– isms: a brief guide to major developments of abstraction in art 1864 - 1920

th In the early 20 century the concept of abstraction was embraced by many artists 1845 1890 as a means for unleashing the power to communicate complex ideas. They created Realism (Naturalism) Most conspicuously Symbolism: Loose Northern European novel, sometimes startling, interpretations of the world around them which present in France, realism was a movement in which movement during the late nineteenth century. challenged viewers to reassess preconceived notions of what constitutes art. A actual, instead of idealized, appearances of people, Advocated rejection of Realism and the dizzying array of “movements” burst forth, many with their own manifesto. This places, and things were emphasized. everyday in art. Artists imbued work with a diagram charts some of the most well-known “-isms” with connecting bars linking melancholy and generally darker quality than one development to another in a roughly chronological design. typically found in Realist paintings. 1870 Impressionism: Freed from the studio by the invention of portable lead paint tubes, 1905 Fauvism [FOV-izm]: Term earned at the Salon French Impressionists experimented with 1911 Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider): Centered in Germany, d’Automne where a group of artists’ paintings were ‘optical mixing’ to capture fleeting qualities of the name “Der Blaue Rieter” echoed the title of a Wassily compared to fauves, or “wild beasts.” Their love of line light while depicting informal subject matter. Kandinsky painting. The group’s aesthetic program emphasized and flat areas of uninhibited color sets them apart from color, expressionism and a sense of spirtualism that pushed the what, by 1905, was the tradition of Impressionism. images into full abstraction.

1880 Post-Impressionism: Name provided by a 1880 Neo-Impresssionism Also known as Pointillism or Divisionism, 1913 1910 exhibition: Manet and the Post-Impressionists. Neo-Impressionism codified the experimentation that the original Constructivism: Addressing Four artists who experimented with Impressionism Impressionists had conducted. Artists created highly-structured works the sculptural issues raised by but abandoned it in favor of idiosyncratic composed of tiny dots of primary color knit tightly together to Picasso and Braque’s approaches to color theory and expression. create paintings suffused with a luminous color sense. experimentation, constructivists explored pure abstraction and concentrated their attention on how sculpture occupies physical space, 1908 Cubism: Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque’s studios in 1911 Orphism [ORF-izm]: “Color alone as opposed to the classical issues of the Parisian building known as the Bateau-Lavoir became is form and subject,” wrote Robert mass and “pictorial” space. ground-zero for a seismic shift in the direction of painting. Delaunay. Orphism, centered in Paris, Combining influences from “primitive” cultures, ancient Iberian took Neo-Impressionist color theory and motifs, and Cezanne’s classically austere pictorial analysis with made it the subject of Painting, creating 1915 imagination and wit, the two artists invented a new way of the first movement dedicated to Suprematism: Abandoning 1909 reality, Suprematists embraced seeing. Futurism: “A roaring motorcar . . . complete, or pure abstraction. the purity of geometric form as a 1909 Analytic Cubism Systematic mining of the cubist is more beautiful than the Victory of route to a utopian aesthetic. The potential for re-defining space and time in painting. Analytic Samothrace,” stated the Futurist movement originated wholly in Cubism emerged as the artists used a low-contrast palette of Manifesto. This group of primarily Russia and spread westward with grays, greens, and browns to create shimmering, faceted Italian artists were committed to a surfaces of form, shifting the meaning of Painting from the the emigration of artists and volatile mix of anarchy, speed, and 1913 Synchromism [SINK-ro-mizm]: designers after the initial subject (still life, portrait) to the investigation of form. anything technological. Futurist paintings 1912 Synthetic Cubism By 1912, they had exhausted the The first manifesto issued by American flowering of the revolution. and sculptures depicted movement and artists heralded a movement closely possibilities for Analytic Cubism: form had dissolved almost ideas culled from Cubism and the completely into an intricately faceted surface of limited related to Orphism. Synchromist emerging cinema with Neo-Impressionist compositions typically radiated 1917 color. Incorporating elements of popular culture (newspaper color theory to create images of DeStijl [de-SHTEEL]: clippings, wall paper samples) and infusing their palette with outward from a central point and Also known as Neo-Plasticism, “unique forms of continuity in space.” utilized a vigorous palette. the movement was centered color, they invented assemblage, collage, and papier colle. in Holland. Its artists rejected all recognizable imagery and espoused a strict 1914 Vorticism [VOR-ti-sizm]: adherence to the geometry Cubist and Futurist thought 1912 Rayonism: Existing wholly within of vertical and horizontal were merged in Britain in a Russia, rayonism was characterized by the with a palette limited to fully largely derivative movement “rays,” or shards of color that permeated saturated primary colors, emphasizing mechanical form the compositions. Rayonists created a black, and white. and energetic diagonals. synthesis of Cubism, Futurism, and Orphism.