* understand why the centre of artistic * be aware of the importance of art collectors
activity shifted to New York
and museums in the promotion of artists and their work
* understand how politics was influenced
by the new movement of Abstract Expressionism
* be able to discuss the formal elements of an Abstract Expressionist work. Context
The Nazis’ repressive artistic programmes caused significant changes in European artistic development. Many leading avant-garde artists left for America, taking their ideas with them.
The United States was largely unscathed by the war and while Europe was recovering, the American economy rose rapidly. New York and then California emerged as important centres of artistic activity and for the first time America developed its own major art movement that became known as Abstract Expressionism.
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Peggy Guggenheim – Art Collector Bohemian and socialite Peggy Guggenheim (Fig. 14.7 and 16.1) was a collector of Surrealist and Dada art. By 1938, she had left Paris and was living in London where she opened the Guggenheim Jeune Gallery. She had further plans for London, but the outbreak of World War II intervened. However, she continued
Figure 16.1 Peggy Guggenheim and the Art of This Century Gallery.
