A New Beginning

Unlike the 'call to order' that followed the end of the First World War, the prevailing mood in the aftermath of the Second World War was of a desire to start anew. Instead of a return to the classical values of the past, based on order and reason - values that many felt had been discredited by the War - artists around the world began to search for new forms of expression.

Traditional artistic qualities such as beauty and refinement, balance and harmony, were rejected in favour of a more 'instinctive' approach to making art. Many artists resorted to spontaneous gestures in an attempt to find a universal form of expression. The almost complete disappearance of the human figure in this type of work, reflects not only a profound anxiety about the survival of the individual, but also a desire to make art free of conventional imagery.

Many artists also rejected the materials traditionally associated with fine art. The use of substances such as household paint, tar, sweet wrappers, and even blood was due partly to the scarcity of materials after the war, but also to a belief that how art was made was more important that the resultant image.

The idea of the artist attempting a literal description of the world was replaced by a growing sense of confrontation between the artist and his materials, often so powerful, that creation sometimes became indistinguishable from destruction. The paint thrown and splashed, the pierced and gashed canvases, and the pitted and scarred sculptures all attest to a certain violence, that heightens the expressive power of the materials themselves.

Hermann Nitsch born 1938 Blood Picture (Blutbild) 1962. Currently on display at Tate Liverpool

© DACS, 2002