ART PHA B E T
ART PHA B E T
A colorfully illustrated book, where each letter stands for an artistic style or movement and is illustrated by their own characteristics.
“...and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?� -Vincent van Gogh
Contents
CONTENTS TIMELINE ART NOUVEAU BAROQUE CONSTRUCTIVISM DADAISM EXPRESSIONISM FUTURISM GOTHIC ART HARD EDGE PAINTING INTERNATIONAL TYPOGRAPHIC STYLE JAPANESE HAIGA KINETIC ART LETTRISM MINIMALISM NAIVE ART OP ART POP ART QAJAR ART ROCOCO SUPERFLAT TOYISM UNDERGROUND COMIX VORTICISM WAR PROPAGANDA X-RAY ART YANTRA ZENGA
ARTPHABET
5-6 7-8 9 - 10 11 - 12 13 - 14 15 - 16 17 - 18 19 - 20 21 - 22 23 - 24 25 - 26 27 - 28 29 - 30 31 - 32 33 - 34 35 - 36 37 - 38 39 - 40 41 - 42 43 - 44 45 - 46 47 - 48 49 - 50 51 - 52 53 - 54 55 - 56 57 - 58 59 - 60
Timeline
21th BC ART NOUVEAU BAROQUE CONSTRUCTIVISM DADAISM EXPRESSIONISM FUTURISM GOTHIC HARD EDGE PAINTING INTERNATIONAL TYPO STYLE JAPANESE HAIGA KINETIC ART LETTRISM MINIMALISM NAIVE ART OP ART POP ART QAJAR ART ROCOCO SUPERFLAT TOYISM UNDERGROUND COMIX VORTICISM WAR PROPAGANDA X-RAY ART YANTRA ZENGA 7
12th
13th
14th
15t
th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th
21th
Art Nouveau (1890-1910)
INTERNATIONAL
PHILOSOPHY
NEW
ART
1890–1910
FLOWERS HARMONY
TOTAL
ART
STYLE NATURE
CURVED
LINES
WAY 19TH
CENTURY
SIEGFRIED
DE L’ART
NOUVEAU
OF LIFE
BING 1895PARIS ALPHONSE EXPOSITION
LINES
1900 MAX FABIANI
WILLIAM
MORRIS
SYNCOPATED
RHYTHM
PAN
MACKMURDO
ARTHUR WHIPLASH
FLOWING
MUCHA UNIVERSELLE
9
ART NOUVEAU
FORMS
NATURAL MAISON
PLANTS
MAGAZINE
ORGANIC STRUCTURES
Art Nouveau (“new art”) or Jugendstil, considered to be a “total” art style, is an international philosophy - according to which art should be a way of life. It was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants, but also in curved lines, architects trying to harmonize with the natural environment. Decortive “whiplash” motifs, formed by dynamic, undulating and flowing lines in a syncopated rhythm, are found throughout the architecture, painting, sculpture, and other forms of Art Nouveau design. The two names came from Siegfried Bing’s gallery Maison de l’Art Nouveau in Paris and the magazine Jugend in Munich, both of which promoted and popularised the style, while the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris, presented an overview of the ‘modern style’ in every medium. A description published in Pan magazine of Hermann Obrist’s wall hanging Cyclamen (1894) described it as “sudden violent curves generated by the crack of a whip”, which became well known during the early spread of the style.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Max Fabiani (1865-1962), Béla Lajta (1873-1920), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), René Lalique (1860-1945), Hermann Obrist (1863-1927), Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), Émile Gallé (1846-1904).
10
Baroque (1590-1725)
MOTION
EXAGGERATED
DRAMA TENSION
1600
BAROQUE
ITALY
CARAVAGGIO
VISCERAL
APPEAL
BAROCCO
CHURCH ICONOGRAPHY
RELIGIOUS
THEMES EXUBERANCE
IMPERFECT
PEARL
GRANDEUR ENERGETIC RESONANCE ROUGH MOVEMENT BARUECCO
EASILY INTERPRETED DETAIL CATHOLIC
EMPHASIS
SENSES OBVIOUS
DIRECT ELABORATE
THEATRICAL
CARRACRI
ANNIBALE
HEROIC
TENDENCIES
SIMPLE
LORENZO
BERNINI
11
Baroque, a word derived from the Portuguese word “barroco” or French “baroque”, all of which refer to a “rough or imperfect pearl”, is often thought of as a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance and grandeur. It has resonance and application that extend beyond a simple reduction to either style or period. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, and theatrical. Baroque style featured exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism, but did not really depict the life style of the people at that time; however, this style melodramatically reaffirmed the emotional depths of the Catholic faith and glorified both church and monarchy of their power and influence.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), Federico Barocci (1526-1612), Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564).
