Introduction
In the Postwar period after 1945, the center of modern artistic activity in the west shifted from Paris to New York. One of the biggest contributing factors to this shift was the advent of Abstract Expressionism, a decidedly American movement that is often cited as the first American avant-garde. Visionary figures like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman epitomized Abstract Expressionism in New York, but a similar concern for Expressionism was present in the work of many important European artists in the aftermath of WWII.