#12 - Weaken

[annabelle.swift]

I'm really confused by the sentence "Pop art painters weren’t quarreling with the powerful early abstract expressionist work of the late 1940s but with a second generation of abstract expressionists whose work seemed airy, high-minded, and overly lyrical."

To me, this explicitly states that the second generation was too emotional because "lyrical" literally means expressing emotions (this is the first entry in multiple dictionaries I checked!)

I understand that there are other words in the passage that suggest the second generation lacked emotion, but I thought they were exactly that: suggestions. I defaulted to thinking the second generation was too emotional because the sentence mentioned above seems to directly state this.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi annabelle,

Great question. The idea is that the art is an attempt at expressing emotion, but did not impact viewers in the way the artist intended. The form was lyrical, and in this usage (when paired with airy), we see it as too high-minded for the viewer to respond to in an emotional way. You can think of lyrical as referencing "high art," art not meant for the general public but for the elite.

Hope that helps!