12
Constructivism (1910-1930)
20TH CENTURY
RUSSIA
ARTISTIC
PHILOSOPHY
PURPOSES KAZIMIR
ARCHITECTURAL
SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTIVISM
MALEVICH 1919
REJECTION OF
AUTONOMOUS
MANIFESTO
NAUM GABO
REALISTIC
ART PERVASIVE POST-
WORLD
ANTOINE PEVSNER
WAR I 1920 INDUSTRIAL ANGULAR
STYLE
GEOMETRIC
ABSTRACTION
FAKTURA
VLADIMIR
MAYAKOVSKI
ALEXANDER RODCHENKO
ADVERTISING
CONSTRUCTORS
BRIGHT COLORS
13
BOLD LETTERING
1921 REACTION
MONTAGE
FACTOGRAPHY
TEKNTONIKA PROPAGANDA
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia, as a rejection of the idea of autonomous art and was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. The term itself would be invented by the sculptors Antoine Pevsner and Naum Gabo, who developed an industrial, angular style of work, while its geometric abstraction owed something to the Suprematism of Kazimir Malevich. The First Working Group of Constructivists would develop a definition of Constructivism as the combination of faktura, the particular material properties of an object, and tektonika, its spatial presence. Initially the Constructivists worked on three-dimensional constructions as a means of participating in industry, but later the definition would be extended to designs for two-dimensional works such as books or posters, with montage and factography becoming important concepts. The poet-artist Vladimir Mayakovsky and Rodchenko worked together and called themselves “advertising constructors”. Together they designed eye-catching images featuring bright colours, geometric shapes, an d bold lettering.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Naum Gabo (1890-1977), El Lissitzky (1890-1941), Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956), Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953), Ivan Leonidov (1902-1959), Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (1893-1930).
14
Dadaism (1916-1924)
AVANT-GARDE
EUROPEAN
EARLY
20TH CENTURY
DADAISM
WORLD
WAR I
1915
NEW-YORK
CABARET
1916
ZURRICH
VOLTAIRE NEGATIVE REACTION
IRRATIONALITY
INTUITION
TRISTAN
TZARA
YES YES BALL
HUGO
HOBBYHORSE
EMMY
HENNINGS NONSENSE
ANTI
WAR POLITICS
ANTI-BURGEOIS
ABSTRACT
READYMADES
PHOTOMONTAGE
THE RADICAL LEFT
15
OFFENSIVE
HANS
RICHTER ASSEMBLAGE
Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. Dada was born out of negative reaction to the horrors of the First World War, and in addition to being anti-war, had political affinities with the radical left and was also anti-bourgeois. The term anti-art, a precursor to Dada, was coined by Marcel Duchamp around 1913 when he created his first read mades. Dada represented the opposite of everything which art stood for. Where art was concerned with traditional aesthetics, Dada ignored aesthetics. If art was to appeal to sensibilities, Dada was intended to offend. It’s activities included public gatherings, demonstrations, and publication of art/literary journals, while passionate coverage of art, politics, and culture were topics often discussed in a variety of media.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Hugo Ball (1886-1927), Emmy Hennings (1885-1948), Tristan Tzara (1896-1963), Hans Richter (1888-1976), Max Ernst (1891-1976).
16
Expressionism (1905-1933)
MODERNIST
MOVEMENT
GERMANY
EVOKE MOODS SUBJECTIVE
PERSPECTIVE
EXPRESS MEANING
EMOTIONAL
EXPRESSIONISM
AVANT-GARDE
STYLE
EXPERIENCE EARLY 20TH SYMBOLS CENTURY
SUGGESTIVE
OF ANGST
EXPRESSIONS
MENTAL
IMAGES FORMULAE SHORT-HAND
VINCENT
SCHIELE
EGON
MUNCH
EDVARD
SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
THUS
VAN 1911
1905
REITER
DIE BRĂœCKE
DER BLAUE
GOGH
REACTION TO EMOTION
REJECT THE
IDEOLOGY OF UPHEAVAL
HORIA
SOCIAL
BERNEA
REALISM
17
EXTREME
INDUSTRIALIZATION
DRAMA
AESTETICALLY UNIMPRESSIVE
Expressionism, a term that is sometimes suggestive of angst, was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany, developed as an avant-garde style before the First World War. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas, expressionist artists seeking to express meaning or emotional experience rather than physical reality. It was a movement that developed in the early twentieth-century mainly in Germany in reaction to the dehumanizing effect of industrialization and the growth of cities, expressionists rejecteding the ideology of realism. Often an expressionist work is unimpressive aesthetically, yet has the capacity to cause the viewer to experience extreme emotions with the drama and often horror of the scenes depicted.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Edvard Munch (1863-1944), Egon Schiele (1890-1918), Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (1866-1944), Alvar CawĂŠn (1886-1935), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), Lasar Segall (1891-1957), John Perceval (1923-2000).
18
Futurism (1909-1920)
ITALY
MOVEMENT
SOCIAL
EARLY
20TH CENTURY
INDUSTRIAL
CITY
GLORIFIED
MODERNITY
FUTURISM
SPEED 1909 MILAN
YOUTH
TECHNOLOGY
VIOLENCE FILIPPO TOMMASO MARINETTI
FUTURIST
MANIFESTO
PASSIONATE LOATHING OF EVERYTHING
OLD
TECHNOLOGICAL
TRIUMPH HUMANITY
OVER
NATURE
DYNAMISM
UNIVERSAL
DARING VIOLENT
REBEL
GINO SEVERINI
BROKEN
FUTURE
STROKES
SHORT BRUSH
COLORS
19
BRUNO MUNARI
UMBERTO
BOCCIONI
SMEAR OF MADNESS
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized speed, technology, youth and violence and objects such as the car, the aeroplane and the industrial city. It glorified modernity and aimed to liberate Italy from the weight of its past. Cubism contributed to the formation of Italian Futurism’s artistic style. Important Futurist works included Marinetti’s Manifesto of Futurism, Boccioni’s sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space and Balla’s painting, Abstract Speed. The Futurists admired speed, technology, youth and violence, the car, the airplane and the industrial city, all that represented the technological triumph of humanity over nature, and they were passionate nationalists. They repudiated the cult of the past and all imitation, praised originality, “however daring, however violent”, bore proudly “the smear of madness”, dismissed art critics as useless, rebelled against harmony and good taste, swept away all the themes and subjects of all previous art, and gloried in science.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876 - 1944), Umberto Boccioni (1882 - 1916), Gino Severini (1883 - 1966), Bruno Munari (1907 - 1998), Carlo CarrĂ (1881 - 1966), Luigi Russolo (1885 - 1947), Natalia Goncharova (1881 - 1962).
