Untitled, 1940 by Wassily Kandinsky

Kandinsky painted a number of late works simply titled Untitled. This ploy, relatively new in 1940, came to be used more and more extensively for abstracted works. Since in the majority of cases, particularly for Constructivist art, it was unnecessary to refer to either historical reference or anecdote, titles were not required. This trend was most noticeable in the United States in the immediate postwar period, for artists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, the Abstract-Expressionists. Their inheritance came, at least in part, from the number of Surrealist artists that left Paris for New York at this time. They were successful in setting up a 'Surrealist school in the city that included such luminaries as Salvador Dali, Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy. Additionally, artists from other 'schools' in Paris also came, including Marc Chagall, Fernond leger, and Piet Mondrion.