Fine Art movements

Abstract art contains imagery that departs from representational accuracy to a variable range of possible degrees, for some reason other than verisimilitude. Abstract artists select and then exaggerate or simplify the forms suggested by the world around them. The paintings of Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) and Georges Braque (French, 1882-1963) as well as the sculptures of Henry Moore (English, 1898-1987), Barbara Hepworth (English, 1903-1975), and Jacques Lipchitz (Russian-American, 1891-1973) are examples of abstract art. Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944) was one of the first creators of pure abstraction in modern painting. After successful avant-garde exhibitions, he founded the influential Munich group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider; 1911-1914) where his paintings became completely abstract.

Abstract Expressionism is a movement in which artists typically applied paint rapidly and with force to their canvases, in an effort to convey feelings and emotions. Gestural and non-geometric, the paintings were at times applied with large brushes, sometimes dripping or even throwing paint onto the canvas. Their work is characterized by a strong dependence on what appears to be accident and chance, but which is actually highly planned. Some abstract expressionist artists were concerned about adopting a peaceful and mystical approach to a purely abstract image. Usually there was no effort to represent subject matter. Not all work was abstract, nor was all work expressive, but it was generally believed that the spontaneity of the artists' approach to their work would draw from and release the creativity of their unconscious minds. The expressive method of painting was often considered as important as the painting itself.

A style of abstract painting that uses techniques such as the dribbling or splashing of paint to achieve a spontaneous effect. In action painting, the canvas is the arena in which the artist acts. The action of painting becomes a moment in the biography of the artist -- the canvas becomes the index (record) of the event. Mostly associated with several of the abstract expressionist artists, including Willem De Kooning (Dutch, 1904-1997, active in the US) and Jackson Pollock (American, 1912-1956), not all Abstract Expressionists were Action Painters.

Ceremonial sculptures, masks and crafts produced by African tribal cultures, as well as by the African cultures of colonial and post-colonial periods. Generally African art refers to sub-Saharan art, with the cultures of Africa's northern parts typically referred to as Egyptian and North African.

Painting, sculpture, graphic art and crafts developed by people of African descent in the United States and thematically and stylistically informed by African American culture.

A Japanese style of animation that has been applied to a wide variety of subject matter -- genres include childhood, Western, and samurai adventures to retro-futuristic sci-fi and violent, graphic pornography. Borrowed from the French word for animation,"Anime" also refers to films in this style.

To take possession of another's material, often without permission, reusing it in a context which differs from its original context, most often in order to examine issues concerning originality or to reveal meaning not previously seen in the original. An image reused in a collage is an example, though more direct are the photographs that Sherri Levine (American) made of photographs by earlier photographers.

French for"raw art," Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) devised this name in 1945 to label the art of children and outsiders (na?ve artists and the mentally ill); actually, it covers anyone not producing art for profit or recognition. Because they did not adhere to the cultural norms nor fashion effecting most artists, Dubuffet felt there was greater honesty and power inherent in the work of such people. His collection of art brut moved Dubuffet to cultivate many raw artistic elements in his own work, sometimes making pictures with pastes including mud, asphalt, or broken glass.

An art movement involving a mix of modern decorative art styles, largely of the 1920s and 1930s, whose main characteristics were derived from various avant-garde painting styles of the early twentieth century.

Italian for"poor art," it was mostly sculptural work made from everyday materials including soil, cement, twigs, newspapers, etc., instead of traditional materials like stone and bronze. This largely Italian movement, named by the critic Germano Celant in 1967, endured through the 1970s, concerned with metaphorical treatments to do with nature, culture, history, and contemporary life. Artists associated with Arte Povera include Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, and Michelangelo Pistoletto.

A picture or design created by adhering such basically flat elements as newspaper, wallpaper, printed text and illustrations, photographs, cloth, string, etc., to a flat surface, with the result becoming three-dimensional. Might also be called a relief sculpture / construction / assemblage. Many of the elements used in producing most collages are"found" materials.

Color field paintings contain solid areas of color covering the entire canvas, as exemplified in the work of Joseph Albers (German-American, 1888-1976), Mark Rothko (American, 1903-1970), Kenneth Noland (American, 1924-), and Jules Olitski (American, 1922-). A type of Abstract Expressionism, these artists were interested in the lyrical or atmospheric effects of vast expanses of color filling the canvas, and by suggestion, beyond it to infinity. Most color-field paintings are large, meant to be seen up close so that the viewer is immersed in a color environment.

Conceptual art is intended to convey an idea or a concept to the perceiver, rejecting the creation or appreciation of a traditional art object such as a painting or a sculpture as a precious commodity. Exponents of Conceptual Art said that artistic production should serve artistic knowledge and that the art object is not an end in itself.

A modern art movement developed in 1917 by the Russian sculptor Vladimir Tatlin (1880-1938). The aim was to construct abstract sculpture suitable for an industrialized society, and the works pioneered the use of modern technology and materials such as wood, glass, plastics and steel. Constructivism was introduced to Western Europe by Antoine Pevsner in Paris and his brother Naum Gabo in Germany. The principles of Constructivism were highly influential in twentieth century Western art, although for political reasons its influence in Russia ended by 1921.

