Thank you for visiting SFAbex.com; San Francisco Bay Area Abstract Expressionism from 1940 to 1965. We’re guessing that, most likely, if you are visiting this website, you already know something about this extraordinary American art movement in the aftermath of World War II.

You may also be aware that art history regarding abstract art in America credits New York as the recognized American region in the United States that led the genre's cutting-edge development. Wikipedia states, "The best-known group of American artists became known as the Abstract Expressionists and the New York School." Surprisingly, Wikipedia's "Abstract Art" article page fails to mention (as of April 2024) the abstract art movement co-occurring in the San Francisco Bay Area region. The words "San Francisco" appear nowhere on the page. No doubt, New York deserves its due credit as the "center," but ignoring the San Francisco Bay Area region's contribution to American abstract art (on the page referenced) is unfortunate. Wikipedia has an outstanding article page titled "San Francisco Art Institute," so all is not lost. Still, when considering the history of the American abstract art canon, We believe the San Francisco Bay Area region's contribution to abstract art deserves more affirmation.

One of the motivational factors for developing this website is that educational content, distinctly online information regarding the San Francisco Bay Area region's contribution to the American abstract art movement, is inadequate. Only a few books about San Francisco Abstract Expressionism can be purchased online; almost all of them are older books. The two best ones, in my opinion, are Thomas Albright's "Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945 – 1980" [1] and Susan Landauer's "The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism" [2] with publishing dates back to 1985 and 1996, respectively.

First-generation SFAbex artists, such as Clifford Still, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, David Park, and Richard Diebenkorn, have received their due acclaim with many publications and online media explicitly written about them. However, the entire movement, including other first and second-generation artists and women abstractionists, deserves more online awareness and appreciation.

You may have noticed that we’ve referenced "online" awareness for SFAbex. Much credit is due to the authorship of some outstanding books published recently and listed on the Literature page of this site. However, suppose you search for San Francisco Bay Area Abstract Expressionism (title) online. In that case, online media typically reverts to individual artists, museums, or gallery exhibitions and often to the Bay Area Figurative movement.

The San Francisco Bay Area region's abstract art, artists, and history during these years is fascinating. We aspire to bring more acclaim to the artists and artworks of the SFAbex movement from 1940 to 1965. If you feel the same way, we would like to hear from you and welcome your suggestions or contributions.

Greg Colley
California Art Company, LLC

1. Albright, Thomas. Art in the San Francisco Bay Area: 1945 - 1980, An Illustrated History. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. University of California Press. 1985.
2. Landauer, Susan. The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. University of California Press. 1996.