20
Gothic (1150-1500)
NORTHERN
FRANCE
MEDIEVAL
ART
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
LIVES
SAINTS’
12TH
CENTURY
MONUMENTAL
SCULPTURES
STAINED
GLASS
ABBOT PANEL SUGER
ABBEY CHURCH
DENIS
OF ST
PAINTING
RELIGIOUS
THEMES
TYPOLOGICAL
IN NATURE
FRESCO
DECORATION
OF CHURCHES
OLD AND NEW
TESTAMENT
SCENES
GIOTTO DI
BONDONE WOODCUT ENGRAVINGS
CORRECT IN
COMPLEX
SYMBOLISM
PERSPECTIVE
MINUTELY DETAILED
CRUDELY
COLOURED
21
GOTHIC
Gothic art was a style of Medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture, on the walls of Cathedrals and abbeys. Christian art was often typological in nature, showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side. Saints’ lives were often depicted. The style rapidly spread beyond its origins in architecture to sculpture, both monumental and personal in size, textile art, and painting, which took a variety of forms, including fresco, stained glass, the illuminated manuscript, and panel painting. Gothic art was often typological in nature, reflecting a belief that the events of the Old Testament pre-figured those of the New, and that this was indeed their main significance. Old and New Testament scenes were shown side by side in works like the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, and the decoration of churches. From the middle of the 14th century, blockbooks with both text and images cut as woodcut seem to have been affordable by parish priests in the Low Countries, where they were most popular.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Giotto di Bondone (1266 - 1337), Fra Angelico (1395 - 1455), Pietro Lorenzetti (1280 - 1348), Jan van Eyck (1390 - 1441), Giovanni Pisano (1250 - 1315), Nino Pisano (1349 - 1368), Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (1340 - 1414).
22
Hard Edge Painting (1959-1970)
ABRUPT
TRANSITION
BETWEEN
COLORS
FIGURATIVE
NONREPRESENATIONAL
ECONOMY
OF FORM FULLNESS OF COLOR NEATNESS
OF SURFACE IMPERSONAL
1959
JULES
LANGSNER
NONRELATIONAL
JOHN 1964
LOS ANGELES
SHARPNESS
BARBOUR
23
GEOMETRIC
ABSTRACTION
KNOWINGLY
CLARITY
FLORENCE
ARNOLD
DOROTHY WALDMAN
HARD EDGE PAINTING
Hard-edge painting is painting in which abrupt transitions are found between color areas. Color areas are often of one unvarying color. The term was coined by writer, curator and Los Angeles Times’ art critic Jules Langsner, along with Peter Selz, in 1959, to describe the work of painters from California, who, in their reaction to the more painterly or gestural forms of Abstract expressionism, adopted a knowingly impersonal paint application and delineated areas of color with particular sharpness and clarity. This approach to abstract painting became widespread in the 1960s, though California was its creative center. Hard-edged painting can be both figurative or nonrepresentational. Four Abstract Classicists was subtitled California Hard-edge by British art critic and curator Lawrence Alloway when it traveled to England and Ireland. The term came into broader use after Alloway used it to describe contemporary American geometric abstract painting featuring “economy of form,” fullness of color,” “neatness of surface,” and the nonrelational arrangement of forms on the canvas.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Jules Langsner (1911-1967), Karl Benjamin (1925 - 2012), Lorser Feitelson (1898 - 1978), Frederick Hammersley (1919 - 2009), Helen Lundeberg (1908 - 1999), Larry Bell (b. 1939), John Dwyer McLaughlin (1898 - 1976).
24
International Typographic Style (1896-1980)
SWISS
STYLE
CLEANLINESS
READABILITY
OBJECTIVITY ASSYMETRIC
LAYOUTS
LEFT
FLUSH
1950
SANS SERIF
TYPOGRAPHY
GRID
SWITZERLAND
1918
ERNST
KELLER
ZURICH
PHILOSOPHY
OF STYLE
VIBRANT
COLORS GEOMETRIC
FORMS
EVOCATIVE
MAX BILL
IMAGERY
THEÓ BALLMER
UNIVERS
CLARITY
HELVETICA SYMBOLS OBJECTIVE PHOTOGRAPHY
RAGGED
CLARITY
RUDOLPH
ORDER
DE HARAK
RIGHT
25
INTERNATIONAL TYPOGRAPHIC STYLE
The International Typographic Style, also known as the Swiss Style, is a graphic design style developed in Switzerland in the 1950s, that emphasizes cleanliness, readability and objectivity. Hallmarks of the style are asymmetric layouts, use of a grid, sans-serif typefaces like Akzidenz Grotesk, and flush left, ragged right text. Many of the early International Typographic Style works featured typography as a primary design element in addition to its use in text, and it is for this that the style is named. In 1918 Ernst Keller became a professor at the Zurich School of the Applied Arts and began developing a graphic design and typography course. Keller’s work uses simple geometric forms, vibrant colors and evocative imagery. After World War II international trade began to increase and relations between countries grew steadily stronger. Typography and design were crucial to helping these relationships progress; clarity, objectivity, region-less glyphs, and symbols are essential to communication between international partners. International Typographic Style found its niche in this communicative climate and expanded further beyond Switzerland, to America.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Max Bill (1908 - 1994), Max Miedinger (1910 - 1980), Josef M端ller-Brockmann (1914 - 1996), Rudolph de Harak (1924 - 2002).
