Medieval

-In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages (or medieval period) lasted from the
5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and
merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the
middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical
antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is
itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.
Byzantine art
-refers to the body of Christian Greek artistic products of the Eastern
Roman (Byzantine) Empire,[1] as well as the nations and states that inherited
culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of
Rome and lasted until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453,[2] the start date of the
Byzantine period is rather clearer in art history than in political history, if still
imprecise. Many Eastern Orthodox states in Eastern Europe, as well as to some
degree the Muslim states of the eastern Mediterranean, preserved many aspects of
the empire's culture and art for centuries afterward.
A number of states contemporary with the Byzantine Empire were culturally
influenced by it, without actually being part of it (the "Byzantine commonwealth").
These included the Rus, as well as some non-Orthodox states like the Republic of
Venice, which separated from the Byzantine empire in the 10th century, and
the Kingdom of Sicily, which had close ties to the Byzantine Empire and had also
been a Byzantine possession until the 10th century with a large Greek-speaking
population persisting into the 12th century. Other states having a Byzantine artistic
tradition had oscillated throughout the Middle Ages between being part of the
Byzantine empire and having periods of independence, such
as Serbia and Bulgaria. After the fall of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople in
1453, art produced by Eastern Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman
Empire was often called "post-Byzantine." Certain artistic traditions that originated
in the Byzantine Empire, particularly in regard to icon painting and church
architecture, are maintained
in Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and other Eastern Orthodox
countries to the present day.
Gothic art
was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque
art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic
architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Southern and Central
Europe, never quite effacing more classical styles in Italy. In the late 14th century,
the sophisticated court style of International Gothic developed, which continued to
evolve until the late 15th century. In many areas, especially Germany, Late Gothic
art continued well into the 16th century, before being subsumed into Renaissance
art. Primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture, panel painting, stained
glass, fresco and illuminated manuscripts. The easily recognizable shifts in
architecture from Romanesque to Gothic, and Gothic to Renaissance styles, are
typically used to define the periods in art in all media, although in many ways
figurative art developed at a different pace.
The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture, on the walls of Cathedrals and
abbeys. Christian art was often typological in nature (see Medieval allegory),
showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side.
Saints' lives were often depicted. Images of the Virgin Mary changed from the
Byzantine iconic form to a more human and affectionate mother, cuddling her
infant, swaying from her hip, and showing the refined manners of a well-born
aristocratic courtly lady.
Secular art came into its own during this period with the rise of cities, foundation
of universities, increase in trade, the establishment of a money-based economy and
the creation of a bourgeois class who could afford to patronize the arts and
commission works resulting in a proliferation of paintings and illuminated
manuscripts. Increased literacy and a growing body of secular vernacular
literature encouraged the representation of secular themes in art. With the growth
of cities, trade guilds were formed and artists were often required to be members of
a painters' guild—as a result, because of better record keeping, more artists are
known to us by name in this period than any previous; some artists were even so
bold as to sign their names.
Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of
the Gothic style in the 12th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding
period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-
century art historians, especially for Romanesque architecture, which retained
many basic features of Roman architectural style – most notably round-headed
arches, but also barrel vaults, apses, and acanthus-leaf decoration – but had also
developed many very different characteristics. In Southern France, Spain and Italy
there was an architectural continuity with the Late Antique, but the Romanesque
style was the first style to spread across the whole of Catholic Europe, from Sicily
to Scandinavia. Romanesque art was also greatly influenced by Byzantine art,
especially in painting, and by the anti-classical energy of the decoration of
the Insular art of the British Isles. From these elements was forged a highly
innovative and coherent style. Renaissance art is the painting, sculpture and
decorative arts of the period of European history, emerging as a distinct style in
Italy in about 1400, in parallel with developments which occurred
in philosophy, literature, music, and science. Renaissance art, perceived as the
noblest of ancient traditions, took as its foundation the art of Classical antiquity,
but transformed that tradition by absorbing recent developments in the art of
Northern Europe and by applying contemporary scientific knowledge. Renaissance
art, with Renaissance Humanist philosophy, spread throughout Europe, affecting
both artists and their patrons with the development of new techniques and new
artistic sensibilities. Renaissance art marks the transition of Europe from the
medieval period to the Early Modern age.
In many parts of Europe, Early Renaissance art was created in parallel with Late
Medieval art. Renaissance art, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and
literature produced during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries in Europe under the
combined influences of an increased awareness of nature, a revival of classical
learning, and a more individualistic view of man. Scholars no longer believe that
the Renaissance marked an abrupt break with medieval values, as is suggested by
the French word renaissance, literally “rebirth.” Rather, historical sources suggest
that interest in nature, humanistic learning, and individualism were already present
in the late medieval period and became dominant in 15th- and 16th-century Italy
concurrently with social and economic changes such as the secularization of daily
life, the rise of a rational money-credit economy, and greatly increased social
mobility. The influences upon the development of Renaissance men and women in
the early 15th century are those that also affected Philosophy, Literature,
Architecture, Theology, Science, Government, and other aspects of society. The
following list presents a summary, dealt with more fully in the main articles that
are cited above.
The Baroque (UK: /bəˈrɒk/, US: /bəˈroʊk/; French: [baʁɔk]) is a highly ornate and
often extravagant style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture and other
arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th until the mid-18th century. It
followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in the past
