F
Fauvism
Originally a derogatory term (Les Fauves) meaning "wild beasts",
used of a group of painters who exhibited at the Salon d' Automne in Paris
in 1905, including Matisse.
Feminist Art
Late 1960s early 1970s movement that sought to increase opportunities
for women in the art world and to rewrite the historical canon giving
more importance to women artists.
Flemish Painting School
Realistic style of oil on panel painting.
Fluxus
Name of an international art movement, established in 1962, which aimed
to unite Europe's avant-garde. It had similarities with the anti-art philosophy
of Dada.
Fontainebleau School
There were two Schools; the First, under Francis I c.1528-58 was fundamentally
Mannerist, directly influenced by expatriate Italian masters. The Second,
under Henry IV (1589-1610) was more mediocre. Occasionally confused with
19th century Barbizon school of landscape art, near Fontainebleau.
French Painting
The French school. Its Golden Age was the 19th century and the early 20th
century.
Futurism
Italian artistic movement founded in 1909 by Filippo Marinetti, which
exalted the modern world of machinery, speed, and violence.
G
Georgian
General term describing the styles of art associated with the reigns of
King George I, II, II and IV in Britain (1714-1830), notably in architecture,
silver, furniture, and silver. Its unifying attribute is a certain classical
restraint and harmony.
German Art:
19th Century
Neoclassicism, Realism and Impressionism in Germany.
German Expressionism
General expressionist trend in Germany, exemplified by artist groups like
Der Blaue Reiter (1909-14, Munich) led by Wassily Kandinsky (1844-1944)
and Franz Marc (1880-1916); Die Brucke (1905-13, Dresden) founded
by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976) and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938);
and Die Neue Sachlichkeit (1920s, Mannheim and elsewhere) whose
famous members included Otto Dix (1891-1969), George Grosz (1893-1959)
and Max Beckmann (1884-1950).
German Medieval Art
Carolingian/Ottonian Sculpture, goldsmithery, book-painting and architecture.
German Renaissance
Art
Refers to artistic development in Germany during the period (c.1430-1580),
exemplified by Albrecht Durer, Matthias Grunewald, Hans Holbein and Tilman
Riemenschneider, among others.
Gesturalism
Style of highly expressive painting associated with members of the New
York School (Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning) and Art Informel
(Georges Mathieu).
Glasgow School of Painting
Barbizon-influenced group of Post-Impressionists. Also included C.R.Mackintosh's
group.
Gothic Art and Gothic
Architecture
The last period of medieval art and architecture. Early Gothic usually
refers to the period 1140-1200; High Gothic c.1200-50; late Gothic from
1250. "Gothic" was used in the Renaissance as a pejorative adjective
for medieval architecture. During the 19th century, a Gothic Revival
movement appeared, notably in British and American architecture: US practitioners
included Richard Upjohn (1802-78) and James Renwick (1818-95).
Graffiti Art (1970s onwards)
Also referred to as "Writing", "Spraycan Art" and
"Aerosol Art", Graffiti is a movement or style of art associated
with hip-hop, a cultural movement which sprang up in various American
cities, especially on New York subway trains, during the 1970s and 1980s.
Later it spread to Europe and Japan and eventually crossed over from the
street into the gallery. Its most famous exemplar was Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Gruppo Origine
Italian group founded in Rome by Alberto Burri, Ettore Colla, Giuseppe
Capogrossi and Mario Ballocco, in response to the disagreeably decorative
quality of abstract art at the time. In their initial manifesto they proclaimed
a return to fundamentals, notably by renouncing three-dimensional forms,
restricting colour to its simplest, and by evoking elemental images. Began
and ended during 1951.
Gutai (concrete) (1954-72)
The Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai (Gutai Art Association), a Japanese avant-garde
group, was founded in 1954 in Osaka by Yoshihara Jiro, Kanayma Akira,
Murakami Saburo, Shiraga Kazuo, and Shimamoto Shozo. Held a number of
public exhibitions in 1955 and 1956, with works prefiguring later Happenings
and Performance and Conceptual art. According to art historian Yve-Alain
Bois, the group's activities constituted one of the most important moments
of post-war Japanese culture.
H-J
Hallstatt
Celtic Culture
Early style of Celtic art (c.800-450 BCE) centred on Austria and the Upper
Danube.
Hard Edge Painting
Term coined in 1959 to describe abstract (but not geometric) painting,
using large, flat areas of colour with precise edges.