26
Japanese Haiga (since 1450)
SIMPLE JAPANESE POETRY
HAIKU
OPENING
VERSE MATSUO
JAPANESE HAIGA
BASHO
PERSONAL
INSIGHT
EVOCATIVE
WORDS
1450
SELF
EXPRESSION
ELEGANT
PROFOUND
PLAYFUL
LINKED
VERSE SIMPLE SKETCHES
GREAT
DEAPTH CENTRALITY
OF FOCUS
CALLIGRAPHY
ARAKIDA
MORITAKE
WOODBLOCK
PRINTS NONOGUCHI
RYUHO MENTIONED
ELEMENTS
27
Haiga is a style of Japanese painting that incorporates the aesthetics of haikai. Haiga are typically painted by haiku poets (haijin), and often accompanied by a haiku poem and was based on simple, yet often profound, observations of the everyday world. Haiku was introduced to the West after World War II and has become a popular form of self-expression among both amateurs and professionals in many languages. The appeal of haiku is that it communicates a personal insight in a few evocative words. The challenge is to identify a “haiku moment,” a situation or a thought that represents a deeper feeling, then find the phrase that expresses it best. This universal challenge can be understood and enjoyed by literary and artistic people in any culture. Matsuo Basho, known worldwide as the definitive master of haiku, frequently painted as well. Haiga became a major style of painting as a result of association with his famous works of haiku. Like his poems, Basho’s paintings are founded in a simplicity which reveals great depth, complementing the poems they are paired with.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Matsuo Basho (1644 - 1694), Sakai Hoitsu (1761 - 1828), Kobayashi Issa (1763 - 1828), Hakuin Ekaku (1686 - 1768), Takarai Kikaku (1661 - 1707).
28
Kinetik Art (since 1950)
PERCEIPAVLE
MOVEMENT
KINETIK ART
MULTIDIMENSIONAL
ON MOTION
DEPENDS
MOVEMENT MACHINE OPERRATED
1950S RHYTHM
THREE-DIMENSIONAL
SCULPTURES
NAUM GABO
JACKSON POLLOCK
ALBERT GLEIZES
NOT
RIGID
PLASTIC
UNCLEAR
STYLE SPACED MATHEMATICALLY
FIGURES
INTERACTIVE ELECTRICALLY
POWERED
VICTOR
VASARELY
MAX BILL APPARENT
MOVEMENT
OPTICALLY
STIMULATING
ART
29
Kinetic art is art from any medium that contains movement perceivable by the viewer or depends on motion for its effect. More pertinently speaking, kinetic art is a term that today most often refers to three-dimensional sculptures and figures such as mobiles that move naturally or are machine operated. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. Figures should be spaced mathematically, or systematically so that they appeared to interact with one another. Apparent movement is a term ascribed to kinetic art that evolved only in the 1950s. Art historians believed that any type of kinetic art that was mobile independent of the viewer has apparent movement. This style includes works that range from Pollock’s drip technique all the way to Tatlin’s first mobile. By the 1960s, when other art historians developed the phrase “op art” to refer to optical illusions and all optically stimulating art that was on canvas or stationary. This phrase often clashes with certain aspects of kinetic art that include mobiles that are generally stationary.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Marcel Duchamp (1887 - 1968), Max Bill (1908 - 1994), Victor Vasarely (1906 - 1997), Alexander Rodchenko (1891 - 1956), Frederick John Kiesler (1890 - 1965), Albert Gleizes (1881 - 1953), Jackson Pollock (1912 - 1956).
30
Lettrism (since 1946)
1946
AVANT-DARDE
PARIS
MOVEMENT
ISODORE
SYMBOLS
YOUTH
UPRISING
CENTERED
SPOKEN
ON LETTERS
ISOU
VISUAL OR
HYPERGRAPHICS
CHISELLING
PHASE
AESTHETIC
VALUE CREATICS
NEW SYNTHESIS
OF WRITING
PURELY FORMAL
RADICAL ORIGINALITY GABRIEL
POMERAND
INFINITESIMAL
ART
METAGRAPHICS
LETTRIE
POETRY
EXCOÖRDISM
GIL J WOLMAN MAURICE
LEMAITRE
31
LETTRISM
Lettrism is a French avant-garde movement, established in Paris in the mid-1940s by Romanian immigrant Isidore Isou. In a body of work totaling hundreds of volumes, Isou and the Lettrists have applied their theories to all areas of art and culture, most notably in poetry, film, painting and political theory. In French, the movement is called Lettrisme, from the French word for letter, arising from the fact that many of their early works centred on letters and other visual or spoken symbols, but other names have also been introduced, such as ‘the Isouian movement’, ‘youth uprising’, ‘hypergraphics’, ‘creatics’, ‘infinitesimal art’ and ‘excoördism’. When amplic poetry had been completed, there was simply nothing to be gained by continuing to produce works constructed according to the old model. There would no longer be any genuine creativity or innovation involved, and hence no aesthetic value. This then inaugurated a chiselling phase in the art. Whereas the form had formerly been used as a tool to express things outside its own domain, events, feelings, etc., it would then turn in on itself and become, perhaps only implicitly, its own subject matter.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Isidore Isou (1925 - 2007), Gil J Wolman (1929 - 1995), Maurice Lemaître (b. 1926), Gabriel Pomerand (1926 - 1972), François Dufrene (1930 - 1982).