often referred to as "late Baroque") and Neoclassical styles. It was encouraged by
the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity
of Protestant architecture, art and music, though Lutheran Baroque art developed in
parts of Europe as well.[1]
The Baroque style used contrast, movement, exuberant detail, deep colour,
grandeur and surprise to achieve a sense of awe. The style began at the start of the
17th century in Rome, then spread rapidly to France, northern Italy, Spain and
Portugal, then to Austria and southern Germany. By the 1730s, it had evolved into
an even more flamboyant style, called rocaille or Rococo, which appeared in
France and Central Europe until the mid to late 18th century.
Mannerism, also known as Late Renaissance,[1] is a style in European art that
emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading
by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when
the Baroque style largely replaced it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early
17th century.[2]
Stylistically, Mannerism encompasses a variety of approaches influenced by, and
reacting to, the harmonious ideals associated with artists such as Leonardo da
Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo. Where High Renaissance art emphasizes
proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, Mannerism exaggerates such qualities, often
resulting in compositions that are asymmetrical or unnaturally elegant. [3] The style
is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial (as opposed to
naturalistic) qualities.[4] This artistic style privileges compositional tension and
instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting.
Mannerism in literature and music is notable for its highly florid style and
intellectual sophistication.[5]
The definition of Mannerism and the phases within it continues to be a subject of
debate among art historians. For example, some scholars have applied the label to
certain early modern forms of literature (especially poetry) and music of the 16th
and 17th centuries. The term is also used to refer to some late Gothic painters
working in northern Europe from about 1500 to 1530, especially the Antwerp
Mannerists—a group unrelated to the Italian movement. Mannerism has also been
applied by analogy to the Silver Age of Latin literature.[6]
Rococo (/rəˈkoʊkoʊ/, also US: /ˌroʊkəˈkoʊ/), less commonly roccoco or Late
Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art
and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and
pastel colors, sculpted molding, and trompe l'oeil frescoes to create surprise and
the illusion of motion and drama. It first appeared in France and Italy in the 1730s
and spread to Central Europe in the 1750s and 1760s. [1][2][3] It is often described as
the final expression of the Baroque movement.[4]
The Rococo style began in France in the first part of the 18th century in the reign
of Louis XV as a reaction against the more formal and geometric Style Louis XIV.
It was known as the style rocaille, or rocaille style.[2] It soon spread to other parts
of Europe, particularly northern Italy, Bavaria, Austria, other parts of Germany, and
Russia. It also came to influence the other arts, particularly sculpture, furniture,
silverware and glassware, painting, music, and theatre.[5]
Neo classicism
Type of delicate, painted Neo-classical decoration, derived mainly from the shapes,
motifs and colours of antique vases. It was part of the quest in Europe in the last
quarter of the 18th century for a contemporary expression in interior design and the
applied arts. The term is applied loosely to various schemes of decoration inspired
by Classical sources, involving Renaissance Grotesque ornament, as well as
themes inspired by discoveries made at Herculaneum and Pompeii (see Pompeii,
§VI) in the 18th century, or frequently a mixture of these sources. This fact serves
to underline the complex antecedents of this style, which was originally based on
the misidentification of imported Greek vases dug up in southern Italy and thought
to have been made by ancient Etruscans (see Etruscan §VIII), a culture promoted
in some quarters as having been the original fount for the whole of Classical
antiquity. Indeed, the Etruscan style derived little direct artistic influence from that
culture as such, except for certain potent historical associations promoted by the
controversies concerning cultural debts.
Realism, sometimes called naturalism, in the arts is generally the attempt to
represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic
conventions, or implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements. Realism has been
prevalent in the arts at many periods, and can be in large part a matter of technique
and training, and the avoidance of stylization.
In the visual arts, illusionistic realism is the accurate depiction of lifeforms,
perspective, and the details of light and colour. But realist or naturalist works of art
may, as well or instead of illusionist realism, be "realist" in their subject-matter,
and emphasize the mundane, ugly or sordid. This is typical of the 19th-
century Realist movement that began in France in the 1850s, after the 1848
Revolution,[1] and also social realism, regionalism, or kitchen sink realism. The
Realist painters rejected Romanticism, which had come to dominate French
literature and art, with roots in the late 18th century.
Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small,
thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction
of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of
time), ordinary subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element of
human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles. Impressionism
originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions
brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s.
The Impressionists faced harsh opposition from the conventional art community
in France. The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude
Monet work, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which provoked the
critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satirical review published in the Parisian
newspaper Le Charivari.
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) is a predominantly
French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the
last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged
as a reaction against Impressionists' concern for the naturalistic depiction of light
and colour. Due to its broad emphasis on abstract qualities or symbolic content,
Post-Impressionism encompasses Les Nabis Neo-
Impressionism, Symbolism, Cloisonnism, Pont-Aven School, and Synthetism,
along with some later Impressionists' work. The movement was led by Paul
Cézanne (known as father of Post-impressionism), Paul Gauguin, Vincent van
Gogh, and Georges Seurat.[1]
The term Post-Impressionism was first used by art critic Roger Fry in 1906.[2]
[3]
Critic Frank Rutter in a review of the Salon d'Automne published in Art News,
15 October 1910, described Othon Friesz as a "post-impressionist leader"; there
was also an advert for the show The Post-Impressionists of France.[4] Three weeks
later, Roger Fry used the term again when he organized the 1910 exhibition, Manet
and the Post-Impressionists, defining it as the development of French art
since Manet.
Post-Impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: they
continued using vivid colours, often thick application of paint, and real-life subject
matter, but were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, distort form for
expressive effect, and use unnatural or arbitrary colour.

