Art History: Abstract Expressionism and the Cold War

Art History Lecture Series Sunday, December 6, 2026 2:00 pm MAC Auditorium Cost: Suggested $10 donation, registration not required In this 5-lecture series, Dr. Shimizu explores how American artists across the 19th and 20th centuries used landscapes, everyday life, abstraction, minimalism, and popular culture to reflect, shape, and challenge changing ideas of American identity, values, and culture. December's Lecture - Abstract Expressionism and the Cold War Abstract Expressionism-with its fields of color and gestural brushstrokes-was a dominant art movement in the 1950s when it exhilarated and bewildered audiences. This lecture explores how, during the Cold War, these paintings came to represent individual expression and artistic freedom and then became intertwined with politics. Image: Pollock, Jackson. One: Number 31. 1950. Oil and enamel paint on canvas, 269.5 x 538.8 cm. Museum of Modern Art. https//www.moma.org/collection/works/78386 About the Program: Dr. Meredith Shimizu, Profe