Submitted by Sir Joshua, Feb 22, 2007 08:23

Let's face it, Abstract Expressionism is Nihilism on canvas. It is the equal of Existentalism, Dispair, Confusion, and 'Nothing.' After World War II, Europe sunk into deep emotional depression and gave us the philosophy of Existentialism. Stravinsky gave us the music to go with it, and Kline the painting. New York was full of depressed, expatriate, alcoholic, athiests who embraced Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' as the 'cool' response to their dispair. The war gave them no segway to a new creative vocabulary, unlike WW I which gave birth to German Expressionism. The West was too winded from their dance on the edge of the abyss. It took about 30 years for the first bits of humanistic lyracism to peek over the bleak horizon of creativity. Even Balanchine was floundering in abstraction. Thank God it's now mostly relegated to Sotheby's Arcade Auctions. Long live Realism!

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