Harlem Renaissance
An African-American artistic movement centered in the Harlem borough of
New York City, and originally known as the New Negro Movement, it had
a profound influence throughout the United States. Influential members
were William H. Johnson, Lois Mailou Jones and the sculptor and printmaker
Sargent Claude Johnson, as well as Jacob Lawrence, Archibald Motley and
Romare Bearden.
Heidelberg School
A 19th century group of Melbourne-based painters associated with Australian
Impressionism.
High Renaissance
Style of fine art practised in Italy, France, Spain between 1490 and 1530.
See also: Renaissance
in Rome, under Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84), Pope Julius II (1503-13),
Pope Leo X (1513-21), and Pope Paul III (1534-45). Masterpieces of High
Renaissance painting includes the fresco works in the Sistine Chapel
and the decoration of the Raphael Rooms.
Hudson
River School of landscape painting
Group of American landscape painters, working from 1825 to 1875. Includes
Thomas Doughty, Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, J. F. Kensett, Henry Inman,
Jasper Cropsey, and Frederick E. Church.
Humanism
A cultural and philosophical movement of the Italian Renaissance, focusing
on the capabilities of human beings as opposed to the abstract concepts
and problems of science or theology.
Impressionism
19th-century French art movement, from 1874. Impressionist painters like
Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, and Sisley, were linked by their common interest
in capturing immediate visual impressions, and an emphasis on light and
colour; hence Impressionist; Impressionistic.
International Gothic
A style of painting, sculpture and decorative art that spread across western
Europe during the period 1375-1450. Acted as a bridge between Gothic and
Renaissance art. It was greatly stimulated by the growing cultural rivalry
of the European royal courts. See also International
Gothic illuminations.
International Style
(Architecture)
Form of modern architecture, initiated by Walter Gropius, developed by
Mies van der Rohe, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and others.
Intimism
French genre painting of domestic, intimate interiors, such as the work
of Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard; hence intimiste.
Irish Art History (from 3300 BCE)
A guide to the main movements of painting, sculpture and architecture
on the island of Ireland.
Islamic Art
Refers to a general category of post-7th century visual art, created by
artists in territory occupied by the cultures of Islam. It encompasses
architecture, architectural decoration, pottery, faience mosaics, lustre-ware,
relief sculpture, wood and ivory carving, drawing, painting, calligraphy,
manuscript illumination, textile design, metalwork, goldsmithery, gemstone
carving, and other art forms.
Jacobean Art
General artistic idiom associated with the culture of the reign of James
I (reigned 1603-25) notably in theatre as well as painting. Leading exemplars
include the eminent Elizabethan miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard and the
Dutch born artists Paul Van Somer and Daniel Mytens the Elder.
Japonism
Late-19th century European craze for Japanese arts and crafts - including
fans, screens, lacquers, bronzes, silks, porcelains and Ukiyo-e prints.
Jugendstil
The name for Art Nouveau-type styles in Germany, popularized by the Munich
Secession.
Junk Art
A sub-genre of "found art", pioneered by Duchamp, Picasso, Schwitters
and Rauschenberg, and characterized by the use of banal, everyday materials.
K
Kitchen Sink art
Term originally used as the title of an article by David Sylvester in
the journal Encounter referring to the work of the realist artists known
as the Beaux Arts Quartet, John Bratby, Derrick Greaves, Edward Middleditch
and Jack Smith.
Kinetic Art
Works which incorporate movement or the appearance of movement (eg. mobiles).
Knave of Diamonds
Russian artists' exhibition society (1910-17) that promoted avant-garde
art from Russia and Europe.
La
Tene Celtic Culture
Style of Celtic Metalwork art and abstract design work.
Les Vingt
See entry under V.
Luminism
Term applied to American landscape painters of the Hudson River School
from about 1830-70, as many of their paintings were dominated by intense,
dramatic light effects. A form of Luminism underlies Whistler's 'Nocturnes'.
Lyrical Abstraction
Term coined by the French painter George Mathieu in 1947 to describe a
more decorative, painterly style of Art Informel.
M
Magic Realism
Term invented by German photographer, art historian and art critic Franz
Roh to describe late 19th early 20th realist paintings with fantasy or
dream-like subjects.
Mannerism
Artistic style originating in Italy c.1520-90 that tends to employ distortion
of figures, and emphasize an emotional content. See also: Mannerist
Painting.
Macchiaioli
Realist/Impressionist art group active in Florence c.1855-70.
Medici
Family (Florence Renaissance)
Arguably the most influential Italian family of art patrons. Had a huge
impact on the development of painting and sculpture in 15th century Florence.
