Drawings, prints, paintings, and sculpture by Abstract Expressionists de Kooning, Motherwell, Pollock, Krasner, and others

American art of the 1940s and ’50s was dominated by the gestural style known as Abstract Expressionism. In love with spontaneity and happy accidents, and favoring inspiration from the subconscious, artists invented a highly original American art language that triumphed internationally. “American Gestures” features drawings, prints, paintings, and sculpture from the late 1940s to the ’70s by Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, David Smith, Mark Tobey, Alfred Leslie, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and a number of others. Many of these works are relatively recent acquisitions, some shown here for the first time.

Above: Bernard Childs, Arrival, 1955. Powertool drypoint and burin engraving. Gift of Peter Soriano. © Estate of Bernard Childs.