German Expressionism (c.1905-35)

Twentieth century expressionism in Germany emerged during the mid-1900s in
Dresden and Munich. A parallel but smaller movement sprang up in Austria at
about the same time. Broadly speaking, up until the beginning of World War I,
the expressionist movement in Germany remained an aesthetic development of the
Saxon Worpswede Group and the Parisian Fauvist movement. It was also
influenced by Van Gogh's pioneering expressionist paintings like Wheatfield with
Crows, and Starry, Starry Night. Unlike Impressionists, who sought merely to
imitate nature, German expressionist painters typically distorted colour, scale and
space to convey their subjective feelings about what they saw. However, war
scarred many of these artists for good. As a result, from 1915 onwards, German
expressionism became a bitter protest movement as well as a style of modern art.
The centre for much of this avant-garde art was Sturm Gallery, in Berlin. See
also: History of Expressionist Painting.
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves (French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early
twentieth-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and
strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism.
While Fauvism as a style began around 1904 and continued beyond 1910,
the movement as such lasted only a few years, 1905–1908, and had three
exhibitions.[1][2] The leaders of the movement were André Derain and Henri
Matisse.
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized
European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements
in music, literature and architecture. Cubism has been considered the most
influential art movement of the 20th century.[1][2] The term is broadly used in
association with a wide variety of art produced in Paris
(Montmartre, Montparnasse, and Puteaux) during the 1910s and throughout the
1920s.
The movement was pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, joined
by Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Robert Delaunay, Henri Le Fauconnier,
and Fernand Léger.[3] One primary influence that led to Cubism was the
representation of three-dimensional form in the late works of Paul Cézanne.[4] A
retrospective of Cézanne's paintings had been held at the Salon d'Automne of
1904, current works were displayed at the 1905 and 1906 Salon d'Automne,
followed by two commemorative retrospectives after his death in 1907. [5] In Cubist
artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form—
instead of depicting objects from a single viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject
from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.[6]
In France, offshoots of Cubism developed, including Orphism, Abstract art and
later Purism.[7][8] The impact of Cubism was far-reaching and wide-ranging. In
other countries Futurism, Suprematism, Dada, Constructivism, De Stijl and Art
Deco developed in response to Cubism. Early Futurist paintings hold in common
with Cubism the fusing of the past and the present, the representation of different
views of the subject pictured at the same time, also called multiple
perspective, simultaneity or multiplicity,[9] while Constructivism was influenced by
Picasso's technique of constructing sculpture from separate elements. [10] Other
common threads between these disparate movements include the faceting or
simplification of geometric forms, and the association of mechanization and
modern life.
Futurism (Italian: Futurismo) was an artistic and social movement that originated
in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasised speed, technology, youth, violence,
and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city. Its key figures were
the Italians Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Gino
Severini, Giacomo Balla, and Luigi Russolo. It glorified modernity and aimed to
liberate Italy from the weight of its past. [1] Cubism contributed to the formation of
Italian Futurism's artistic style.[2] Important Futurist works included
Marinetti's Manifesto of Futurism, Boccioni's sculpture Unique Forms of
Continuity in Space, Balla's painting Abstract Speed + Sound, and Russolo's The
Art of Noises.
Although it was largely an Italian phenomenon, there were parallel movements
in Russia, England, Belgium and elsewhere. The Futurists practiced in every
medium of art, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial
design, interior design, urban design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles, literature,
music, architecture, and even cooking. To some extent Futurism influenced the art
movements Art Deco, Constructivism, Surrealism, Dada, and to a greater
degree Precisionism, Rayonism, and Vorticism.
Dada (/ˈdɑːdɑː/) or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in
the early 20th century, with early centers in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret
Voltaire (circa 1916); New York Dada began circa 1915,[2][3] and after 1920 Dada
flourished in Paris. Developed in reaction to World War I, the Dada movement
consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of
modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-
bourgeois protest in their worksThe art of the movement spanned visual, literary,
and sound media, including collage, sound poetry, cut-up writing, and sculpture.
Dadaist artists expressed their discontent with violence, war, and nationalism, and
maintained political affinities with the radical far-left
There is no consensus on the origin of the movement's name; a common story is
that the German artist Richard Huelsenbeck slid a paper knife (letter-opener) at
random into a dictionary, where it landed on "dada", a colloquial French term for
a hobby horse. Others note that it suggests the first words of a child, evoking a
childishness and absurdity that appealed to the group. Still others speculate that the
word might have been chosen to evoke a similar meaning (or no meaning at all) in
any language, reflecting the movement's internationalism.[11]
The roots of Dada lie in pre-war avant-garde. The term anti-art, a precursor to
Dada, was coined by Marcel Duchamp around 1913 to characterize works which
challenge accepted definitions of art.[12] Cubism and the development
of collage and abstract art would inform the movement's detachment from the
constraints of reality and convention. The work of French poets,
Italian Futurists and the German Expressionists would influence Dada's rejection
of the tight correlation between words and meaning. [13] Works such as Ubu
Roi (1896) by Alfred Jarry, and the ballet Parade (1916–17) by Erik Satie would
also be characterized as proto-Dadaist works.[14] The Dada movement's principles
were first collected in Hugo Ball's Dada Manifesto in 1916.
The Dadaist movement included public gatherings, demonstrations, and
publication of art/literary journals; passionate coverage of art, politics, and culture
were topics often discussed in a variety of media. Key figures in the movement
included Hugo Ball, Marcel Duchamp, Emmy Hennings, Hans Arp, Sophie
Taeuber-Arp, Raoul Hausmann, Hannah Höch, Johannes Baader, Tristan
Tzara, Francis Picabia, Huelsenbeck, George Grosz, John Heartfield, Man
Ray, Beatrice Wood, Kurt Schwitters, Hans Richter, Max Ernst, and Elsa von
Freytag-Loringhoven among others. The movement influenced later styles like the
