1. Expressionism, abstraction and disfiguration

Question 1

Modernism –> basic traits

Answer 1

• From Impressionism to the 1960s.
• Tendency to abstraction, particularly from the 1910s.
• Non-objective art; non-representational; non-narrative.
• Emphasis on materials, techniques, processes.
• Artists often driven by social and political agendas.

Question 2

AVANT-GARDE ART VS. KITSCH

Answer 2

AVANT-GARDE
• Truth to materials
• Medium-Specific
• Valid on its own terms
• Autonomous
• Original & Unique
• Dynamic / Living
• Forward Progress
• High Art
(e.g. Abstract Painting)

KITSCH
• Illusionistic
• “Theatrical” Effects
• Illustrative
• Imitation
• Reproducible
• Stasis
• “Academic” Formula
• Low Class / Rear-garde
(e.g. Hollywood movies)

Question 3

SURREALIST AUTOMATISM

Answer 3

• Surrealist automatism is a method of art-making in which the artist suppresses conscious control over the making process, allowing the unconscious mind to have great sway.
• Automatic drawing (distinguished from drawn expression of mediums) was developed by the surrealists, as a means of expressing the subconscious. In automatic drawing, the hand is allowed to move “randomly” across the paper. In applying chance and accident to mark-making, drawing is to a large extent freed of rational control. Hence the drawing produced may be attributed in part to the subconscious and may reveal something of the psyche, which would otherwise be repressed. Examples of automatic drawing were produced by mediums and practitioners of the psychic arts. It was thought by some Spiritualists to be a spirit control that was producing the drawing while physically taking control of the medium’s body.

Question 4

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

TWO TYPES

Answer 4

• Action painting

- Color field painting

Question 5

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

BASIC TRAITS

Answer 5

• Style of painting diffused in the East Coast of the United States.
• Breakthrough years 1947–1948.
• Expressing the inner self through abstract compositions.
• Impression of spontaneity.
• Artists mostly based in New York. Also called New York School.
• Inspired by Surrealism, notably “psychic automatism.”
• Two types of Ab. Ex.: action painting and color field painting.
• The theorists of reference were Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg.
• Expression of the individual, according to socialist ideas.
• Endorsed by the American government (e.g. Federal Art Projects, 1935–1943), institutions (e.g. MoMA), and media (e.g. LIFE magazine).

Question 6

ACTION PAINTING

Answer 6

Action painting, sometimes called “gestural abstraction”, is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical act of painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished work or concern of its artist.

Question 7

COLOR FIELD PAINTING

Answer 7

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 favor of an overall consistency of form and process. In color field painting “color is freed from objective context and becomes the subject in itself.”

Question 8

GUTAI - BASIC TRAITS

Answer 8

• Just a decade after the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• Radical, post-war movement in Japan.
• “Gu” (tools or measures); “Tai” (body or substance) = “concreteness”.
• Founded in 1954 by the painter Jiro Yoshihara and Shozo Shimamoto.
• Paintings are the result of performative acts.
• Rejection of traditional styles.
• Emphasis on freedom in line with the US occupation of Japan.
• Idea of abstract art as a universal language.
• Inspiration from Abstract Expressionism, notably Pollock.
• Community was essential in fostering individuals’ creativity.
• Some Gutai artists also organized technology-based spectacles.

Question 9

ART BRUT

Answer 9

Outsider art is a term sometimes used to refer to art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists. Typically, those labeled as outsider artists have little or no contact with the mainstream art world or art institutions. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates extreme mental states, unconventional ideas, or elaborate fantasy worlds.

The term outsider art was coined in 1972 as the title of a book by art critic Roger Cardinal.[1] It is an English equivalent for art brut (French: [aʁ bʁyt], “raw art” or “rough art”), a label created in the 1940s by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture. Dubuffet focused particularly on art by those on the outside of the established art scene, using as examples psychiatric hospital patients, hermits, and spiritualists.