Impressionism

Movement born in France in the 1860s. The artists use to paint candid glimpses of their subjects showing the effects of sunlight on things at different times of the day.

Among the main representatives of the Impressionism we can find masters such as: Pissarro Camille, Degas Edgar, Monet Cloude, Renoir Pierre and Paul Cezanne, who took it to its next step, the Post-Impressionism.

Expressionism

A movement very strong in Germany from 1905 to 1925. The artist expresses only what he has within himself, not what he sees with his eyes.

Most known masters of the Expressionism: the Dutch Francisco De Goya, and the French Paul Gauguin.

Cubism

Born in the early 90s (1907-1914), it is one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century. Begun by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, it is greatly inspired by African sculptures, and painters such as Cezanne, Seurat and the Fauvism.

In the cubism the subject matter is broken up, analyzed and reassembled in an abstracted form. Picasso and Braque initialized the movement when they followed the advice of Cezanne, who in 1904 said artists should treat nature in terms of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone.

Realism

it is the realistic and natural representation of people, places, and/or things in a work of art.

Mid-nineteenth century art movement and style in which artists discarded the formula of Neo-Classicism and the theatrical drama of Romanticism. The artist use to paint familiar scenes and events as they actually looked. Tipically it involved some sort of sociopolitical or moral message.

Surrealism

20th century Avant-Garde movement that originated in the nihilistic ideas of the Dadaism and the French literary figures, especially those of its founder, French writer Andre' Breton (1896-1966). At first a Dadaist, he wrote three manifestos about Surrealism (1924, 1930, 1934), and opened a studio for 'Surrealist research'.

Influenced by the theories of hte pioneer of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (German, 1856-1939), the images found in surrealist works are as confusing and startling as those of dreams. Surrealist works can have a realistic, though irrational style, precisely describing dreamlike fantasies.

Partly inspired by Symbolism and the Metaphysical Painting of Giorgio De Chirico (Italian, 1888-1978) we can find artists such as: Rene Magritte (Belgium, 1898-1967), Salvador_Dali (Spain, 1904-1988), Yves Tanguy (French, 1900-1955), Alfred Pellan (Canada, 1906-1988).

While artists like Joan Miro' (Spain, 1893-1983), Max Ernst (German, 1891-1976), Andre' Masson (French, 1896-1987), used a more abstracted style. Modeled upon the psychotherapeutic procedure of 'Free Association' as a means to eliminate conscious control in order to express the working of the unconscious mind, such as in 'Exquisite Corpse'.

Pop Art

England in the 1950s, USA in the 1960s. Pop artists have focused attention upon familiar images of the popular culture such as billbboards, comic, strips, magazine adverisements, and supermarket products.

Leading exponents of the movement are: Richard Hamilton (British, 1922), Andy Warhol (American, 1928? 1930?-1987), Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997), Claes Oldenburg (American, 1929-), Jasper Johns (American, 1930-), Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-).

Abstract Expressionism

1940s (popular in the 1950s). Abstract Expressionism is a painting movement in which artists tipically applied paint rapidly, and with force to their canvases, in an effort to show feelings and emotions, painting gesturally, non-geometrically, sometimes applying paint with large brushes, sometimes dripping or even throwing it onto canvas. Their work is characterized by a strong dependence on what appears to be accident and chance, but which is actually highly planned. Usually there was no effort to represent subject-matter. It was generally believed that the spontaneity of the artist's approach to their work would draw from and release the creativity of their unconscious minds.

Among the names of the most famous artists related to this movement we can find: Hans Hoffman (German-American, 1880), Adolph Gottlieb (American), Mark Rothko (American, 1903), Willem De Kooning (Dutch-American, 1904), Jackson Pollock (American, 1912), Ad Reinhardt (American, 1913), Robert Motherwell (American, 1915), Sam Francis (American, 1923).

Art Deco

Art movement involving a mix of modern decorative art style, largely of the 1920s adn 1930s, whose main characteristics were derived from various Avant-Garde painting styles of the early 20th century. Art Deco works exhibit aspects of: Cubism, Russian Constructivism, and Italian Futurism, with abstraction, distortion, and simplification, particularly geometric shapes, and highly intense colors. It is celebrating the rise of commerce, technology, and speed. The name came from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes, held in Paris, which celebrated hte living in the modern world.

It was popularly considered to be an elegant style of cool sophistication in architecture and applied arts, which range from luxurious objects made from exotic material to mass produced, streamlined items available ot a growing middle class. Main exponent of the movement was the Russian artist Erte' (Roman de Tirtoff, 1893) considered to be the father of the Art Deco. On his death in 1990, he was hailed as the "prince of the music hall" and "a mirror of fashion for 75 years".

Fauvism

France. Early 20th century art movement. The name Fauves, French for 'wild beasts', was given to artists adhering to this style because it was felt that they used intense colors in a violent, uncontrolled way.

Leader of the movement: Henry Matisse (French, 1869-1954).

Futurism

A modern art movement originating among Italian Artists in 1909, when Filippo Marinetti's first manifesto of futurism appeared.

It was a celebration of the machine age, glorifying war and favoring the growth of fascism. Futurist painting and sculpture were especially concerned with expressing movements and the dynamics of natural and man-made forms. Ideas taken up later by cubists and constructivists.

Neo-Impressionism

An outgrowth of and reaction to Impressionism. Originated by Georges-Pierre Seurat (French, 1859-1891 - most famous work: A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884), who employed a technique called Pointillism (also called Divisionism, or Confettism), based on the scientific juxtaposition of touches or dots of pure colors. The brain blends the colors automatically in the involuntary process of optical mixing.

Main exponents of the movement: French artists Camille Pissarro, Paul Signac, Henry Edmond Cross, and the Belgian Theodoor Van Ryssel Berghe.

Post-Impressionism

A French movement that immediately followed Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism. It showed a greater concern for Expression, Structure and Form than did the Impressionist artists. Building on the works of the Neo-Impressionists, these artists rejected the emphasis the Impressionists put on Naturalism and the Depiction of flerting effects of light. The term was coined by a British art critic, and painter, Roger Fry, during an art exhibit in 1910 at MOMANY (Metropolitan Modern Art Musem, New York).

Artists who adhered to the movement: Paul Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Henry de Tolouse Lautrec.

Artists involved in this movement during a portion of their careers: Matisse, Picasso, Braque.