Abstract Expressionism - the first American movement to have a worldwide influence - was remarkably short-lived: It heated up after World War II and was all but done for by 1960 (although visit any art school today and you'll find a would-be Willem de Kooning).
With Shakespeare and poetry a new world was born. New dreams new desires a self consciousness was born. I desired to know to know myself in terms of the new standards set by these books.