Contemporary art is considered to be current, usually referring to our present time.

Cubism is one of the most influential art movements (1907-1914) of the twentieth century, started by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1882-1973) and Georges Braque (French, 1882-1963) in 1907. They were greatly inspired by African sculpture, by painters Paul C?zanne (French, 1839-1906) and Georges Seurat (French, 1859-1891), and by the Fauves. In Cubism, the subject matter is broken up, analyzed, and reassembled in an abstracted form.

Dada is an early twentieth century art movement that ridiculed contemporary culture and traditional art forms. The movement was formed to prove the bankruptcy of existing style of artistic expression rather than to promote a particular style itself.

Art objects serving to adorn or embellish; ornamental. An imprecise collective term for such art forms as ceramics, enamels, furniture, glass, metalwork and textiles, especially when they take forms used as interior decoration.

Documentary art is any artwork with the purpose of presenting facts objectively without inserting fictional matter, to record and/or comment on some content. The result is often political or social, by accumulating factual detail. Many conceptual art installations of the 1970s were overtly documentary — e.g., Post-Partum Project by Mary Kelly (American), the various Reading Rooms by Joseph Kosuth (American, 1945-), Guggenheim Trustees by Hans Haacke (German, 1936-).

Earth art (also called"land art") refers to a movement of artists with wide ranging goals but who all create in nature, employing such materials as stones, dirt, and leaves; most works are sculptural."Earthworks" is the same movement and often refers to phenomena such as the slow process of erosion or to the movement of planets and stars, especially the sun. Many earthworks are intended to help us better understand nature. Some demonstrate the inherent differences between nature and civilization, often pointing out artists' desires to understand, conquer, and control natural processes. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, art began to move outdoors from galleries. Some earthworks have been small enough to be gallery pieces, but many involve huge land masses, such as Michael Heizer's Nine Nevada Depressions, 1968: big, curved and zigzagging trenches, like abstract doodles on the earth, placed intermittently over a span of 520 miles. Another example is the 1970 piece by Robert Smithson (American, 1938-1973) titled Spiral Jetty, which extended 1,500 feet into Great Salt Lake, though today it can be witnessed only through documentation.

An art movement dominant in Germany from 1905-1925, especially through Die Br?cke and Der Blaue Reiter which are usually referred to as German Expressionism groups, anticipated by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828), Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890), Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903) and others.

Fauvism is an early twentieth century art movement and style of painting in France. The name Fauves, French for"Wild Beasts," was given to artists adhering to this style because it was felt that they used intense colors in a violent, uncontrolled way. The leader of the Fauves was Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954).

Especially since the late 1960s, when the feminist art movement can be said to have emerged, women have been particularly interested in what makes them different from males — what makes women artists and their art different from male artists and their art. This has been most prominent in the United States, Britain and Germany, although there are numerous precursors to the movement, and it has spread to many other cultures since the 1970s.

Describes artwork representing the form of a human, an animal or a thing; any expression of one thing in terms of another thing. Abstract artwork is the opposite of figurative art in certain ways. Roy Lichtenstein made a series of images of a bull, demonstrating a kind of range of ways to approach figuration and abstraction — beginning with the most highly figurative version and proceeding through stages to the most abstract version.

Fluxus is an art movement that originated in 1961-1962, which flourished throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. Characterized by a strongly Dadaist attitude, Fluxus promoted artistic experimentation mixed with social and political activism, an often celebrated anarchistic change. Although Germany was its principal location, Fluxus was an international avant-garde movement active in major Dutch, English, French, Swedish, and American cities. Its participants were a divergent group of individualists whose most common theme was their delight in spontaneity and humor.

Art made by people who have had little to no formal schooling in art. Folk artists usually make works of art with traditional techniques and content, in styles handed down through many generations and often of a particular region.

Futurism is a group movement that originated in Italy in 1909. Futurists added implied motion to the shifting planes and multiple observation points of the Cubists; they celebrated natural as well as mechanical motion and speed. Their glorification of danger, war, and the machine age was in keeping with the martial spirit developing in Italy at the time.

An art movement and style of painting that started in France during the 1860s. Impressionist artists tried to paint candid glimpses of their subjects, showing the effects of sunlight on things at different times of day. The leaders of this movement were Camille Pissarro (French, 1830-1903), Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917), Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), and Pierre Renoir (French, 1841-1919).

Art that is or has been installed — arranged in one place — either by the artist or as specified by the artist. It might be site-specific or not, and either indoors or outside. The term became widely used in the 1970s and 1980s, and continues to be employed by many people. Installations may be temporary or permanent, but most will be known to posterity through documentation. As a consequence, one typical aspect of installations is the difficulty with which they can be commodified. Artists identified with installations include Walter De Maria (American, 1938-), Nancy Holt (American, 1938-) and Mary Miss (American, 1944-).

A painting, photograph or other work of art that depicts scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers and forests is considered a landscape.

The massive comic books published in Japan. Manga often incorporates action, violence and sex.