32
Minimalism (since 1960)
1960
STRIPPED
ABSTRACTION
LESS IS
MORE
STELLA
GEOMETRIC
MINIMALISM
FRANK
TO ITS ESENTIALS
EXTREME MULTIPLE PURPOSES
SIMPLICITY
AGNES
MARTIN
DONALD
JUDD
SPACE
LARGE
WHITE ELEMENTS
COLD LIGHTING
DETAIL OF MATERIAL ESENTIAL TRUITT
QUALITY
DIMENSION
WITHOUT
DECORATION
SPIRITUAL
ELEMENTS
ANNE
WITH
ECONOMY
WORDS
LITERARY
MINIMALISM
JOHN
MCCRACKEN
CLEAN
SIMPLE
33
Minimalism in the arts began in post– World War II Western Art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s, as new and older artists moved toward geometric abstraction. Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe adopted the motto “Less is more” to describe his aesthetic tactic of arranging the necessary components of a building to create an impression of extreme simplicity. He enlisted every element and detail to serve multiple visual and functional purposes. The concept of minimalism is to strip everything down to its essential quality and achieve simplicity. The idea is not completely without ornamentation, but that all parts, details and joinery are considered as reduced to a stage where no one can remove anything further to improve the design. The basic geometric forms, elements without decoration, simple materials and the repetitions of structures represent a sense of order and essential quality. The movement of natural light reveals simple and clean spaces.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Donald Judd (1928 - 1994), John McCracken (1934 - 2011), Agnes Martin (1912 - 2004), Dan Flavin (1933 - 1996), Frank Stella (b. 1936), Anne Truitt (1921 - 2004).
34
Naive art (since 1763)
OUTSIDER
ART PSEUDO
NAIVE ART
NAIVE
FAUX NAIVE
GEOMETRICALLY
ERRONEOUS
PERSPECTIVE
STRONG USE OF PATTERN IMITATIVE UNREFINED
COLORS
CHILDLIKE SIMPLICITY PRIMITIVE
SELF CONCIOUS JOSÉ RODRÍGUEZ
FUSTER
35
Naïve art is a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true. The words “naïve” and “primitive” are regarded as pejoratives and are, therefore, avoided by many. Naïve art is often seen as outsider art which is without a formal (or little) training or degree. While this was true before the twentieth century, there are now academies for naïve art. Naïve art is now a fully recognized art genre, represented in art galleries worldwide. The characteristics of naïve art are an awkward relationship to the formal qualities of painting, especially non-respect of the three rules of the perspective: decrease of the size of objects proportionally with distance, muting of colors with distance, decrease of the precision of details with distance. The results are: effects of perspective geometrically erroneous, strong use of pattern, unrefined color on all the plans of the composition, without enfeeblement in the background, an equal accuracy brought to details, including those of the background which should be shaded off.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS José Rodríguez Fuster (b. 1946), Elena Volkova (1915 - 2013), Arthur Villeneuve (1910 - 1990), Ferenc Kalmar (b. 1928), Louis Vivin (1861 - 1936).
36
Op Art (since 1964)
IMPRESSION OF
MOVEMENT IMAGES
AND WHITE
ABSTRACT
HIDDEN
BLACK
OP ART
PATTERNS
VIBRATING
FLASHING WARPING SWELLING
NON-OBJECTIVE
1964
FOOL THE
YELLOW
MANIFESTO
EYE PONTUS 1955
HULTEN
VICTOR
VASARELY
PAINTING
ILLUSIONISM D’ART VISUEL
1964-1968
JULIAN
RECHERCHE
STANCZAK
GROUPE DE
DYNAMIC
NOUVELLE TENDANCE
1961-1965 SERIGRAPHICS
37
Op art, also known as optical art, is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions. Op art works are abstract, with many better known pieces in black and white. Typically, they give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibrating patterns, or of swelling or warping. Op art is a perceptual experience related to how vision functions. It is a dynamic visual art that stems from a discordant figure-ground relationship that puts the two planes (foreground and background) in a tense and contradictory juxtaposition. Artists create op art in two primary ways. The first, best known method, is to create effects through pattern and line. Often these paintings are black-and-white. Another reaction that occurs is that the lines create after-images of certain colors due to how the retina receives and processes light. As Goethe demonstrates in his treatise Theory of Colours, at the edge where light and dark meet, color arises because lightness and darkness are the two central properties in the creation of color.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Yaacov Agam (b. 1928), Carlos Cruz-Diez (b. 1923), Edna Andrade (1917 - 2008), Nicolas Schรถffer (1912 - 1992), Franรงois Morellet (b. 1926), Francisco Sobrino (1932 - 2014), Jean-Pierre Yvaral (1934 - 2002).
38
Pop Art (1950-1970)
TO TRADITIONS
1950
CHALLENGE
POPULAR CULTURE
POP ART
NEWS
ADVERTISING UNRELATED
IRONY
CULTURAL
OBJECTS
ATTITUDES
REACTION
USE OF
MATERIAL
MUNDANE
ASPECTS OF
MASS CULTURE
1964
CAMPBELL’S
TOMATO
IMAGERY
PARADOXICAL
WARHOL
SOUP CANS
ANDY
CAMPBELL’S
JUICE BOX
PARODY IMPERSONAL
REPRESENTATIONAL
MANIPULATIVE LONDON
GROUP
1952 1947-1949
COLLAGE
INDEPENDENT
EDOARDO PAOLOZZI
BUNK!
