Art Movements: From Informalism to Postmodernism

Informalism

Informalism (1945), assertion of individual viewers through the unconscious and instinctive person. Artists like Gorky, Wols, Chillida, and Giacometti. Related movements include Art Brut, Tachisme, and Cobra, all based on emotional or expressive instinct.

Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism emerged from Naturalism (1941-45), the Second World War, and 1945 expressed abstraction. Roosevelt's New Deal established the Federal Art Project (FAB), promoting naturalism, realism, illusionism, vernacular tradition, and traditionalism. Mexican Muralists contributed with expressive realism and revolutionary art.

Key figures: Pollock, Rothko, Newman. The Artists' Union attacked the cultural monopoly. Rothko, Newman, and Pollock claimed artistic responsibility, while left-wing critics viewed art as having a social function.

The New York School

The 1940s saw the rise of the New York School, a genuine American art movement. Critic Clement Greenberg provided leadership, and in 1952, Harold Rosenberg coined the term "Action Painting." Key features include:

• Elimination of figuration
• All-over coverage of the canvas surface, without hierarchy
• Limited chromaticism
• Expression of anxiety and conflict

Origins trace back to European emigrants, Surrealism, Cubist abstraction, Duchamp, Picabia, Hoffman, and Albers. Surrealism contributed the concept of automatism: the spontaneous act of painting, dynamic body action, and psychic automatism, expressing universal symbols and emotions.

Notable artists: de Kooning, Gorky, Kline, Motherwell, Reinhardt, Rothko, Still.

Action Painting

Action Painting emphasized gestural automatism, reflecting the physical and psychological space of the artist. It was not merely a picture but an event, an action. Key figures: Pollock, de Kooning, Motherwell, Kline.

Color Field Painting

Color Field Painting, a precursor to Minimalism, focused on simple gestures and color. Key figures: Still, Rothko, Newman, Louis, Noland.

Precursors to Pop Art

Precursors to Pop Art shared a gestural and pictorial quality with Action Painting, elevating trivial aspects of Pop culture to aesthetic categories, and negating the inherent meaning in art. Disturbingly, external reality entered the reality of the pictorial surface, featuring banal and impersonal objects.

Pop Art

Pop Art renounced personal expression and touch in favor of an impersonal style. Thematically, it focused on consumer goods, media imagery, and new objects. It disclaimed any ideological critique or metaphorical references, instead referencing mechanical reproduction processes. Its origins lie in Dadaism, applying mass communication to the visual arts. Pop Art can be seen as either art criticism or affirmation.

The 1970s

The 1970s were marked by the end of American participation in Vietnam, the Nixon Watergate scandal, and the oil price increase, leading to economic impact and a deep crisis. Social issues such as women's rights, ethnic and sexual liberation, and the relationship between developed and underdeveloped countries came to the forefront. A crisis of confidence in traditional masculine culture emerged, with feminism opening new artistic horizons for women, becoming one of the most significant cultural movements of the 20th century. Key figures: Linda Nochlin, Judy Chicago, Jackie Winsor, Mary Jo La Fontaine, Mary Kelly.

Performance Art

Performance Art is considered conceptual art and live art, inheriting from Happenings, Actions, Fluxus events, and Body Art. Its origins are in Futurism, Constructivism, Dadaism, and Surrealism. Performance can occur anywhere, anytime, and have any duration. The work is not the actions of an individual or group in a given time and place; performance encompasses all elements, not just the final object, contrasting with the intended idea in the work. Key figures: Chris Burden, Gina Pane, Joseph Beuys, Matta-Clark, Cy Twombly.

Affirmative Painting

Affirmative Painting (Cy Twombly, 1968; Frank Stella, 1970; Golub; Lucian Freud; Gerhard Richter). Buchloh (1980) discussed painting around painting, Lawson's "Last Exit," and a return to traditional modes of representation.

The 1980s

The 1980s saw a decline in New York's art scene, the rise of postmodernism, a new understanding of creativity, and Documenta 7 in Kassel. Movements included Italian Transvanguardia (Cucci, Paladino, Clemente) and German Neo-Expressionism (Baselitz, Richter), both emphasizing figuration.