avant-garde and downtown music movements, and groups
including Surrealism, nouveau réalisme, pop art and Fluxus.
Surrealism is a cultural movement that started in 1917,[1] [2]and is best known for
its visual artworks and writings. Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes,
sometimes with photographic precision, creating strange creatures from everyday
objects, and developing painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to
express itself.[3] Its aim was, according to Breton, to "resolve the previously
contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-
reality", or surreality.[4][5][6]
Works of surrealism feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and
non sequitur; however, many surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an
expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being
an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was,
above all, a revolutionary movement.
Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most
important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the
movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature,
film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and
practice, philosophy, and social theory.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Abstract expressionism is the term applied to new forms of abstract art
developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and
Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often characterised by gestural
brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity
The abstract expressionists were mostly based in New York City, and also
became known as the New York school. The name evokes their aim to make art
that while abstract was also expressive or emotional in its effect. They were
inspired by the surrealist idea that art should come from the unconscious mind,
and by the automatism of artist Joan Miró. Action painting, direct, instinctual,
and highly dynamic kind of art that involves the spontaneous application of
vigorous, sweeping brushstrokes and the chance effects of dripping and spilling
paint onto the canvas. The term was coined by the American art critic Harold
Rosenberg to characterize the work of a group of American Abstract
Expressionists who utilized the method from about 1950. Action painting is
distinguished from the carefully preconceived work of the “abstract imagists” and
“colour-field” painters, which constitutes the other major
direction implicit in Abstract Expressionism and resembles Action painting only in
its absolute devotion to unfettered personal expression free of all
traditional aesthetic and social values.
The works of the Action painters Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz
Kline, Bradley Walker Tomlin, and Jack Tworkov reflect the influence of the
“automatic” techniques developed in Europe in the 1920s and ’30s by
the Surrealists. While Surrealist automatism, which consisted of scribblings
recorded without the artist’s conscious control, was primarily designed to awaken
unconscious associations in the viewer, the automatic approach of the Action
painters was primarily conceived as a means of giving the artist’s instinctive
creative forces free play and of revealing these forces directly to the viewer. In
Action painting the act of painting itself, being the moment of the artist’s creative
interaction with his materials, was as significant as the finished work.
It is generally recognized that Jackson Pollock’s abstract drip paintings, executed
from 1947, opened the way to the bolder, gestural techniques that characterize
Action painting. The vigorous brushstrokes of de Kooning’s “Woman” series,
begun in the early 1950s, successfully evolved a richly emotive expressive style.
Action painting was of major importance throughout the 1950s in Abstract
Expressionism, the most-influential art movement at the time in the United States.
By the end of the decade, however, leadership of the movement had shifted to the
colour-field and abstract imagist painters, whose followers in the 1960s rebelled
against the irrationality of the Action painters. See also Tachism.
Color field painting is a style of abstract painting that emerged in New York City
during the 1940s and 1950s. It was inspired by European modernism and closely
related to abstract expressionism, while many of its notable early proponents were
among the pioneering abstract expressionists. Color field is characterized primarily
by large fields of flat, solid color spread across or stained into the canvas creating
areas of unbroken surface and a flat picture plane. The movement places less
emphasis on gesture, brushstrokes and action in favour of an overall consistency of
form and process. In color field painting "color is freed from objective context and
becomes the subject in itself."[1]
During the late 1950s and 1960s, color field painters emerged in parts of Great
Britain, Canada, Australia, and the United States, particularly New York,
Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, using formats of stripes, targets, simple
geometric patterns and references to landscape imagery and to nature.[2]
Pop Art was born in Britain in the mid-1950s. It was the brain-child of several
young subversive artists—as most modern art tends to be. The first application of
the term Pop Art occurred during discussions among artists who called themselves
the Independent Group (IG), which was part of the Institute of Contemporary
Art in London, begun around 1952–53.
Pop Art appreciates popular culture, or what we also call “material culture.” It does
not critique the consequences of materialism and consumerism; it simply
recognizes its pervasive presence as a natural fact.
Acquiring consumer goods, responding to clever advertisements and building more
effective forms of mass communication (back then: movies, television,
newspapers, and magazines) galvanized energy among young people born during
the post-World War II generation. Rebelling against the esoteric vocabulary of
abstract art, they wanted to express their optimism in a youthful visual language,
responding to so much hardship and privation. Pop Art celebrated the United
Generation of Shopping.
How Long Was the Movement?
The movement was officially christened by British art critic Lawrence Alloway in
a 1958 article called "The Arts and Mass Media." Art history textbooks tend to
claim that British artist Richard Hamilton's collage Just What Is It that Makes
Today's Home So Different and So Appealing? (1956) signaled that Pop Art had
arrived on the scene. The collage appeared in the show This Is Tomorrow at
Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1956, so we might say that this work of art and this
exhibition mark the official beginning of the movement, even though the artists
worked on Pop Art themes earlier in their careers.
Pop Art, for the most part, completed the Modernism movement in the early 1970s,
with its optimistic investment in contemporary subject matter. It also ended the
Modernism movement by holding up a mirror to contemporary society. Once the
postmodernist generation looked hard and long into the mirror, self-doubt took
over and the party atmosphere of Pop Art faded away.
Key Characteristics of Pop Art
There are several readily recognizable characteristics that art critics use to define
pop art:

 Recognizable imagery, drawn from popular media and products.

 Usually very bright colors.

 Flat imagery influenced by comic books and newspaper photographs.

 Images of celebrities or fictional characters in comic books, advertisements,

and fan magazines.

 In sculpture, an innovative use of media.

Historic Precedent
The integration of fine art and popular culture (such as billboards, packaging, and
print advertisements) began long before the 1950s. In 1855, French realist painter
Gustave Courbet symbolically pandered to popular taste by including a pose taken
from the inexpensive print series called Imagerie d’Épinal. This immensely
popular series featured brightly painted moralizing scenes invented by French
illustrator (and art rival) Jean-Charles Pellerin (1756–1836). Every schoolboy
knew these pictures of street life, the military, and legendary characters. Did the
middle class get Courbet's drift? Maybe not, but Courbet did not care. He knew he
had invaded "high art" with a "low" art form.
Spanish artist Pablo Picasso used the same strategy. He joked about our love affair
with shopping by creating a woman out of a label and ad from the department store
Bon Marché. While Au Bon Marché (1913) may not be considered the first Pop Art
collage, it certainly planted the seeds for the movement.
Roots in Dada
Dada pioneer Marcel Duchamp pushed Picasso's consumerist ploy further by
introducing the actual mass-produced object into the exhibition: a bottle-rack, a
snow shovel, a urinal (upside down). He called these objects Ready-Mades, an
anti-art expression that belonged to the Dada movement.
Neo-Dada, or Early Pop Art
Early Pop artists followed Duchamps' lead in the 1950s by returning to imagery
during the height of Abstract Expressionism and purposely selecting "low-brow"
popular imagery. They also incorporated or reproduced 3-dimension objects. Jasper
Johns' Beer Cans (1960) and Robert Rauschenberg's Bed (1955) are two cases in
point. This work was called "Neo-Dada" during its formative years. Today, we
might call it Pre-Pop Art or Early Pop Art.
British Pop Art
Independent Group (Institute of Contemporary Art)