WAYNE
THIEBAUD
POP!
39
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising, news, etc. In pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context, isolated, and/or combined with unrelated material. The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it. Pop art employs aspects of mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane cultural objects. It is widely interpreted as a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism, as well as an expansion upon them. And due to its utilization of found objects and images it is similar to Dada. Pop art is aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture, most often through the use of irony. Pop art and minimalism are considered to be art movements that precede postmodern art, or are some of the earliest examples of Post-modern art themselves.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987), Eduardo Paolozzi (1924 - 2005), Wayne Thiebaud (b. 1920), James Rosenquist (b. 1933), Peter Max Finkelstein (b. 1937), Takashi Murakami (b. 1962), Patrick Caulfield (1936 - 2005).
40
DYNASTY
LATE
1781-1925 AGHA MUHAMMAD KHAN
QAJAR
Qajar Art (1781-1925)
PERSIAN
QAJAR ART
EMPIRE
DISTINCTIVE
PORTRAITURE
DARK
PAINTING
OIL
STYLE
RICH SATURATED COLORS
FORMULICALLY
PLACED SUBJECTS
REALISTIC
PORTRAITS
MYRIAD
STILL LIFES FATH ALI SHAH QAJAR
NARROW
W AIST DEEPSET EYES
CALLYGRAPHY
NASTA’LIQ
URDU KASHMIRI
PUNJABI
ISLAMIC SOCIETY
41
Qajar art refers to the art, architecture, and art-forms of the Qajar dynasty of the late Persian Empire, which lasted from 1781 to 1925. Most notably, Qajar art is recognizable for its distinctive style of portraiture. While the depiction of inanimate objects and still lifes is seen to be very realistic in Qajar painting, the depiction of human beings is decidedly idealised. This is especially evident in the portrayal of Qajar royalty, where the subjects of the paintings are very formulaically placed and situated to achieve a desired effect. The roots of traditional Qajar painting can be found in the style of painting that arose during the preceding Safavid empire. During this time, there was a great deal of European influence on Persian culture, especially in the arts of the royalty and noble classes. European art was undergoing a period of realism and this can be seen in the depiction of objects especially by Qajar artists. Heavy application of paint and dark, rich, saturated colors are elements of Qajar painting that owe their influences directly to the European style.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Mihr 窶連li (1795 - 1830), Mohammad Ghaffari (1845 - 1940), Muhammad Hasan Persian (1808 - 1840).
42
Rococo (1715-1774)
ORNATE
18TH
CENTURY
PARIS
LATE
BAROQUE
ROCOCO
REACTION
AGAINST
SIMMETRY
GOLD
JOCULAR
GRACEFUL
LIGHT
COLORS
CURVES
WITTY
THEMES
ASSYMETRICAL
DESIGNS
FLORID
ELEGANT
1730 ANTOINE WATTEAU
FRANCOIS
BOUCHER COMPLEX
FORMS
FRENCH
TASTE
REFINEMENT
WILLIAM HOGARTH ROCAILLE
43
Rococo or “Late Baroque”, is an 18th-century artistic movement and style, affecting many aspects of the arts. It developed in the early 18th century in Paris, France as a reaction against the grandeur, symmetry, and strict regulations of the Baroque, especially of the Palace of Versailles. Rococo artists and architects used a more jocular, florid, and graceful approach to the Baroque. Their style was ornate and used light colours, asymmetrical designs, curves, and gold. Unlike the political Baroque, the Rococo had playful and witty themes. The word is seen as a combination of the French rocaille (stone) and coquilles (shell), due to reliance on these objects as decorative motifs, az well as a combination of the Italian word “barocco” (an irregularly shaped pearl) and the French “rocaille” (a popular form of garden or interior ornamentation using shells and pebbles) and may describe the refined and fanciful style that became fashionable in parts of Europe in the 18th century. Owing to Rococo love of shell-like curves and focus on decorative arts, some critics used the term to derogatively imply that the style was frivolous or merely modish.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS William Hogarth (1967 - 1764), François Boucher (1703 - 1770), Thomas Johnson (1714 - 1778), Philip de Lange (1705 - 1766), Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann (1662 - 1736).
44
Superflat (since 2001)
POSTMODERN
MANGA ANIME
FLATTENED
FORMS
SUPERFLAT
JAPANESE CULTURE
2001
SELF PROCLAIMED
TAKASHI MURAKAMI
ARMY OF SUPERFLAT
SO FLO
MUSHROOMS
HITOSHI
TOMIZAWA
ALIEN 9
MILK CLOSET
CONSUMERISM
SEXUAL
LOLICON
ART
FETISHISM HENMARU MACHINO
IMAGES
FEAR OF
GROWING UP
OTAKU
DISTORTED
SEXUALITY
GROTESQUE
BOME PLAYFUL GRAFFITI
45
Superflat is a postmodern art movement, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime. It is also the name of a 2001 art exhibition, curated by Murakami, that toured West Hollywood, Minneapolis and Seattle. Superflat is used by Murakami to refer to various flattened forms in Japanese graphic art, animation, pop culture and fine arts, as well as the “shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture.” A self-proclaimed art movement, it was a successful piece of niche marketing, a branded art phenomenon designed for Western audiences. Superflat has been embraced by American artists, who have created a hybrid called “SoFlo Superflat”. Murakami defines Superflat in broad terms, so the subject matter is very diverse. Often the works explore the consumerism and sexual fetishism that is prevalent in post-war Japanese culture. This often includes lolicon art, which is parodied by works such as those by Henmaru Machino. These works are an exploration of otaku sexuality through grotesque and/or distorted images.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Takashi Murakami (b. 1962), Chiho Aoshima (b. 1974), Yoshitomo Nara (b. 1959), Aya Takano (b. 1976), Koji Morimoto (b. 1959).
