Art Movements

Impressionism (1863)

The Impressionist movement of painting developed between about 1863 and 1886 by a group of French artists who shared a set of related approaches and techniques. The style is an attempt to reflect the visual reality of a scene or object in terms of momentary impressions of light and colour. This involved the study of movement, and human perception/experience.
The movement faded and transitioned to Post-impressionism by 1886, but its influence on art was both important and ongoing.

The most obvious characteristics include small yet visible brush strokes to simulate actual reflected light. Other characteristics include the use of unmixed primary colors, open composition, ordinary subject matter, and unusual visual angles.

Two principal Impressionist painters were Claude Monet, and Pierre Auguste Renoir.

Surrealism (1920)
Surrealism is an artistic style and cultural movement that was founded in the early 1920s by André Breton. This style uses imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehension. Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities of World War I, primarily in Europe, and was influenced by the psychoanalytical work of Freud and Jung. 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 philosophy, and social theory.

Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers consider 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 claim that Surrealism was principally a revolutionary movement.

René Magritte and Salvador Dali are two predominant surrealist artists.

Magic realism (1920-30)
Magic realism is a visual art (and fictional literary) genre creating an aesthetic style in which magical elements blend to create a realistic atmosphere. It aims to place the "real" and the "fantasy" in the same stream of thought to access a deeper understanding of reality. The painterly style began evolving as early as the first decade of the 20th century but 1925 was when ‘magischer realismus’ and ‘neue sachlichkeit’ were officially recognized as major trends.

The term is a general description with exact definition. Matthew Strecher defines magic realism as "...what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe."

George Tooker and Jared French are noted artists in this style.

Action painting (1950)

Action painting (sometimes called "gestural abstraction”) was started in the 1950’s by a group of American Abstract Expressionist. It is an extremely direct, instinctual, and dynamic kind of art that involves the spontaneous application of vigorous, sweeping brushstrokes and the chance effects of splashing, smearing, dripping, and spilling paint onto the canvas. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical act of painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished work.

Jackson Pollock and Elaine de Kooning are two major artists in this genre.

Op Art: (1950 - 1965)

The Op art movement involves creating optical illusions and is sometimes called optical art or retinal art. The movement developed from the work of Victor Vasarely, who created tessellations and work with shocking perspectives, and also the Abstract Expressionist movement that discredited the importance of subject matter. The aim of the style is to explore and understand the interaction between illusion and the 2d plane.

Op art works are usually abstract patterns, with many of the better known pieces made in only black and white. The color, line, and shapes are chosen for the purposes of illusion and not to evoke any emotion or mood. Colors and perspective and chosen carefully to achieve the desired effect, and both positive and negative spaces are of equal importance in the composition. When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given of movement, swelling, warping, hidden images, flashing, and vibration.

A major Op Art exhibit in 1965, titled “The Responsive Eye,” caught the public interest. As a result, the style began appearing in print, television, advertising, album art, fashion, and interior decorating. Despite Op Art’s popularity, it never became a mass movement of modern art like Pop Art.

Julian Stanczak and Günther Uecker are two popular optical artists.

Lowbrow (1960-70’s)

Lowbrow is a widespread art movement with origins in punk, hot-rod, and other subcultures. The roots of Lowbrow go back to 1960-70s Southern California hotrod and surf culture. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth is frequently credited with starting Lowbrow, by creating Rat Fink in the late 1950s. Lowbrow art often has a sense of humor - sometimes the humor is gleeful or impish, and sometimes it's has a sarcastic comment.

Most lowbrow artworks are paintings, but there are also toys, digital art, and sculpture and During the 60's branched into underground Comix. Over the years has picked up influences from classic cartoons, 60's TV sitcoms, psychedelic/rock music, pulp art, soft porn, comic books, sci-fi, "B" horror movies, Japanese anime, and many other sub cultures. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism.

Keith Weesner and mike Giant are two modern lowbrow artists.

Lyrical Abstraction (1960-70’s)
Lyrical Abstraction is a relaxed abstract art movement that emerged in the United States, Toronto, and London during the 1960's-1970's. It began with painters who directly reacted against the predominating Formalist, Minimalist, and Pop Art and Geometric Abstraction styles of the sixties, turned to new, experimental, loose, expressive and abstract painting styles.


Lyrical Abstraction moved away from minimalism in painting and toward a new freer creativity. Aiming to expand the boundaries of abstract painting and Minimalism by focusing on new process, materials, and ways of expression. Characterized by intuitive and loose paint handling, spontaneous expression, illusionist space, acrylic staining, occasional imagery, as well as other paint and newer technological techniques.

Emily Mason and Ed Moses are two leading artists of this style.

Photorealism (1960-70’s)
Photorealism is a movement that began in the late 1960's, in which scenes are painted in a style closely resembling photographs. Photographs are used to gather information and then from this information, a realistic painting is created. The subject matter is usually ordinary and without particular interest as the real focus of photorealist work is to accurately reflect a specific interpretation of reality.


The leading members of the Photorealist movement are Richard Estes and Chuck Close. Estes specializes in street scenes with elaborate reflections in window-glass; Close does enormous portraits of usually expressionless faces.

Hyperrealism (2000)

Hyperrealism is an art movement/style developed from Photorealism around the early 2000s. It is based primarily in painting and sculptures and is defined by recreating a high-resolution and/or highly detailed artwork of figures, landscapes, and scenes.

Robert Bechtle and Jacques Bodin are two well-known Hyperrealists.

Street art

Contemporary Street art is a recent movement currently developing in public spaces referring to unsanctioned guerrilla art, as opposed to government-sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti, stencils, stickers, wheat paste-ups, poster/billboard, written word, video projection, and street installations. Typically, the term street art is used to distinguish public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

This style develops by creating and exposing art in non-art contexts. Street artists do not aspire to change the definition of an artwork, but rather to question the existing environment. They attempt to have their work inspire and communicate with the general public. The motivation of the work can range from socially relevant themes to simple aesthetic appreciation.

Two well known street artists are Banksy and Ghost Patrol.

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INFO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_(art_movement)

http://arthistory.about.com/od/arthistory101/a/lowbrow.htm

http://wwar.com/masters/movements/op_art.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op_art

http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Lyrical-Abstraction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperrealism_(painting)

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/photorealism.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photorealism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_painting

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/4477/Action-painting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism

http://arthistory.about.com/od/impressionism/Movements_Impressionism.htm

http://www.surrealism.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_painting