ABSTRACT
In the mid-1950’s abstract expressionism was at its apogee. It had survived ridicule and adulation and had become an established style. It had achieved worldwide acceptance and success; the prices of abstract expressionist canvases were staggering. Possibly it was so widely acclaimed because in that dull period there was nothing else of excitement going on. Its imperial reign was not, of course, to last more than a few more years, and terrible things began to happen to art in the early 1960’s. In the meantime a few observers of the art scene predicted that there would shortly be a revival—another revival—of the later works of Turner. The prediction was verified—in 1966 the Museum of Modern Art held a magnificent show of late Turners. It marked the formal interment of abstract expressionism. A similar revival had occurred when impressionism in France had already been superseded and was about to be abandoned by the avant garde even in England.
