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Gabrielle Trubach's avatar

My mother, Leonora Cetone, and my father, Serge Trubach, were both abstract expressionist artists. My mom was a student of Hans Hoffman and my dad was a cohort of Lee Krasner in the Federal Art Project in New York City.

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Laura Heyrman's avatar

Thank you so much for your comment! How exciting for them. The Federal Art Project was a life-saver for so many creative people during the Depression and Hofmann is reputed to have been a wonderful teacher. Did your parents share any stories of their early years?

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Steve Harlow's avatar

This "movement" in painting is my foundation for my own painting, Very early in my life this work came to me through photos in magazines and in exhibitions in Los Angeles Museum of Art (now LACMA).

Your summary of the artists you covered is fair, however I wish you had included my favorite painter, Joan Mitchell. Her work was included in AbEx exhibits and articles from the earliest date. Mitchell's paintings were then as strong or stronger than the male painters she exhibited with. I preferred her action paintings because they were more rooted in Euro-American tradition. Rather than painting on the floor, she painted with brushes on large canvasses against a wall, This way, her gestural strokes come from the same vantage point of the viewers', therefore, more satisfyingly relatable. I always thought she was the best "in class." She continued her powerful creation through the 1990s.

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Laura Heyrman's avatar

Thanks for sharing your experience of these works. As you might imagine, it's hard to include all the great artists in an introductory presentation like this. However, I hope you'll enjoy this post from earlier this year, in which I focused on Mitchell, in honor of the centennial of her birth. https://irequireart.substack.com/p/chance-encounters-edition-50

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Priscilla Wyeth's avatar

Thank you for this illuminating essay.

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Laura Heyrman's avatar

You're very welcome. Thanks for your comment.

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Bethany J.J. Miller's avatar

Brilliant, all around.

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Laura Heyrman's avatar

Thanks!

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