**Resident Member** Deborah Robin: Ed.D., Nova Southeastern U; Regional Dir. of Ops., Keller Graduate School of Mgmt.; Art History Instructor, Art Institute of Phoenix and Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Monday, November 16th, 2026: 3:00 – 4:00 pm, Koffler Great Room at ASA and Zoom
For centuries, Western artists shared certain assumptions about art: it should be made by hand, display technical skill, and represent the visible world. Then came the camera, two world wars, and a century of upheaval; artists began rewriting those assumptions. In this six-part series, we’ll watch old certainties give way and discover how the modern world transformed the purpose of art. No background in art is needed, just curiosity.
In Part 5 of 6, Dr. Robin discusses how war and persecution drove many of Europe’s leading artists across the Atlantic. The center of the art world gradually shifted from Paris to New York. Inspired by the ideas these émigrés brought with them, American artists forged bold new directions, from Jackson Pollock’s explosive action paintings and Mark Rothko’s luminous fields of color to Andy Warhol’s soup cans and the rise of Pop Art. Together, these movements transformed New York into the new capital of modern art and blurred the boundary between high art and everyday culture.