Amazon.com description: Product Description: Description: Birth of the Cool presents art that developed in subtle deviation from the familiar movements of 20th century American painting through retaining their main characteristics as points of reference. The accentuation of the surface, the breaking up of illusionistic space, the opening up of the painting's format to new dimensions in space and time are the lasting constants of American painting. The American tradition in painting is a tradition that is both sensual and severe, intellectual and emotional and above all open to modern society.