Sam Freid, Hawks over Appomattox

Freid was exhibiting abstract oils and gouaches by the early 1950s; this pastel, with its allover swirls of agitated lines and colors, fully embraces Abstract Expressionism. Referring to the Civil War, it may be an outgrowth of The Barbarianism of Nazis, a film Freid created with his wife and frequent collaborator, Hilda Berger Freid. It interspersed war department footage with his pastel depictions of the brutalities of the war.