Movements in Twentieth-Century Art After World War
II (Art 100)
Abstract Expressionism
(Action Painting and Color Field Painting)
Name: Term used as early as 1920s to describe Kandinsky's abstract paintings.
Writer Robert Coates first uses the term for contemporary paintings in the March
30, 1946 issue of the New Yorker. Supportive critic Harold Rosenberg used the
term "Action Painting," while another critic, Clement Greenberg, preferred
"American-style Painting." Still, "Abstract Expressionism" was the term used
most frequently in the U.S.
Who: Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Adolph
Gottlieb, Arshile Gorky, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Barnett Newman, and
Clyfford Still.
When: Mid-1940s through 1950s.
Where: United States (New York City).
What: Consciously American style of art that influenced similar European
movements, such as Tachisme. Abstract Expressionism can be broken into two
large subdivisions: Action Painting, which came first, and Color Field Painting.
Action Paintings generally have a more violent, frenzied appearance, while Color
Field Paintings have a calmer, almost spiritual quality.
Subject Matter: Abstract, with an emphasis on the artist expressing everything
from personal feelings to universal, spiritual concerns. With the Action Painters,
the physical act of painting becomes, to a certain extent, the subject matter.
Style: Not really a coherent style so much as an attitude against traditional styles
(Realism), techniques, and "finished" works. The painters do share in common
their reliance on psychic self-expression. Generally, "Action Painters" employed
dripping, splatter, pouring, or other aggressive techniques in an effort to be
spontaneous and instinctive, while "Color Field Painters" preferred a saturated
approach to paint application. Large canvases were normally used.
Janson Example: POLLOCK, Autumn Rhythm: Number 30, 1950, 1950 (Action
Painting) and ROTHKO, White and Greens in Blue, 1957 (Color Field Painting).
Kissick Example: POLLOCK, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950 (Action
Painting) and ROTHKO, Untitled, 1960 (Color Field Painting).
Influenced by: Van Gogh, Cubism (shallow space), Kandinsky, Dada, Surrealism
(Miró and Automatism), European artists fleeing Hitler-dominated Europe, and
Native American sand painting.
Will influence: Tachisme, Art Brut, COBRA, Hard-Edge Painting, and NeoExpressionism.
Pop Art
Name: Short for "Popular Art." Term first appeared in the article "The Arts and
the Mass Media," by the British critic Lawrence Alloway, which was published in
the Feb. 1958 issue of Architectural Design. Pop is more associated with the early
1960s, when Time, Life and Newsweek all ran cover stories on it.
Who: Richard Hamilton, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhhol, Tom Wesselmann,
James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Wayne Thiebaud, Mel Ramos, Claes Oldenburg,
Robert Indiana, Robert Arneson, Jim Dine, and David Hockney.
When: Late 1950s through 1960s.
Where: Began in Great Britain then quickly spread to the United States.
Movement is most associated with American artists.
What: Movement was both a reaction against Abstract Expressionism, which was
seen as too elitist and non-objective, as well as a celebration of postwar consumer
culture. Pop is playful and ironic, not spiritual or psychological
Subject Matter: Popular culture: mass media, advertisements, comic strips,
billboards, packaging, television and movie personalities, commonplace objects,
etc.
Style: Similar to the styles of mass media production: bright, lurid color that is
sometimes off register; sometimes the small Benday dots seen in newspaper print
is copied; bold lines and shapes; immediately recognizable objects and people.
Although Pop artists rejected Abstract Expressionism, their work is, nonetheless,
stylistically flat.
Janson Example: LICHTENSTEIN, Drowning Girl, 1963.
Kissick Example: LICHTENSTEIN, Masterpiece, 1962.
Influenced by: Marcel Duchamp, Dada, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg.
Will influence: Post-modernist tendency toward appropriation.
Conceptual Art
Name: Term "Conceptual art" came into wide use after the article "Paragraphs on
Conceptual Art" by the Minimalist artist Sol Lewitt appeared in the summer 1967
issue of Artforum. "Idea art" is a synonym for Conceptual art.
Who: Joseph Kosuth, John Baldessari, Mel Bochner, John Cage, Hans Haacke,
and Dennis Oppenheim.
When: Mid-1960s through 1970s.
Where: International.
What: In Conceptual art the idea, rather than the object, is most important.
Conceptual artists were reacting against the commercialized art world of the
1960s, the formalism of post-war art (especially the impersonality of
Minimalism), as well as the limitations of traditional art. What the viewer usually
saw in the gallery was merely the document (drawing, photograph, written
proposals, charts, maps, video, and even language itself.) of the artist's thinking
process. Sometimes, not even a document was produced. The concept was the
"material." Conceptualism was sometimes used as an all- encompassing term to
describe other non-traditional art movements as well, such as Performance art and
Earth art.
