American Approaches to Abstraction

Akron Art Museum

This grouping features distinct approaches to abstraction by three of the most renowned artists of the second half of the 20th century. The late-career relief by Louise Nevelson bears all the signature characteristics of her sculptural assemblages and was made the same year that she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom among a host of accolades, capping a thirty-five-year career. The untitled work by Lee Bontecou belongs to the so-called Prison series, a body of work featuring anthropomorphic elements and striated pieces of cloth evoking prison suits. The 1959 oil on canvas by Milton Resnick is a quintessential example of the polychromatic, lyrical abstraction that the artist—dubbed “the last Abstract Expressionist” by Roberta Smith—was known for. The work dates to a pivotal year in his development, in which his compositions solely focused on the capabilities of expressive brushwork.