46
Toyism (since 1990)
EMMEN
1990
CONTEMPORARY ART MOVEMENT
PLAYFUL
TOYISM
CHARACTER PHYLOSOPHY
MOVEMENT
CRITICAL AND
SENSITIVE
PERSPECTIVE SURREALISTIC
MANNER
FIXED
ICONS
COMPUTER
SPACE SHUTTLE TEDDY
BEAR MOTION
INTERNATIONAL
OPEN
COLLECTIVE
ARTWORKS
COUNT
NO RIVALITY
MANIFESTO
MOTHER
AMUKEK
EIIZ
XIPPEZ TOESCAT
PSEUDONYM
ANONYMOUS
CHARACTERISTICS
47
Toyism is a contemporary art movement that originated in the 1990s in Emmen. The word symbolises the playful character of the artworks and the philosophy behind it. The suffix ‘ism’ refers to motion or movements that exist in both the world of art and religion. Nevertheless the game of Toyism is a serious matter that shows a new, critical and sensitive perspective on our present-day world. The philosophy of Toyism is that the artists operate as a collective, instead of separate individuals, hence one toyist cannot be seen as more important or famous than the other. There is no rivalry among the artists. The evident message they carry out is that the artworks count, not the artist itself that has created it. Although the artists do make their own art, in many occasions the toyists work together, which means that the produced artwork cannot be attributed to a single artist. Every toyist that joins the group chooses a pseudonym (pen name) starting with one of the available letters from the alphabet, a letter not yet in use by another toyist. This means that the group cannot represented by more than 26 artists.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Amukek, Bliissem, Cluv, Dejo, Eiiz, Fihi, Gihili, Hribso, Jaf’R, Knafoe, Lodieteb, Mwano, Ollafinah.
48
Underground Comix (1968-1975)
SELF PUBLISHED
COMIC
PRESS
BOOK
SMALL
UNDERGROUND COMIX
SATIRICAL IN NATURE
SOCIALLY
RELEVANT EXPLICIT
DRUG
USE
VIOLENCE SEXUALITY
ROBERT
CRUMB
PANTER
PUNK
GARY
TIJUANA
BIBLES
MUSIC POLITICS
FREE LOVE
X-RATED
ROCK
CONTENTS
1960
LSD-INSPIRED
BIJOU
FUNNIES
POSTERS
49
GILBERT SHELTON
APEX NOVELTIEES
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence. They were most popular in the United States between 1968 and 1975, and in the United Kingdom between 1973 and 1974. Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, and numerous other cartoonists created underground titles that were popular with readers within the counterculture scene. Punk had its own comic artists like Gary Panter. Long after their heyday underground comix gained prominence with films and television shows influenced by the movement and with mainstream comic books, but their legacy is most obvious with alternative comics. Focused on subjects dear to the counterculture: recreational drug use, politics, rock music and free love, these titles were termed “comix” in order to differentiate them from mainstream publications. The “X” also emphasized the X-rated contents of the publications.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Robert Crumb (b. 1943), Kim Deitch (b. 1944), Spain Rodriguez (1940 - 2012), Gilbert Shelton (b. 1940), Steve Clay Wilson (b. 1941).
50
Vorticism (1913-1956)
MODERNIST MOVEMENT
20TH CENTURY
BRITAIN
EARLY BLAST
1914
REJECTION OF
LANDSCAPES
AND NUDES
GEOMETRIC
STYLE REBEL
LEWIS
ART
CENTRE
ABSTRACTION WYNDHAM
INDEPENDENT
CAPTURE MOVEMENT
BOLD
LINES
DYNAMISM
HARSH
COLORS
1913
EZRA
TYPOGRAPHICAL
ADVENTUROUSNESS
POUND
51
VORTICISM
EL LISSITZKY
MAJOR FORERUNNER
Vorticism was a short-lived modernist movement in British art and poetry of the early 20th century. It was partly inspired by Cubism. The movement was announced in 1914 in the first issue of Blast, which contained its manifesto and the movement’s rejection of landscape and nudes in favour of a geometric style tending towards abstraction. Ultimately, it was their witnessing of unfolding human disaster in World War I that “drained these artists of their Vorticist zeal”. Vorticism was based in London but was international in make-up and ambition. Though the style grew out of Cubism, it is more closely related to Futurism in its embrace of dynamism, the machine age and all things modern. However, Vorticism diverged from Futurism in the way it tried to capture movement in an image. In a Vorticist painting modern life is shown as an array of bold lines and harsh colours drawing the viewer’s eye into the centre of the canvas. The name Vorticism was given to the movement by Ezra Pound in 1913, although Lewis, usually seen as the central figure in the movement, had been producing paintings in the same style for a year or so previously.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Ezra Pound (1885 - 1972), Cuthbert Hamilton (1885 - 1959), Jessica Dismorr (1885 - 1939), Richard Aldington (1892 - 1962), Malcolm Arbuthnot (1877 - 1967), Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891 - 1915).
