ABSTRACT

Gillo Dorfles presents a diverse range of artists that were part of the Action painting milieu, including Pollock, de Kooning, Gorky, Motherwell, Baziotes, Guston, Francis, and others. This chapter explains how in a certain sense the terms Tachism, Art Informel and Action painting correspond, and that Pollock undoubtedly ought to be considered as one of the founders of Informel and Tachist painting, not only in America but also in Europe and Japan. The movements that give life to these paintings are more ample and intense; the colors are more violent and often clashing, with very unusual tones compared to European ones (Parisian ones in particular); and the canvases and coated surfaces in general are more daring in their giant scale. The art of Philip Guston, the most refined among this group of American artists, belongs to another category.