Minimalism is a twentieth century art movement and style stressing the idea of reducing a work of art to the minimum number of colors, values, shapes, lines and textures. No attempt is made to represent or symbolize any other object or experience.

Generally refers to recent times or the present, or the sense of something being contemporary or up-to-date, recently developed or advanced in style, technique, or technology. Sometimes this refers to something being innovative or experimental.

Theory and practice in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century art, which holds that each new generation must build on past styles in new ways or break with the past in order to make the next major historical contribution. Characterized by idealism; seen as"high art," as differentiated from popular art. In painting, most clearly seen in the work of the Post-Impressionists, beginning in 1885; in architecture, most evident in the work of Bauhaus and International Style architects, beginning about 1920.

Art produced by the first North Americans and their descendants.

Broadly used, this may refer to all expressionist art since the original movement known as Expressionism arose in Germany between 1905 and 1925.

A twentieth century art movement and style in which artists sought to create an impression of movement on the picture surface by means of optical illusion. It is derived from and is also known as Optical Art and Perceptual Abstraction.

Strictly interpreted, outsider art refers to works by those outside of mainstream society. In the United States, outsider art broadly includes folk and ethnic art as well as work by prisoners, the mentally ill and others neither trained in art nor making works to sell. In Europe, outsider art is more narrowly interpreted as art by the mentally disturbed.

Photography is the art, craft, and science of producing permanent images of objects on light-sensitive surfaces.

Photorealism refers to realistic paintings and sculptures involving thorough reproduction of detail. In painting, the results are nearly photographic -- in fact, works are painted from photographs (although painters had been working from photographs since the early days of photography).

Pointillism is a method of painting developed in France in the 1880s in which tiny dots of color are applied to the canvas. When viewed from a distance, the points of color appear to blend together to make other colors and to form shapes and outlines. Georges Seurat (French, 1859-1891) was its leading exponent. His most famous painting is A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (Un dimanche apr?s-midi ? l'Ile de la Grande Jatte), 1884-1886, oil on canvas, 81 x 120 inches, Art Institute of Chicago.

An art movement and style that had its origins in England in the 1950s and made its way to the United States during the 1960s. Pop artists have focused attention upon familiar images of popular culture such as billboards, comic strips, magazine advertisements and supermarket products. Leading exponents are Richard Hamilton (British, 1922-), Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997), Claes Oldenburg (American, 1929-), Jasper Johns (American, 1930-), and Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-).

A work of art that represents a specific person, a group of people, or an animal. Portraits usually show what a person looks like as well as reveal something about the subject's personality. Portraits can be made of any sculptural material or in any two-dimensional medium. Portraiture is the field of portrait making and portraits in general.

In early Modernism, a French art movement that immediately followed Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism. The artists involved, usually meaning Paul C?zanne (French, 1839-1906), Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890), Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903) and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901), showed a greater concern for expression, structure and form than did the Impressionist artists. Building on the works of the Neo-Impressionists, these artists rejected the emphasis the Impressionists put on naturalism and the depiction of fleeting effects of light.

Art that reacts against earlier modernist principles, by reintroducing traditional or classical elements of style or by carrying modernist styles or practices to extremes.

Artworks that are designed specifically for or placed in areas physically accessible to the general public. The meanings and functions of these works varie widely, based on the societal and aesthetic values of the communities, institutions, and individuals who commission them.

A manufactured object created for some other purpose, but presented by an artist as a work of art. Between 1914 and 1921, Marcel Duchamp (French, 1887-1968), who originated this concept, selected and signed a snow shovel, a comb, and a urinal, among other objects. He occasionally altered readymades (sometimes called assisted readymades) -- the most famous of which was a cheap reproduction of Mona Lisa on which Duchamp drew a mustache.

The realistic and natural representation of people, places, and/or things in a work of art.

The Renaissance period in Europe lasted from the late fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries, and was characterized by a renewed interest in human-centered classical art, literature, and learning.

Representational art is art in which the artist's intention is to present again or represent a particular subject; especially pertaining to a realistic portrayal of subject matter.

A type of realism which is more overtly political in content, critical of society, and marked by its realistic depiction of social problems. Paintings by Jean Fran?ois Millet (French, 1814-75), a painter associated with the Barbizon school, are considered an early example of social realism, such as The Gleaners (1857, Louvre). However, the greatest impact of this art movement was felt in the first half of the twentieth century. Mexican muralists Diego Rivera (1886-1957), Jos? Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), and David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) strongly influenced many North American social realist and New Deal artists. Some of these northern artists emerged from the Ashcan school, while others, like Ben Shahn (American, 1898-1969), evolved separately. Be careful not to confuse social realism with socialist realism.

A picture of inanimate objects. Common still life subjects include vessels, food, flowers, books, and clothing.

A twentieth century avant-garde art movement that originated from the nihilistic ideas of the Dadaist and French literary figures, especially those of its founder, French writer Andr? Breton (1896-1966). At first a Dadaist, he wrote three manifestos about Surrealism in 1924, 1930, and 1934, and opened a studio for"surrealist research."

Images recorded on videotape or on optical disc to be viewed on television screens, or the medium through which these images are recorded and displayed.

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