Medieval Art - in
practice Medieval
Christian Art
"Medieval" is an imprecise term describing the period of European
history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (c.450 CE) to the
onset of the Renaissance (c.1400). Medieval art was mostly architectural
or decorative - sculpture, mosaic illuminated gospel texts, tapestry.
Decorative art exemplified by works from the Carolingian court of King
Charlemagne.
Medieval Sculpture
The term "Medieval sculpture" essentially describes the era
400-1000. It was followed by Romanesque sculpture.
Metaphysical Painting
(It. Pittura Metafisica)
Movement of c.1915-18 associated with the painter Giorgio de Chirico;
partly a reaction against Futurism.
Mexican Murals/Muralism
Term applied to the resurgence of large-size public mural painting in
Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s, as practised by the left-wing artists
Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Minimalism
A non-representational style of painting, sculpture and architecture in
the late 1960s, which was severely restricted in its use of visual elements
and limited itself to simple geometric shapes or masses.
Modern Art Movements
Fine art styles from roughly 1850 to 1960s.
Mosan Art
Art of the 12th and 13th centuries in the valley of the River Meuse in
France; it produced the first great school of enamel painters using the
Champleve technique.
Moscow School
of Painting (c.1500-1700)
Stroganov Workshop, Simon Ushakov and murals at Yaroslavl and Kostroma.
Mughal Painting
(16th-19th Century)
School of Islamic painting developed on the Indian subcontinent.
Munich Secession
Withdrawal in 1892 of German artists in Munich from the traditional institutions;
it remained relatively conservative, and was followed by the Vienna Secession
(1897) and the Berlin Secession (1908).
N
Les
Nabis (French)
Group of French artists working from c.1892 to 1899, influenced by Gauguin
in their use of colour and lightly exotic decorative effects. They included
Pierre Bonnard, Jean-Edouard Vuillard, Felix Vallotton and Paul Serusier.
Nazarenes
Group of German painters, led by Friedrich Overbeck, working in Rome in
the early 19th century; inspired by Northern art of the 15th and early
16th centuries.
Neoclassical Art
The late 18th-century European style, lasting from c.1770 to 1830, which
reacted against the worst excesses of the Baroque and Rococo, reviving
the Antique. It implies a return to classical sources which imposed restraint
and simplicity on painting and architecture.
Neo-Dada
Term often used to describe works by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns
in New York in the late 1950s because of their use of collage, assemblage
and found materials, and their apparent anti-art agenda.
Neo-Expressionism
1980s revival of figurative painting. Known as Neue Wilden in Germany,
Figuration Libre in France, Transavantguardia in Italy,
Bad Painting in America.
Neo-Impressionism
The development of Impressionism through Georges Seurat's scientific analysis
and treatment of colour; see Divisionism; Pointillism.
Neo-Plasticism
A rigid Dutch style of Abstraction, based on rectangles, horizontal and
vertical lines founded by Piet Mondrian in the early 1920s.
Neo-Romanticism
Broad term for several 20th-century European art movements that draw on
mystical, dreamlike subjects; expressive, emotional forms; and Surrealism.
Netherlandish
Renaissance Art
Refers to artistic development in Flanders and Holland in the period (c.1430-1580),
exemplified by Jan Van Eyck, Roger Van Der Weyden, Hieronymus Bosch and
Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Neue Sachlichkeit
(New Objectivity) (Die Neue Sachlichkeit)
German modern realist movement of the 1920s founded by Otto Dix and George
Grosz, who vividly depicted the corruption and hedonism in Germany during
the 1920s. See: German Expressionism.
Newlyn School
Led by Stanhope Alexander Forbes and Frank Bramley, the artists who settled
in the West Cornish town of Newlyn from the early 1880s pursued the Impressionist
derived pleinairism doctrine of working directly from nature.
New York School
The core of Abstract Expressionism in New York in the 1940s and early
1950s including Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko.
Northern Renaissance
Western art from Northern Europe (eg. Flanders, Holland, Germany, Britain)
of the period c 1420-1600.
Norwich
School
Important English school of landscape painting, dating from 1803, led
by John Crome and John Sell Cotman.
Nouveau Realisme
(New Realism)
Term coined in 1960 by the French critic Pierre Restany for art derived
partly from Dada and Surrealism, which reacted against more abstract work,
especially by using industrial and everyday objects to make junk art or
sculpture.
Novgorod
School of Icon Painting
Work by Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev, Dionysius and others (c.1100-1500).
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