本美國抽象繪畫從四○年代至八○年代歷經抽象表現主義、極限主義、新幾何與新抽象等等畫派。本文從方法論的角度切入，評析現代主義、後現代主義、（後）結構主義、社會主義、記號學、心理分析及女性主義等等藝評家與學者詮釋這些畫派特色與演變的重要理論架構與研究成果。

　　　　　This article investigates the state of research in American abstract painting from the forties to the eighties, includes Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Neo-Geo, and New Abstraction. It analyzes and criticizes the theories and the practices of art critics and historians on postwar American abstract painting from the perspectives of Modernism, postmodernism, (post) structuralism, socialism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, feminism, and so on.v