Similar to the movie Never Look Away’s situating of art within a greater political context, abstractionist Michael West was heavily influenced by the greater socio-historical factors during the time she was painting. World War II’s enormous impact on the mood in America is reflected in her darker, more emotive paintings. Like Gerhard Richter, Michael West almost removed herself from her work, though differently as she achieved this by changing her name. Although this was an attempt to minimize the sexist climate affecting her work, removing her actual name also to an extent removes the autobiographical elements obvious to the public, just as Richter did.
