To contemporary eyes, their pictorial
strength is so self - evident, so enduringly fresh, you have to chuckle at those pundits who a half - century ago deemed Post Painterly Abstraction (both the style and the exhibition) a
failed «rescue action for quality» against the «turgidities» of certain kinds of abstraction on the one
hand and the vapidity of «newfangled art» on the other.
The overall
strength of the sale where $ 75m in art changed
hands even though three of the biggest lots either
failed to sell or were withdrawn was a big surprise.