20th century art styles

Art Nouveau style

(1890-1914) A highly decorative style that was applied to painting, sculpture, architecture, furniture, jewelry, fabrics, and all types of materials used for interior and exterior design. (Image: The Kiss (Lovers), oil and gold leaf on canvas, 1907-1908. Gustav Klimt) The distinguishing ornamental characteristic of Art Nouveau is its undulating asymmetrical line, often taking the form of flower stalks and buds, vine tendrils, insect wings, and other delicate and sinuous natural objects; the line may be elegant and graceful or infused with a powerfully rhythmic and whiplike force. (Tiffany glass)

Cubism

(1908) early 20th-century style and movement in art, especially painting, in which perspective with a single viewpoint was abandoned and use was made of simple geometric shapes, interlocking planes, and, later, collage. Cubism was a revolutionary new approach to representing reality invented in around 1907-08 by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They brought different views of subjects (usually objects or figures) together in the same picture, resulting in paintings that appear fragmented and abstracted. Cubism has been considered the most influential art movement of the 20th century (Ma Jolie Picasso/

Expressionism

(1912) a style of painting, music, or drama in which the artist or writer seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world. Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting term-7it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. (The Scream Edvar Munch/Van Gogh)

Suprematism

(1915) A type of art formulated by Kazimir Malevich to convey his belief that the supreme reality in the world is pure feeling, which attaches to no object and thus calls for new, nonobjective forms in art shapes not related to objects in the visible world. The main goal of Suprematism in art was to strip away photographic realism in order to liberate feeling The Suprematist artists strove to free feeling from form. They believed that if people only saw the picture, they would not experience the "inner feeling." They therefore stripped away the representation to liberate the feeling.

Dadaism

(1916) An artistic movement of the 1920s and 1930s that attacked all accepted standards of art and behavior and delighted in outrageous conduct. Dadaism was nihilistic in the sense that it rejected all accepted values and standards of art and cultureDada was an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and folly of the war. The art, poetry and performance produced by dada artists is often satirical and nonsensical in nature. (The Art Critic/Hausmann, Duchamp/Fountain, Jean Arp)

Surrealism

(1920's) Andre' Breton a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images. Surrealism was a cultural movement which developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I and was largely influenced by Dada. The movement is best known for its visual artworks and writings and the juxtaposition of uncommon imagery. (Juxtaposition/Max Ernst (Frottage and Grattage/Dali/Andre' Breton)

Abstract Expressionism

(1946) An artistic movement that focused on expressing emotion and feelings through abstract images and colors, lines and shapes. 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.

Futurism

1910.A movement in modern art that grew out of cubism. Artists used implied motion by shifting planes and having multiple viewpoints of the subject. They strived to show mechanical as well as natural motion and speed. The beginning of the machine age is what inspired these artists. Unique forms of Continuity/Umberto Boccioni, Frank Stella and Giacomo Balla were futurists.

Neoplasticism/De Stijl

1920's The term Neoplasticism, coined by an artist named Piet Mondrian, was a rejection of the plasticity of the past. It was a word intended to mean, "New Art."

Op Art (Optical Art)

1950-1960's is based on creating optical sensations of movement through the repetition and manipulation of color, shape, and line.

minamilism

1960-1970's fiction in a flat, unemotional tone and an appropriately unadorned style (relies on dramatic action, scene, and dialogue) Minimalism is a form of art in which objects are stripped down to their elemental, geometric form, and presented in an impersonal manner. It is an Abstract style of art which came about as a reaction against the subjective elements of Abstract Expressionism. Minimalist art frequently takes the form of installation or sculpture Rainbow Pickett/Judy Chicago, Donald Judd(Looks like stacked legos or boxes)

Photorealism

A movement dating from the 1960s in which subjects are rendered with hard, photographic precision. Photorealism is a movement which began in the late 1960's, in which scenes are painted in a style closely resembling photographs. The subject matter is frequently banal and without particular interest; the true subject of a photorealist work is the way in which we interpret photographs and paintings in order to create an internal representation of the scene depicted.

Fauvism

A painting style developed by Henri Matisse in 1905 that formally lasted until 1908. The means "fierce animal." The style rejects Neo-Impressionism and expresses flat, bold, un-naturalistic color with impulsive brushwork; sometimes the blank canvas shows between brushstrokes. Fauvism is the style of les Fauves (French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. (Henri Matisse: Portrait of Madame Matisse./Braque/Andre Derain)

Precisionism

An American art movement of the 1920s and 1930s. The Precisionists concentrated on portraying man-made environments in a clear and concise manner to express the beauty of perfect and precise machine forms. (or Cubist Realism) is a style of representation in which an object is rendered in a realistic manner, but with an emphasis on its geometric form. An important part of American Modernism, it was inspired by the development of Cubism in Europe, and by the rapid growth of industrialization of North America in the wake of innovators such as Henry Ford. In its emphasis on stylized angular forms it is also visually somewhat similar to Art Deco. Charles Demuth (Industrial landscape paintings) and Charles Sheeler are the artists most closely associated with Precisionism. The urban works of Georgia O'Keeffe are also highly typical of this style.

Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance: early 1920s to 1930sThe Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of African-American social thought that was expressed through the visual arts A literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural identity in America (JAZZ)

German Expressionism

Self Portrait of a Soldier Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1915 Expressionism (German Expressionism)

Aschan School of Art

The Ashcan School was a small group of artists who sought to document everyday life in turn-of-the-century New York City, capturing it in realistic and unglamorized paintings and etchings of urban street scenes. It largely consisted of Robert Henri and his circle.

German Expressionism

There were two main groups of German expressionist artists: Die Brücke (the bridge) led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (photo), and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) led by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. German expressionism was an early twentieth century German art movement that emphasized the artist's inner feelings or ideas over replicating reality, and was characterised by simplified shapes, bright colours and gestural marks or brushstrokes

Bauhaus School

Under Gropius, German, School of architecture that brought together modern architecture - glass and steel

Pop Art

an American school of the 1950s that imitated the techniques of commercial art (as the soup cans of Andy Warhol) and the styles of popular culture and the mass media Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s in America and Britain, drawing inspiration from sources in popular and commercial culture. Different cultures and countries contributed to the movement during the 1960s and 70s. Roy Lichtenstein.

Art Deco Style

characterized by angular shapes and dark colors; it celebrated the dynamism of the machine age and was prevalent during the 1920s and 1930s Art Deco is an elegant style of decorative art, design and architecture which began as a Modernist reaction against the Art Nouveau style. It is characterized by the use of angular, symmetrical geometric forms. One of the classic Art Deco themes is that of 1930s-era skyscrapers such as New York's Chrysler Building and Empire State Building.

Automatism

the avoidance of conscious intention in producing works of art, especially by using mechanical techniques or subconscious associations. Surrealist collage, putting together images clipped from magazines, product catalogues, book illustrations and other sources, was invented by Max Ernst, and was the first form of automatism in visual art. Ernst also used frottage (rubbing) and grattage (scraping) to create chance textures within his work. Various forms of automatic drawing and painting were developed by artists such as Joan Miro, Andre Masson as well as Ernst.