 Richard Hamilton

 Edouardo Paolozzi

 Peter Blake

 John McHale

 Lawrence Alloway

 Peter Reyner Banham

 Richard Smith

 Jon Thompson
Young Contemporaries (Royal College of Art)

 R. B. Kitaj

 Peter Philips

 Billy Apple (Barrie Bates)

 Derek Boshier

 Patrick Canfield

 David Hockney

 Allen Jones
  Norman Toynton
American Pop Art
Andy Warhol understood shopping and he also understood the allure of celebrity.
Together these Post-World War II obsessions drove the economy. From shopping
malls to People Magazine, Warhol captured an authentic American aesthetic:
packaging products and people. It was an insightful observation. Public display
ruled and everyone wanted his/her own fifteen minutes of fame.
New York Pop Art

 Roy Lichtenstein

 Andy Warhol

 Robert Indiana

 George Brecht

 Marisol (Escobar)

 Tom Wesselmann

 Marjorie Strider

 Allan D'Arcangelo

 Ida Weber

 Claes Oldenberg - common products made out of odd materials

 George Segal - white plaster casts of bodies in everyday settings

 James Rosenquist - paintings that looked like collages of advertisements

 Rosalyn Drexler - pop stars and contemporary issues.

California Pop Art

 Billy Al Bengston

 Edward Kienholz
  Wallace Berman

 John Wesley

 Jess Collins

 Richard Pettibone

 Mel Remos

 Edward Ruscha

 Wayne Thiebaud

 Joe GoodeVon Dutch Holland

 Jim Eller

 Anthony Berlant

 Victor Debreuil

 Phillip Hefferton

 Robert O’Dowd

 James Gill

 Robert Kuntz

MINIMALISM
Minimalism is an extreme form of abstract art developed in the USA in the
1960s and typified by artworks composed of simple geometric shapes based on
the square and the rectangle
Minimalism or minimalist art can be seen as extending the abstract idea that art
should have its own reality and not be an imitation of some other thing. We
usually think of art as representing an aspect of the real world (a landscape, a
person, or even a tin of soup!); or reflecting an experience such as an emotion or
feeling. With minimalism, no attempt is made to represent an outside reality, the
artist wants the viewer to respond only to what is in front of them. The medium,
(or material) from which it is made, and the form of the work is the reality.
Minimalist painter Frank Stella famously said about his paintings ‘What you see
is what you see’.

TH E DEVELOPMENT OF MINIMALISM
Minimalism emerged in the late 1950s when artists such as Frank Stella,
whose Black Paintings were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New
York in 1959, began to turn away from the gestural art of the previous
generation. It flourished in the 1960s and 1970s with Carl Andre, Dan
Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin and Robert Morris becoming the
movement’s most important innovators.
The development of minimalism is linked to that of conceptual art (which also
flourished in the 1960s and 1970s). Both movements challenged the existing
structures for making, disseminating and viewing art and argued that the
importance given to the art object is misplaced and leads to a rigid and elitist art
world which only the privileged few can afford to enjoy

QUALITIES OF MINIMALIST ART

Aesthetically, minimalist art offers a highly purified form of beauty. It can also
be seen as representing such qualities as truth (because it does not pretend to be
anything other than what it is), order, simplicity and harmony.
Read the image captions of the artworks below to find out about some of the key
qualities of minimalist art:

MINIMALISM AND EARLY ABSTRACTION

Although radical, and rejecting many of the concerns of the immediately
preceding abstract expressionist movement, earlier abstract movements were an
important influence on the ideas and techniques of minimalism. In 1962 the first
English-language book about the Russian avant-garde, Camilla Gray’s The Great
Experiment in Art: 1863-1922, was published. With this publication, the
concerns of the Russian constuctivist and suprematist movements of the 1910s
and 1920s, such as the reduction of artworks to their essential structure and use
of factory production techniques, became more widely understood – and clearly
inspired minimalist sculptors. Dan Flavin produced a series of works
entitled Homages to Vladimir Tatlin (begun in 1964); Robert Morris alluded to
Tatlin and Rodchenko in his Notes on Sculpture; and Donald Judd’s essays
on Malevich and his contemporaries, revealed his fascination with this avant-
garde legacy.
Op-Art (fl. 1965-70)
Op Art (a term coined in 1964 by Time magazine) is a form of abstract
art (specifically non-objective art) which relies on optical illusions in order to fool
the eye of the viewer. It is also called optical art or retinal art. A form of kinetic art,
it relates to geometric designs that create feelings of movement or vibration. Op art
works were first produced in black-and-white, later in vibrant colour. Historically,
the Op-Art style may be said to have originated in the work of the kinetic
artist Victor Vasarely (1908-97), and also from Abstract Expressionism. Another
major Op artist is the British painter Bridget Riley (b.1931). Modern interest in the
retinal art movement stems from 1965 when a major Op Art exhibition in New
York, entitled "The Responsive Eye," caught public attention. As a consequence,
the style began appearing in print graphics, advertising and album art, as well as
fashion design and interior decorations. By the end of the 1960s the Op-Art
movement had faded.

