ATHENS, GA.- The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia is showing the work of well-known abstract expressionist artists in the exhibition “Advanced and Irascible: Abstract Expressionism from the Collection of Jeanne and Carroll Berry,” on view January 14 to April 30, 2017.

The exhibition, organized by the museum’s curator of American art Sarah Kate Gillespie, showcases Jeanne and Carroll Berry’s efforts to gather one work by each of the so-called “Irascible” painters of abstract expressionism. The Irascibles earned their nickname after sending a signed, open letter to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to protest the lack of what they called “advanced” art in its exhibition of contemporary artists in 1950. A photograph of them that appeared in Life magazine in 1951 became the defining image of the abstract expressionists for the remainder of the 20th century.

In their letter, the artists wrote, “for roughly a hundred years, only advanced art has made any consequential contribution to civilization.” This collection of works embodies what they thought of as contributing to the advancement of art.

“Advanced and Irascible” includes 19 works by 18 different artists, all borrowed from the Berrys’ collection. Artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, Willem de Kooning, Hedda Sterne and Ad Reinhardt are represented. Characterized by large, gestural paintings, this group of painters defined the abstract expressionist movement and influenced the trajectory of modern art. This exhibition includes mostly smaller works, many of which are on paper, as well as a charcoal drawing by Armenian artist Arshile Gorky, who was not a member of the Irascibles but was a strong influence on the group.