Abstract Expressionism. A term 1st used in 1919 to describe certain paintings by Kandinsky — commonly applied to U.S. non-geometric abstract art by diverse artists centred mainly in N.Y. с 1942 and highly active and influential through the 1950s and early 1960s. The U.S. critic Robert Coates used tins term in 1946 with particular reference to De Kooning, Pollock and their followers. It was officially recognized in the 1951 Museum of Modern Art exhibition 'Abstract Fainting and Sculpture in America'. The term embraces works of diverse styles and degrees of reference to content or subject, emphasizing spontaneity of expression and individuality. The U.S. critic Rosenberg used the term 'Action painting' (1952), while Greenberg that of 'American-type painting' (1952) to refer to the same general types of artistic activity which, however, began to be differentiated into two tendencies: brush painting concerned with gesture, action and texture (De Kooning, Pollock): Color-field painting concerned with a large unified shape or area of colour (Newman, Rothko, Still).