This book on abstract expressionism is illustrated with superb color plates of major works by the protagonists of the movement (Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko...) as well as lesser-known figures, and essays by key scholars. Working primarily in New York and San Francisco from the 1940s on, a generation of American artists injected a new sense of confidence in painting, experimenting with improvisation, spontaneity and color. This publication reevaluates the movement, making the case that, far from being unified, abstract expressionism was in fact complex and ever-changing. Among the abundant archival materials are images of Hans Hofmann’s famous classes; artists such as Krasner, Frankenthaler, Pollock and de Kooning in their studios; installation shots of some of the key international exhibitions of the era, both internationally and at the galleries of Betty Parsons and others.