Abstraction, Gesture, Ecriture: Paintings from the Daros Collection

American Abstract Expressionism is not only one of the most fascinating but also one of the most influential periods in contemporary art after the 1940's Abstraction, Gesture, Ecriture illustrates -- in the essays of well-known art critics as well as in the paintings selected from the Daros Collection -- the different abstractions and gestures in contemporary American art. It focuses on American artists who conceived of a way of painting which began with the scrawl-like gestures of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell. Then the scriptural gesture, developed out of handwriting, is examined in an extraordinary group of work that spans Cy Twombly's whole career. Brice Marden's alternately fluid and tensile linear abstractions and Robert Rymans intensive occupation with the stroke of a brush are discussed as well as Andy Warhol's answers to Abstract Expressionism in his Oxidation and Shadow Paintings in 1978. This particular movement in Abstract Expressionism has provoked an on-going dialogue in painting. Abstraction, Gesture, Ecriture covers this original gesture from the Action Painters and its resonance through the next generation of painters. Each painting discussed comes from the Daros Collection, a Swiss private collection which is one of the internationally most important private collections of contemporary art focusing on American art of the last 50 years. The carefully selected authors, all well respected in the art and academic world, complete this extraordinary and beautifully designed volume. The perfect gift book!