What is Op-Art? - Characteristics

Op Art can be defined as a type of abstract or concrete art consisting of non-

representational geometric shapes which create various types of optical illusion.
For instance, when viewed, Op Art pictures may cause the eye to detect a sense of
movement (eg. swelling, warping, flashing, vibration) on the surface of the
painting. And the patterns, shapes and colours used in these pictures are typically
selected for their illusional qualities, rather than for their substantive or emotional
content. In addition, Op artists use both positive and negative spaces to create the
desired illusions.

How Op-Art Works

Op art exploits the functional relationship between the eye's retina (the organ that
"sees" patterns) and the brain (the organ that interprets patterns). Certain patterns
cause confusion between these two organs, resulting in the perception of irrational
optical effects. These effects fall into two basic categories: first, movement caused
by certain specific black and white geometric patterns, such as those in Bridget
Riley's earlier works, or Getulio Alviani's aluminium surfaces, which can confuse
the eye even to the point of inducing physical dizziness. (Note: Op art's association
with the effects of movement is why it is regarded as a division of Kinetic art.)
Second, after-images which appear after viewing pictures with certain colours, or
colour-combinations. The interaction of differing colours in the painting -
simultaneous contrast, successive contrast, and reverse contrast - may cause
additional retinal effects. For example, in Richard Anuszkiewicz's "temple"
paintings, the arrangement of two highly contrasting colours makes it appears as if
the architectural shape is encroaching on the viewer's space.

Despite its strange, often nausea-inducing effects, Op-Art is perfectly in line with
traditional canons of fine art. All traditional painting is based upon the "illusion" of
depth and perspective: Op-Art merely broadens its inherently illusionary nature by
interfering with the rules governing optical perception.

How Op-Art Works

Op art exploits the functional relationship between the eye's retina (the organ that
"sees" patterns) and the brain (the organ that interprets patterns). Certain patterns
cause confusion between these two organs, resulting in the perception of irrational
optical effects. These effects fall into two basic categories: first, movement caused
by certain specific black and white geometric patterns, such as those in Bridget
Riley's earlier works, or Getulio Alviani's aluminium surfaces, which can confuse
the eye even to the point of inducing physical dizziness. (Note: Op art's association
with the effects of movement is why it is regarded as a division of Kinetic art.)
Second, after-images which appear after viewing pictures with certain colours, or
colour-combinations. The interaction of differing colours in the painting -
simultaneous contrast, successive contrast, and reverse contrast - may cause
additional retinal effects. For example, in Richard Anuszkiewicz's "temple"
paintings, the arrangement of two highly contrasting colours makes it appears as if
the architectural shape is encroaching on the viewer's space.

Despite its strange, often nausea-inducing effects, Op-Art is perfectly in line with
traditional canons of fine art. All traditional painting is based upon the "illusion" of
depth and perspective: Op-Art merely broadens its inherently illusionary nature by
interfering with the rules governing optical perception.

History

The origins of Op Art go back to pre-war painting theories, including the

constructivist ideas of the 1920s Bauhaus design school in Germany, which
stressed the importance of the overall formal design, in creating a specific visual
effect. When the Bauhaus closed down in 1933, many of its lecturers (notably
Josef Albers) moved to America and taught in Chicago and at the Black Mountain
College in North Carolina. Josef Albers duly produced his famous "Homage to the
Square" series of paintings which had Op-Art tendencies. Meantime, from the
early 1930s, the Hungarian-born painter and graphic artist Victor Vasarely was
experimenting with various visual tricks such as trompe-l'oeil and others, from
certain types of poster art: see his Op-Art picture Zebras (1938). Later, he turned to
painting, creating the geometric abstract pictures for which he is famous. During
the 1950s, the Op-Art style also appeared in John McHale's black and white Dazzle
panels at the "This Is Tomorrow" exhibition in 1956. Bridget Riley began to
develop her distinctive style of black-and-white optical art around 1960.

