What could characterize the art of the 20th century? Many attempts have been made recently to answer this question and give a retrospective. During the course of the century the Impressionists revealed light on canvas, Cezanne mastered depth and volume, Picasso invented cubism, and still art searches for new forms of expression.

Now, at the turn of the century we are now witnessing the re-emergence of the 'subject' as a central element in paintings. Subjective paintings, once withdrawn and discarded, flourished in the 1980's as what is known as "New Paintings", the artist expressing his personal story on canvas in often naive or direct ways.

Paintings such as those by David Salle and Donald Baechler in the USA, and Francesco Clemente in Italy stimulate the imagination of the viewer by means of figurative expression, rather than abstract. This use of the figurative at a point when abstract expressionism was so prominent points to it having been a reaction to what had become the norm. Inheriting features from the POP Art of the 60s, Robert Artschwager and Carol Dunham chose to express their personal experience in paintings rather than depicting the crowd or lost individuality. At the same time, Frank Stella asked whether pictorial representation could add depth to abstraction.

It is our great honor to introduce these artists, who have played an important role both as painters and storytellers of the late 20th century.