Definitions
The art period after the late 1970s when artists explored themes of identity, representation, gender expression, and appropriation through new media.
Postmodernism
Artworks in which hyper-naturalistically rendered images are composed in dream-like combinations.
Surrealism
This term describing revolutionary Early 20th century Modernists once referred to the name for Napoleon Bonaparte's elite soldiers.
Avant Garde
Henri Matisse, (French 1869-1954) French Expressionism/Fauvism, Early 20th century Modernism Oil painting on canvas, MoMA, NY
Dance I
Gordon Parks (American 1912-2006) Mid 20th century Modernism Gelatin silver print Black and white photograph
Women Wedlers
Dadaist term describing works created by gathering, manipulating, and re-arranging or re-contextualizing found objects or existing artworks into new forms.
Ready-Mades
A processed-based art movement emerging in New York City in the 1940s characterized by action painting and colorfield.
Abstract Expressionism
An Early 20th century modernist movement developed by Picasso and volumetric form, and multiple points of perspective.
Cubism
Georges Braque (French 1882-1963) Analytic Cubism, Early 20th century Modernism Mixed media collage on paper Private Collection, Basel, Switzerland
Glass, Carafe, and Newspaper
Jackson Pollock (American 1912-1956) Abstract Expressionism, Action Painting Oil enamel painting on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Autumn Rhythm
A Modernist style where all reference to external reality is removed and the formal elements of art such as line, shape, color, and texture become the main content or subject matter.
Non-Representational Art
A process-based Abstract Expressionist painting technique characterized by gestural brushstrokes, pouring, and scraping.
Action Painting
A conceptual art movement that emerged between the World Wars that challenged the definition of art by using unconventional artistic processes and materials.
DADA
Marcel Duchamp (French 1887-1968) DADA, Early 20th century Modernism Readymade Carte de Visite with pencil added Reproduction of Leonardo’s ‘Mona Lisa’ 7 ¾ x 4 1/8
L.H.O.O.Q
Jasper Johns (American b. 1930) Abstract Expressionism Oil painting on canvas Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
False Start
An art movement emerging in the 1970s characterized by hyper-realistic images directly sourced from photographs
Photorealism
A term meaning, "to take from" that describes a process in which Modernists create new works by borrowing imagery from pre-existing artworks.
Appropriation
A term meaning "wild beasts" referring an expressionist painting style using saturated, vibrant, or unnatural colors rendered with energetic visible brushstrokes.
Fauvism
Salvatore Dali (Spanish 1904-1989, active in Paris) Surrealism, oil on canvas painting, 9 ½ x 13”, MoMA, NY
The Persistence of Memory
Roy Lichtenstein (American 1923-1997) Pop Art Oil on canvas 68 x 68” MoMA, NY
Drowning Girl
Artworks that directly source aspects of mass-media and popular culture to raise questions about 'high' and 'low art' in consumerist society.
Pop Art
A 3-dimensional artwork created by gathering, manipulating, and re-arranging found objects and ready-mades into new forms.
Assemblage
An art movement emerging in NYC in the late 1970s in which graffiti writers used spray paint, stencils, and paste-up posters in un-commissioned public artworks
Neo-Expressionism
Frida Kahlo, (Mexican, 1907-1954) Mid 20th century Realism, oil on canvas painting, 67 x 67” Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City
The Two Fridas
Andy Warhol (American 1928-1987) Pop Art Synthetic polymer paint on 32 canvases Each canvas 20 x 16”,
Campbells Soup Cans