Upon stepping into “Gesture, Scrape, Combine, Calculate: Postwar Abstraction from the Permanent Collection,” the first thing you see is—you guessed it—empty space. There is certainly a lot of it: on the walls, on the floor, across the entire room. It makes sense because this is a small exhibition. With only 13 paintings and three sculptures scattered across the floor, “Gesture, Scrape, Combine, Calculate” exudes minimalism, and blank space is only one element.

The art itself, consisting of post-World War II abstract expressionism from the 1940s to the 1970s, keeps with the theme. The museum chose to draw entirely from its own permanent collection for the exhibition, a decision made more and more over the past several years because of the economic recession, and this decision has its risks. A show can be limited by the depth of the museum’s holdings and often falls short of complete. But in this case, the curator manages to maintain the exhibition’s strength across its entirety, thanks to the depth of the Kemper’s postwar collections.

Walking into the room, the first thing you see is Roberto Matta’s painting, titled “Abstraction.” Punctuated by brief colorful scenes blurring in and out of view, the canvas is awash with an amorphous blue-gray storm. Where the shapes begin to become distinct and vivid, it is reminiscent of Wassily Kandinsky’s paintings for Edwin Campbell, the founder of Chevrolet Motor Company. Considered the first true abstract artist, Kandinsky was a leader of the movement for years, and Matta follows ably in his footsteps. He combines formless chaos with barely-defined forms, creating a dramatic contrast and drawing the viewer’s eye across the entire work.

Just to the left of “Abstraction” hangs “Golden Brown Painting” by Arshile Gorky. This work takes a dramatically different tone than Matta’s, as Gorky has chosen to paint a specific topic: the land surrounding his Connecticut home. It is not a traditional landscape, however; it echoes Vincent Van Gogh’s work of half a century before, displaying dramatic colors not normally found in nature. Gorky takes Van Gogh’s well-known distortion of forms to an extreme, blending the topography around his house with the building itself. This creates a sinkhole in the center of the painting, into which everything seems to be collapsing.

On the far side of the room sits Ibram Lassaw’s “Eden Now,” the exhibition’s most eye-catching sculpture. Suggestive of Alberto Giacometti’s famous emaciated figures, Lassaw has created a skeletal shape redolent of the expanding spheres that children play with. Made of metal, parts of the bronze look like they have been fashioned from misshapen human torsos, and, in one horrifying instance, a metal lizard claw appears to be grasping futilely outward. While looking at the tortured shapes that are the fundamental building blocks of the work, it feels at times like they will come alive and begin screaming and struggling for freedom.

The final section of the show, in the corner just to the left of the entrance, warrants particular notice. It consists of three works: “Gran Ferro M1,” “Cuadro No. 82” and “Blanco y Grafismos.” All of the pieces blend together to create a disturbing, eerie sensation. “Gran Ferro M1,” by Alberto Burri, is perhaps the most somber piece in the entire exhibit. It consists of several rusted iron plates welded and nailed together. The work echoes the influence of war and manufacturing on society.

Immediately following this are the remaining two pieces, by Manolo Millares and Antoni Tàpies, respectively. They are by far the two most violent works in the show; gouges, savagely torn burlap and stains abound across the surfaces of the pieces. This almost unholy trio manages to end the show on a negative and primal note. It’s a fitting ending, considering that many of the artists in the exhibition lived through World War II.

Sitting in the center of the gallery, the room acts as a cathedral to the exhibition. Light streams down onto the paintings, both from the windows located at the top of the walls and the track lighting on the ceiling. “Gesture, Scrape, Combine, Calculate” may be drawn only from the Kemper’s holdings, but it still manages to adroitly encapsulate the abstract expressionist movement in 16 works of art.

“Gesture, Scrape, Combine, Calculate: Postwar Abstraction from the Permanent Collection” is on display until Sept. 20 at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University. Admission is both free and encouraged.

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