Final Flashcards
Know terms that prof said we shoud
What is existentialism
Post world war 2 philosophy which stresses the anxiety of inhabiting a world with absolutes. Rise of individualism and moral responsibility.
Who is Clement Greenberg
American art critic and theorist of modern art (“Modernist Painting”)
Prominent supporter of abstract expressionism
supporter of formalism/ art for arts sake.
What is formalism
Study of art by analyzing and comparing form and style- purely visual aspects. emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape, texture, etc
What is High Modernism
Institutionalization of abstract expressionism. Authority of NY art market.
Who is Harold Rosenberg
American critic who coined the term “action painting” (abstract expressionists)
writes “the American action painters” in 1952
Who is Carl Jung
Believed in a personal unconscious and a collective unconscious- memories and association all humans share
What is abstract expressionism
abstract and non-representational painting emphasizing inner emotion and collective unconsciousness
What is gestural/action painting?
Subcategory of abstract expressionism. Focus on pronounced brushwork, line (gesture) and movement
What is colour field painting?
Subcategory of abstract expressionism. Focus on large fields of colour. Usually quiet and contemplative.
What is post painterly abstraction?
abstraction based on Greenberg’s theories. Avoids emphasis on gestural and evidence of the artists hand, emphasizes medium ;flat.. Purity and openness of design, art more optical and decorative, color for its own sake
What is hard-edge abstraction
emphasizing simple geometric forms. Large flat forms avoiding pictorial depth
What is minimalism
art of extreme visual reduction. Predominantly sclupture. Stresses primacy of object, context is important, emphasis on idea
What is Neo-Dada
Art as concept, (avant-garde)- attempt to bring art into life. Noted for its coolness or emotional distance. Emphasizes the world of signs
What is an anxious object
Taking an object that would have another use and using it as art. EX) Marcel Duchamp’s “fountain” that was a urinal
What is combine painting?
an artwork that incorporates various objects into a painted canvas surface- highbred between painting and sculpture
Who is Marcel Duchamp?
He influenced Neo-Dada and was a sculptor.
What is pop art?
begins in London, response to high modernism, art based on popular culture not elitist, embraces representation, irony and humor rather than political
Who is Lawrence Alloway?
He wrote arts and the mass media, and he looked at mass media as a way to connect art to current events to represent and not be for academic purposes
What is performance art?
art as a continual work-in-progress, loosely structured theatrical pieces, improvisatory and usually chaotic, involves audience
What is Fluxus?
minimalist, intellectual art movement most often associated with performance art. Popular in Europe, opposite to the expressionistic style of happenings
What is conceptual art?
Renews emphasis on the meaning of art, language as primary medium of art, dematerialization of art,
Who is Sol LeWitt?
Wrote paragraphs on conceptual art. He emphasizes conceptual over perceptual art, and states the idea becomes the machine that makes the art.
What is earthworks?
Conceptual works sometimes executed with earth as medium or support, resistance to commodification of art, attempts to connect art with real world.
Who is Linda Nochlin?
She wrote why have there been no great female artists. many see her work as seminal to feminist art history.
Who is Irving Sandler?
Sandler and other post-modernists were sick of the modern arts not being relevant or educational in any way. They wanted art to engage specific social context, and they focussed on topical subjects instead of stressing on the purely visual forms and importance of art.
What is postmodernism?
Reaction against modernist trends, reflective of our cultural diverse age ,characterized by irony parody and humor