52
War Propaganda (since 1918)
FORM OF COMMUNICATION
WAR PROPAGANDA
EXAGGERATION
WAR MONGERING
OBJECTIVE
MISREPRESENTATION
WIDE COVERING
SELECTIVE
STORIES
DEMONIZING
REASONS CONFLICT
RELATED
MOTIVATION
THE ENEMY
REINFORCED
HATE
JUDGEMENTS
EMOTIONS OF
HONOR
MESSAGE OF
EXTREMITIES
POWERFULL
EDWARD S
HERMAN
MASS
MEDIA NOAM
CHOMSKY
53
Propaganda is a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of a population toward some cause or position and is information that is not impartial and used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis, or using loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information presented. While the term propaganda has acquired a strongly negative connotation by association with its most manipulative and jingoistic examples, propaganda in its original sense was neutral and could refer to uses that were generally positive, such as public health recommendations, signs encouraging citizens to participate in a census or election, or messages encouraging persons to report crimes to law enforcement. Propaganda can serve to rally people behind a cause, but often at the cost of exaggerating, misrepresenting, or even lying about the issues in order to gain that support. While the issue of propaganda often is discussed in the context of militarism, war and war-mongering, it is around us in all aspects of life.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Viktor Deni (1893 - 1946), James Montgomery Flagg (1877 - 1960), Jacques-Louis David (1748 - 1825).
54
X-Ray Art (since 2000 B.C.)
ART
2000 BC
ABORIGINAL
X-RAY ART
ANIMALS
HUMAN
FIGURES INTERNAL
ORGANS
BONE STRUCTURES
SACRED IMAGES
ONGOING RELATIONSHIPS
RED
WHITE
SOLHOUETTE
YELLOW CHARCOAL
OCHER
PIGMENTS SHALLOW
CAVES GUNBALANYA INJALUK
UBIRR
55
The “X-ray” tradition in Aboriginal art is thought to have developed around 2000 B.C. and continues to the present day. As its name implies, the X-ray style depicts animals or human figures in which the internal organs and bone structures are clearly visible. X-ray art includes sacred images of ancestral supernatural beings as well as secular works depicting fish and animals that were important food sources. In many instances, the paintings show fish and game species from the local area. Through the creation of X-ray art, Aboriginal painters express their ongoing relationships with the natural and supernatural worlds. To create an X-ray image, the artist begins by painting a silhouette of the figure, often in white, and then adding the internal details in red or yellow. For red, yellow, and white paints, the artist uses natural ocher pigments mined from mineral deposits, while black is drived from charcoal. Early X-ray images depict the backbone, ribs, and internal organs of humans and animals. Later examples also include features such as muscle masses, body fat, optic nerves, and breast milk in women.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS David Malangi (1927 - 1999), Nguleingulei Murrumurru (1920 - 1988), John Mawurndjul (b. 1952).
56
Yantra Painting (1896-1980)
MYSTICAL
DIAGRAM
YANTRA
AMULETS
OCCULT
POWERS
MAGICAL BENEFITS
BALANCE
PATTERNS
THE MIND TRIANGLES
SQUARES CIRCLES FLORAL PATTERNS
LOTUS FLOWER
UNEXPRESSED
COSMOS
BALANCE
SPIRITUAL
ENERGY
SPIRITUAL
KNOWLEDGE
SACRED
ARCHITECTURE
MEDITATION
57
Yantra painting is a sacred art, based on the tantric concepts of the Vedas, ancient scriptures of knowledge and wisdom of India. Tantra fosters awareness of the divine and enhances ones sadhana and spiritual practice to produce more self knowledge. When ones has self knowledge ones is able to communicate more effectively, completely and harmoniously through love, trust, skill and step into the circle of truth by honoring and understanding ones emotional make up. Yantras are a symbolic representation of the various deities that govern the health and balance of each chakra. They are used for ritual worship and to overcome specific emotional patterns and limiting constrictions. Yantras are visual patterns and are expressions of primal mathematical relationships involved in the structure, creation and dissolution of the universe. They are gateways to a mythical world and have a direct and immediate effect on the emotions and the holographic vibrations that govern our existence, individual perceptions and worldview.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Je Tsongkhapa (1357 - 1419), Rangjung Rigpe Dorje (1924 - 1981), Vacaspati Misra (900 - 980).
58
Zenga (1896-1980)
12TH CENTURY
ZENGA
ZEN
BUDDHIST
PAINTING CALLIGRAPHY
INK
BRUSH PAINTING
BOLD ABSTRACT
SIMPLE ENLIGHTENMENT INDIVIDUAL
PATHS MT FUJI
STICKS
ENSO SPIRITUAL RIGHT
WAY OF LIVING
59
The essential element of Zen Buddhism is found in its name, for Zen means “meditation.” Zen teaches that enlightenment is achieved through the profound realization that one is already an enlightened being. This awakening can happen gradually or in a flash of insight (as emphasized by the Soto and Rinzai schools, respectively). But in either case, it is the result of one’s own efforts. Deities and scriptures can offer only limited assistance. Zen traces its origins to India, but it was formalized in China. Chan, as it is known in China, was transmitted to Japan and took root there in the thirteenth century. Chan was enthusiastically received in Japan, especially by the samurai class that wielded political power at this time, and it became the most prominent form of Buddhism between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. The immigrant Chinese prelates were educated men, who introduced not only religious practices but also Chinese literature, calligraphy, philosophy, and ink painting to their Japanese disciples, who often in turn traveled to China for further study.
ARTPHABET
NOTED PARTITIONERS Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839 - 1892), Dogen Inshi (1662-1729), Yamaoka Tesshu (1836 - 1888), Xia Gui (1195 - 1224), Ma Yuan (1160 - 1225).
60
ARTPHABET by
STAN ANDREA TIMISOARA , 2015