This book is a collection of articles, reviews and essays that chronicle the history of the Abstract Expressionism movement of the 1940's to the early 1960's. The volume includes classic statements from the most influential and prolific critics as well as biographical chronologies, reviews, and the artists' own comments on their paintings. List of Illustrations x Preface xi Introduction: A Brief History 1(32) David Shapiro Cecile Shapiro PART I ORIGINS Concerning the Beginnings of the New York School, 1939-1943; Interview with Robert Motherwell 33(13) Sidney Simon ``Everyone Knew What Everyone Else Meant,'' 46(2) Robert Goldwater The Club 48(11) Irving Sandler PART II THE CRITICAL RECEPTION 59(154) Towards a Newer Laocoon 61(14) Clement Greenberg The American Action Painters 75(11) Harold Rosenberg Statement and Letter to the Directors of the Museum of Modern Art, A Group of Artists 86(3) A Critique of Abstract Expressionism 89(6) Leon Golub The New American Painting 95(6) Alfred H. Barr, Jr. As the Critics Saw It 101(8) Narcissus in Chaos: Contemporary American Art 109(10) Cleve Gray Happy New Year: Thoughts on Critics and Certain Painters as the Season Opens 119(3) John Canaday Letter to the Editor Regarding Canaday's Criticism, Dealers, Critics, Artists 122(4) Reflections on the New York School 126(13) Robert Goldwater The Critical Reception of Abstract-Expressionism 139(13) Max Kozloff Re-evaluating Abstract Expressionism 152(5) Gregory Battcock Residual Sign Systems in Abstract Expressionism 157(12) Lawrence Alloway American Painting Since the Last War 169(13) Peter Fuller Abstract Expressionism: The Social Contract 182(13) Donald B. Kuspit Abstract Expressionism's Evasion of Language 195(18) Ann Gibson PART III THE ARTISTS AND THEIR CRITICS 213(210) Selected Chronology 215(4) Willem de Kooning What Abstract Art Means to Me 219(6) Willem de Kooning De Kooning's Women; Interview with Willem de Kooning 225(4) David Sylvester Review of an Exhibition of Willem de Kooning 229(2) Clement Greenberg Willem de Kooning 231(7) Dore Ashton Willem de Kooning 238(3) Lawrence Alloway Interview with Willem de Kooning 241(13) Harold Rosenberg De Kooning of East Hampton 254(3) Hilton Kramer Selected Chronology 257(4) Adolph Gottlieb My Painting 261(3) Adolph Gottlieb Adolph Gottlieb: An Interview 264(6) David Sylvester Adolph Gottlieb 270(1) Barnett Newman Adolph Gottlieb at the Nierendorf Gallery (Anonymous) 271(1) Adolph Gottlieb 272(1) Fairfield Porter Adolph Gottlieb 273(3) Clement Greenberg Adolph Gottlieb and Abstract Painting 276(12) Lawrence Alloway Selected Chronology 288(3) Franz Kline Franz Kline Retrospective Exhibition: Introduction 291(8) Frank O'Hara Art Chronicle: Feeling Is All (Kline) 299(1) Clement Greenberg Franz Kline 300(4) Dore Ashton Franz Kline: Painter of his Own Life 304(12) Elaine de Kooning Kline's Estate 316(3) Lawrence Alloway Kline's ''Effulgent Abstractions,'' 319(3) John Russell Selected Chronology 322(3) Barnett Newman The Sublime Is Now 325(4) Barnett B. Newman Barnett Newman at the Parsons Gallery, (T. B. H.) 329(1) Thomas B. Hess Art Chronicle: Feeling Is All (Newman) 330(2) Clement Greenberg The Philosophic Line of B. Newman 332(4) E. C. Goossen Barnett Newman: The Stations of the Cross and the Subjects of the Artist 336(8) Lawrence Alloway Newman: Meaning in Abstract Art, II 344(7) Harold Rosenberg Selected Chronology 351(5) Jackson Pollock My Painting 356(2) Jackson Pollock An Interview with Jackson Pollock 358(5) William Wright Art Chronicle: Jackson Pollock 363(1) Clement Greenberg Jackson Pollock at Art of This Century (Anonymous) 364(1) Jackson Pollock: The Infinite Labyrinth 365(3) Parker Tyler The Month in Review: Jackson Pollock 368(4) Hilton Kramer De Kooning on Pollock: An Interview 372(3) James T. Valliere The Mythic Act 375(7) Harold Rosenberg To Interpret or Not to Interpret Jackson Pollock 382(10) Donald B. Kuspit Selected Chronology 392(5) Mark Rothko The Romantics Were Prompted 397(4) Mark Rothko Mark Rothko at Art of This Century (Anonymous) 401(1) Art: Mark Rothko 402(4) Dore Ashton The New New York Scene 406(2) Anita Brookner Mark Rothko's New Retrospective 408(5) Max Kozloff Rothko 413(5) Harold Rosenberg Mark Rothko 418(5) Robert Carleton Hobbs Selected Bibliography 423(11) Index 434