When the critic Pierre Guéguen referred to André Lanskoy’s “impressionnisme abstrait” in the catalogue of the artist’s 1957 exhibition at Galerie Louis Carré, it was a much debated term, often proposed as a distinction between European abstraction and American Abstract “Expressionism”. The implication being that European abstract painters more often derived their inspiration from the external optical perception of the physical world, as opposed to the American “Ab Ex” self-referential narrative of manifesting the inner emotions of the artist’s psyche or “soul”.   

In 1958 the Arts Council held an exhibition titled “Abstract Impressionism” consisting of European orientated painters including Nicolas de Stael, Joan Mitchell, Sam Francis, Patrick Heron, Ivon Hitchens and Peter Lanyon, all typically deriving inspiration from the natural world. “My painting is abstract, but it is also a landscape”, wrote Joan Mitchell.

Through the range of artworks presented in HFA’s exhibition we re-visit the idea of “Abstract Impressionism” and explore the extent to which the artists drew on the physical world for their inspiration in European post-war abstraction.

We hope the artworks presented through the lens of this exhibition at HFA stimulate interesting insights into the artists’ motivation, and the significance of differing paths to abstraction, in reference to art historical terminology.