This book explores the unusual oeuvre of the American painter Lucien C. Kapp who-largely under
the radar of art history-forged a bridge between Abstract Expressionism and the twenty-first
century. It discusses his three artistic "homes" of Illinois Japan and Styria in Austria
each of which in its own way fired the artist's imagination and inspired him to "condense the
world." A recurring theme over the years was the expelled Indigenous peoples of the former
Mississippian culture: the Illini the Cahokia and the Menominee. In addition the publication
provides a condensed overview of abstract art's "immigration" to the US after being driven from
Europe and Russia by war and dictatorships. At the same time it illuminates the various
standpoints of artists critics and art historians on the question of who is allowed to pass
judgment on art. Finally the unconventional often paradoxical titles that Lucien C. Kapp gave
his works are embedded in a short history of work titles.