Subject Matter: Because the art is conceptual, the subjects were extremely varied
and esoteric.
Style: No single style and, oftentimes, no art object with which to attach a style.
Janson and Kissick Example: KOSUTH, One and Three Chairs, 1965.
Influenced by: Dada, Duchamp's ready-mades, Jasper Johns' work, Earth art, and
Minimalism.
Will influence: Performance art.
Performance Art
Name: Name refers to a wide range of activities that are usually presented before
a live audience and therefore constitute a "performance" by the artist/artists.
Who: Joseph Beuys, Allan Kaprow, Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Chris
Burden, Karen Finley, Gilbert and George, Tim Miller, and Carolee Schneemann.
When: Late 1960s to the present.
Where: International.
What: Performance art can encompass such activities as music, dance, poetry,
theater, and video. The term can also be applied to earlier "performance" activities
such as Happenings, Body Art, Actions, etc., all of which involve some degree of
performance. The movement came about in the 1960s from a desire by artists to
communicate more directly with their audiences than conventional painting or
sculpture allowed. To a certain extent, the artists were reacting against the
austerity of Minimalism. Parody is often an element of Performance art.
Subject Matter: Extremely varied, though at a base level, the artist's body is
always used in some way.
Style: Also extremely varied; the style constitutes various actions performed by
the artist.
Janson and Kissick Example: BEUYS, Coyote (I Like America and America
Likes Me), 1974.
Influenced by: Dada, Jackson Pollock's painting for a film camera in 1950, Yves
Klein's "actions," Conceptual art, Happenings, and Body Art
Photorealism
Name: Louis Meisel, a New York art dealer, is usually credited as originating the
term "Photo-Realism." The style has also been referred to as Sharp-Focus
Realism, Hyper-Realism, and Super-Realism.
Who: Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Chuck Close, and Janet Fish.
When: Mid-1960s to mid-1970s.
Where: Primarily the United States.
What: A type of realist painting in which artist usually copies a photograph.
Photorealists usually painted from slides projected onto a canvas. Sculptors at this
time who worked in a very realistic manner are referred to as Superrealists. They
include such artists as John de Andrea and Duane Hanson, whose figures are
made from human casts and, in the case of Hanson, include real clothes and other
props.
Subject Matter: The photograph itself, as opposed to nature, is the subject matter.
Normal, everyday, banal subjects are common.
Style: Everything is in sharp focus; sometimes there is a flattening of the space, as
is common with photographs. Photorealists are more concerned with the way a
camera distorts a scene, as well as the way a photograph can bring certain
elements into sharp focus.
Janson Example: ESTES, Food Shop, 1967.
Influenced by: Pop Art.
Will influence: Post-modernism.
Post-Modernism
Name: Term probably first appeared in print in Daniel Bell's End of Sociology in
1960. In the early 1960s, the term was used mainly by literary critics. In the early
1970s, the term was applied to architecture. By the late 1970s, art critics were
using the term regularly. Like the term "Post-Impressionism," "post-modernism"
refers not to a single, specific style, but to a period; the period after "modernism."
Who: Michael Graves, James Stirling, Nam June Paik, Ann Hamilton, Mark
Tansey, Barbara Kruger, and Cindy Sherman.
When: 1970s to today.
Where: International.
What: Post-modernism in art and architecture can refer to both a rejection of
"modernism," as well as art that came "after modernism." Several cultural factors
have influenced this corresponding art shift from modernism to post-modernism.
Perhaps the biggest factor is the advent of the technological age. Just as modern
culture was influenced by the industrial age, so post-modernism has had to deal
with the electronic age. As a result of this electronic, or information, age,
traditional geographic boundaries have been destroyed. Images of artworks are
instantly accessible to an international audience. In the art world, artists and
architects embrace a rich variety of images and sources while rejecting the pure,
clean elements that represented the "end" of modern art: minimalism.
Subject Matter: Whereas modernists promoted abstraction, post-modern painters
advocated a return to traditional subject matter such as landscape and history
painting. Some post-modernists reject the modern notion that each art movement
be completely original; this rejection takes the form of borrowing (appropriation)
from art or architectural history, or other sources, and combining previous images
and styles in new juxtapositions. Often, post-modern subject matter in the visual
arts is issue-oriented and activist. Toward this end, and because post-modernism
has its roots in literature, visual artists often incorporate text into their work.
Style: Extremely varied and eclectic in both art and architecture, although postmodern visual artists use identifiable, representational images.
Janson Example: KRUGER, You Are a Captive Audience, 1983.
Kissick Example: KRUGER, Untitled ("We Won't Play Nature to Your Culture"),
1984.
Influenced by: Dada, Surrealism, Pop Art, Conceptual Art, and NeoExpressionism.