Constellations: Refiguring American Abstraction at Tate Liverpool
Polly Checkland Harding
The next instalment in Tate Liverpool’s ongoing series of collection displays, Constellations: Highlights from the Nation’s Collection of Modern Art, is Refiguring American Abstraction, a new account of post-war American painting, featuring artists including Mark Rothko, Hedda Sterne and Andy Warhol. Made up of 15 works, many of which haven’t been displayed in the North of England before, the display draws unexpected parallels between abstract expressionism, known for its radical spontaneity, and more traditional, realist styles. Highlights include a less familiar work by Warhol, Head of a Girl and Children, and an unusual work on paper – made after a period of illness – by Rothko.
Tate’s Constellations collections displays have been showcasing both familiar and unfamiliar artists since 2013; continuing in Tate Liverpool’s gallery are other constellations featuring works by French-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois, English artist L.S. Lowry and American photographer and filmmaker Cindy Sherman.
