toward a new freer expressionism.Ratcliff, Carter. The New Informalists, Art News, v. 68, n. 8, December 1969, p.72. Painters who directly reacted against the predominating Formalist, Minimalist, and Pop Art and geometric abstraction styles of the 1960s, turned to new, experimental, loose, painterly, expressive, pictorial and abstract painting styles. Many of them had been Minimalists, working with various monochromatic, geometric styles, and whose paintings publicly evolved into new abstract painterly motifs. American Lyrical Abstraction is related in spirit to Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting and European Tachisme of the 1940s and 1950s as well. Tachisme refers to the French style of abstract painting current in the 1945–1960 period. Very close to Art Informel, it presents the European equivalent to Abstract Expressionism.
The Sheldon Museum of Art held an exhibition from 1 June until 29 August 1993 entitled Lyrical Abstraction: Color and Mood. Some of the participants included Dan Christensen, Walter Darby Bannard, Ronald Davis, Helen Frankenthaler, Sam Francis, Cleve Gray, Ronnie Landfield, Morris Louis, Jules Olitski, Robert Natkin, William Pettet, Mark Rothko, Lawrence Stafford, Peter Young and several other painters. At the time the museum issued a statement the read in part:
During 2009 the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida hosted an exhibition entitled Expanding Boundaries: Lyrical Abstraction Selections from the Permanent Collection
At the time the museum issued a statement that said in part:
History of the term in America Lyrical Abstraction, an exhibition in the Whitney Museum of American Art, May 25–July 6, 1971 was described by John I. H. Baur, curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art:Lyrical Abstraction, exhibition: May 25 through July 6, 1971, "Foreword by John I. H. Baur"