Library: Art History by Credo Reference: Modern & Contemporary

Movements

Abstract expressionism: Topic Page
Movement of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the mid-1940s and attained singular prominence in American art in the following decade.
Ashcan school
From The Reader's Companion to American History
The Ashcan school of art evolved during the early years of the twentieth century in New York City. The core of the movement was formed by “the Eight”—Robert Henri, Arthur B. Davies, Maurice Prendergast, Ernest Lawson, William Glackens, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, and George Luks.
CoBrA: Topic Page
An international Expressionist movement founded in Paris in 1948. The name is an acronym of Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, the native cities of the artists involved, which included the Dane Asgar Jorn, the Dutchmen Karel Appel, Corneille and George Constant, and the Belgian Pierre Alecinsky.
Constructivism: Topic Page
Abstract art movement that originated in Russia in about 1914 and subsequently had great influence on Western art.
Cubism: Topic Page
Revolutionary style of painting created by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in Paris between 1907 and 1914.
Dada: Topic Page
International nihilistic movement among European artists and writers that lasted from 1916 to 1922.
Expressionism: Topic Page
Term used to describe works of art and literature in which the representation of reality is distorted to communicate an inner vision.
Fauvism: Topic Page
Movement in modern French painting characterized by the use of very bold, vivid, pure colours.
Futurism: Topic Page
Avant-garde art movement founded in 1909 that celebrated the dynamism of the modern world.
Hudson River School: Topic Page
group of American landscape painters, working from 1825 to 1875. The 19th-century romantic movements of England, Germany, and France were introduced to the United States by such writers as Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper.
Impressionism: Topic Page
Movement in painting that originated in France in the 1860s and had enormous influence in European and North American painting in the late 19th century.
Minimalism: Topic Page
Movement in abstract art and music towards extremely simplified composition.
Modernism: Topic Page
In the arts, a general term used to describe the 20th century's conscious attempt to break with the artistic traditions of the 19th century.
Pop art: Topic Page
Movement in modern art that took its imagery from the glossy world of advertising and from popular culture such as comic strips, films, and television.
Post-impressionism: Topic Page
Broad term covering various developments in French painting that developed out of Impressionism in the period from about 1880 to about 1905.
Postmodernism: Topic Page
Term used to designate a multitude of trends that come after and deviate from the many 20th-cent. movements that constituted modernism.
Surrealism: Topic Page
Movement in art, literature, and film that developed out of Dada around 1922. Led by André Breton, who produced the Surrealist Manifesto (1924), the surrealists were inspired by the thoughts and visions of the subconscious mind.

Styles & Genres

Abstract art: Topic Page
Nonrepresentational art. Ornamental art without figurative representation occurs in most cultures. The modern abstract movement in sculpture and painting emerged in Europe and North America between 1910 and 1920.
Art Brut: Topic Page
Term coined by the French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe various types of art produced outside the conventional art world.
Art deco: Topic Page
Style in the decorative arts that influenced design and architecture, and is particularly associated with mass-produced domestic goods.
Arte povera
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Type of modern art that uses everyday materials such as soil or old newspapers in an attempt to undermine the commercial values of the art world.
Conceptual art: Topic Page
Type of modern art in which the idea or ideas that a work expresses are considered its essential point, with its visual appearance being of secondary (often negligible) importance.
Kinetic art: Topic Page
A work of art that has movement or parts that are set in motion.
Environmental Art: Topic Page

With its roots in avant-garde arts and the stubbornly resilient transcendentalism of American nature-worship, the environmental art movement flourished from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Luminism
From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Painting style that emphasizes a particular clarity of light. It is characteristic of the works of a group of U.S. painters of the late 19th century, influenced by the Hudson River school.
Modern art: Topic Page
Art created from the 19th cent. to the mid-20th cent. by artists who veered away from the traditional concepts and techniques of painting, sculpture, and other fine arts that had been practiced since the Renaissance.
Op art: Topic Page
Type of abstract art, mainly painting, in which patterns are used to create the impression that the image is flickering or vibrating.
Orphism: Topic Page
Type of abstract or semi-abstract painting practised by a group of artists in Paris between 1911 and 1914. Orphism owed much to the fragmented forms of cubism (indeed it is sometimes called Orphic cubism).
Performance art: Topic Page
Type of modern art activity presented before a live audience, and combining elements of the visual arts and the theatrical arts.
Photorealism
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Style of painting and sculpture popular in the late 1960s and 1970s, especially in the USA, characterized by intense, photographic realism and attention to minute detail.
Video art: Topic Page
Type of modern art created by visual artists using video and television equipment; it is a medium rather than a style.

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