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The Abstract Expressionists found inspiration in both Cubist formalism and Surrealist automatism, two very different strands of modernism. From the Cubists they learned certain pictorial devices and a standard of aesthetic quality. From the Surrealists they gained both a commitment to examining the unconscious and techniques for doing so. But whereas the European Surrealists had derived their notion of the unconscious from Sigmund Freud, many of the Americans subscribed to the thinking of Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung (1875-1961). His theory of the "collective unconscious" holds that beneath one's private memories is a storehouse of feelings and symbolic associations common to all humans. Dissatisfied with what they considered the provincialism of American art in the 1930's, Abstract Expressionists sought universal themes within themselves.¹

The Sheboygan Museum of Art is not as well endowed as many other museums in larger metropolitan areas. Because of this, we find it impossible to acquire works by major abstract expressionists like Rothko and Pollock. Instead, however, we think we can demonstrate a sense of the genre with this exhibit of crayon works by Miss Wensleydale's second grade class from Sheboygan Elementary School. You will immediately notice the strong emotional content and powerful juxtaposition of colors present here in the children's works. Seems just as good to us as anything in some fancy-dancy high-falooting snobby art museum.

New Pencil

by LaQuana Gouda

Hamburgers for Lunch

by Able Queso

New Dress

by Mary Stilton

New "Jordans"

by Eric Fromage

1.Bradford R. Collins, "Abstract Expressionism,"Art History, (New York: Abrams, 1995) 1112.

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