In 1936, several artists in New York City, who grew tired of the lack of exhibiting opportunities for abstract artists, convened to discuss ways to promote and further the works of abstraction.

The American Abstract Artists (AAA) emerged as a diverse group who engaged in various applications of abstraction: dynamic, clear geometry; abstraction influenced by surrealism and expressionism, often with biomorphic elements; and abstraction informed by the natural landscape.

Overlooked during the 1930s and 1940s by major institutions, such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, the AAA aggressively protested these institutions and instead held their own exhibitions and forums to help garner acceptance of abstract art. The AAA can be seen as a predecessor to the New York School and abstract expressionism.

This exhibition of works primarily from the Krannert Art Museum collection, and also a few strategic loans, features works from past members of the AAA, including Josef Albers, Mel Bochner, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Corazzo, Sidney Gordin, Balcomb Greene, Gertrude Greene, Carl Holty, Karl Knaths, Sol LeWitt, George L. K. Morris, Louise Nevelson, Irene Rice Peirera, Judith Rothschild, Louis Schanker, Charles Green Shaw, Esphyr Slobodkina, David Smith, and Jean Xceron.

Curated by Katherine Koca Polite.

Materials accessed in this guide are provided for personal and/or scholarly use.  Users are responsible for obtaining any copyright permissions that may be required for their own further uses of that material.  For more information about fair use please refer to the College Art Association Code of Best Practices in Fair Use in the Visual Arts.