Unit 2 focuses on the art of Gorky and de Kooning. Gorky’s art is analyzed formally indicating its roots in Surrealism and Cubism, but we also consider his paintings in the context of art and exile, memory and trauma. De Kooning, Gorky’s close friend, is paralleled and contrasted to him. His energetic mid-fifties brushstrokes are prime examples of “action painting” in the words of critic Harold Rosenberg. Sartre and Existentialism swap places with Surrealism in this production. Finally de Kooning’s Woman I is problematized in the light of current feminist debates.