Modern interest in Op Art dates from "The Responsive Eye" exhibition, curated
by William C. Seitz, which was held in 1965 at New York's Museum of Modern
Art (MoMA). A wide range of works were exhibited including those by the well-
known Victor Vasarely and the contemporary Bridget Riley. Immensely popular,
the show highlighted the illusion of movement and the interaction of colour
relationships, neither of which found great favour from the critics.

Although the Op Art style became highly fashionable during the second half of the
1960s, it declined rapidly thereafter as a serious art form, despite periodic minor
revivals. Notable exhibitions in recent times have included: "L'oeil Moteur, art
optique et cinetique 1960-1975 (Musee D'Art Moderne et Contemporain,
Strasbourg, France, 2005); "Op Art" (Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany,
2007); "The Optical Edge" (The Pratt Institute of Art, New York, 2007); "Optic
Nerve: Perceptual Art of the 1960s" (Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio,
2007). Works by famous Op-artists can be seen in several of the best art
museums in Europe and America.

Famous Op Artists

The senior exponent, and pioneer of Op art effects even as early as the 1930s,
is Victor Vasarely, Hungarian in origin, but working in France since 1930. He has
taken a radically sceptical view of traditional ideas about art and artists: in the light
of modern scientific advances and modern techniques, he claims that the value of
art should lie not in the rarity of an individual work, but in the rarity and originality
of its meaning - which should be reproducible. He began as a graphic artist; much
of his work is in (easily reproducible) black and white, though he is capable of
brilliant colour. His best work is expressed in geometric, even mechanistic terms,
but integrated into a balance and counterpoint that is organic and intuitive. He
claims that his work contains "an architectural, abstract art form, a sort of universal
folklore". His mission is of "a new city - geometrical, sunny and full of colours",
resplendent with an art "kinetic, multi-dimensional and communal. Abstract, of
course, and closer to the sciences". Vasarely's work can sometimes dazzle the eye,
but he does not aim to disturb the spectator's equilibrium.

The effect of the work of British artist Bridget Riley can be to produce such
vertigo that the eye has to look away. Though carefully programmed, her patterns
are intuitive and not strictly derived from scientific or mathematical calculations,
and their geometrical structure is often disguised by the illusory effects (as
Vasarely's structure never is). Riley refuses to distinguish between the
physiological and psychological responses of the eye.
Peter Sedgley (born 1930), a Briton living mainly in Germany, became known
about 1965 for his experiments with one of the recurrent images of late twentieth-
century painting, the "target" of concentric rings of colour. The effect was
intensified by changing lights of red, yellow and blue, electrically programmed.
Later he developed "videorotors", stippled with brilliant fluorescent colour,
rotating and still further animated by the play of ultraviolet and stroboscopic light
upon them. His latest work has explored relationships between light and sound,
with screens on which the noise and movement of spectators or passers-by are
rejected in coloured light. What is Modern Art? (Definition)

There is no precise definition of the term "Modern Art": it remains an elastic term,
which can accomodate a variety of meanings. This is not too surprising, since we
are constantly moving forward in time, and what is considered "modern painting"
or "modern sculpture" today, may not be seen as modern in fifty years time. Even
so, it is traditional to say that "Modern Art" means works produced during the
approximate period 1870-1970. This "Modern era" followed a long period of
domination by Renaissance-inspired academic art, promoted by the network of
European Academies of Fine Art. And is itself followed by "Contemporary Art"
(1970 onwards), the more avant-garde of which is also called "Postmodern Art".
This chronology accords with the view of many art critics and institutions, but not
all. Both the Tate Modern in London, and the Musee National d'Art Moderne at the
Pompidou Centre in Paris, for instance, take 1900 as the starting point for "Modern
Art". Also, neither they, nor the Museum of Modern Art in New York, make any
distinction between "modernist" and "postmodernist" works: instead, they
see both as phases of "Modern Art".

Incidentally, when trying to understand the history of art it's important to recognize
that art does not change overnight, but rather reflects wider (and slower) changes
taking place in society. It also reflects the outlook of the artist. Thus, for example, a
work of art produced as early as 1958 might be decidedly "postmodernist" (if the
artist has a very avant-garde outlook - a good example is Yves Klein's Nouveau
Realisme); while another work, created by a conservative artist in 1980, might be
seen as a throw-back to the time of "Modern Art" rather than an example of
"Contemporary Art". In fact, it's probably true to say that several different strands
of art - meaning several sets of aesthetics, some hypermodern, some old-fashioned
- may co-exist at any one time. Also, it's worth remembering that many of these
terms (like "Modern Art") are only invented after the event, from the vantage point
of hindsight.

NOTE: The 1960s is generally seen as the decade when artistic values gradually
changed, from "modernist" to "postmodernist". This means that for a period of
time both sets of values co-existed with each other.