Informalism or Art Informel is a

pictorial An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

movement from the 1943–1950s, that includes all the abstract and gestural tendencies that developed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and the rest of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, similar to American abstract expressionism started 1946. Several distinguishing trends are identified within the movement such as

lyrical abstraction Lyrical abstraction is either of two related but distinct trends in Post-war Modernist painting: ''European Abstraction Lyrique'' born in Paris, the French art critic Jean José Marchand being credited with coining its name in 1947, considered ...

, matter painting, New Paris School,

tachisme __NOTOC__ Tachisme (alternative spelling: Tachism, derived from the French word ''tache'', stain) is a French style of abstract painting popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The term is said to have been first used with regards to the movement in 19 ...

and art brut. The French art critic

Michel Tapié Michel Tapié (full name: Michel Tapié de Céleyran; 26 February 1909 – 30 July 1987) was a French art critic, curator, and collector. He was an early and influential theorist and practitioner of "tachisme", a French style of abstract painti ...

coined the term "art autre" (other art) in the homonymous book published in 1952 in relation to non-geometric abstract art. It was instrumental in improving the concept of abstract art in France during the Early 1950s. Its use in the expression of political ideologies in South America during the Early 1950s was quite common, as it was seen as the main way to show support for the changing political climate.

Pictorial practices

Within this tendency, each artist allows full freedom of expression to the unforeseen quality of materials (a taste for stains or chance) and randomness of gestures, thus rejecting drawing and control and the traditional conception of painting and its development that evolves from the idea to the completed work via sketches and projects. It’s an open work that a spectator can read freely. The pictorial adventure is completely new; instead of going from the meaning to constructing the corresponding signs, the artist begins with the making of signs and gives the corresponding meaning. In the works of Laurent Jiménez-Balaguer, the language of signs is further deconstructed, allowing for a universal interpretation of a private language. The contribution of music produced the art of musical informalism. Plastic characteristics of this painting are: spontaneity of the gesture, automatism, expressive use of material, the nonexistence of preconceived ideas, the experience that the deed generates the idea, and the work is the place and the privileged moment whereby the artist discovers himself; it is the end of the reproduction of the object for the representation of the theme that becomes the end of the painting, with a sometime calligraphic aspect, referring to a Calligraphic Abstraction in relation to the works of

Georges Mathieu Georges Mathieu (27 January 1921 – 10 June 2012) was a French abstract painter, art theorist, and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He is considered one of the fathers of European lyrical abstraction, a trend of informalism. Bi ...

Hans Hartung Hans Hartung (21 September 1904 – 7 December 1989) was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the Legion d'honneur. Life Hartung was born in Leipzig, Germany into an ar ...

, or

Pierre Soulages Pierre Jean Louis Germain Soulages (; 24 December 1919 – 26 October 2022) was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. In 2014, President François Hollande of France described him as "the world's greatest living artist." His works are hel ...

Uses

Politics

Venezuela

During the 1950s and 1960s, at the height of the Venezuelan dictatorship, Venezuelan artists, such as Carlos Cruz Diez,

Gego Gertrud Louise Goldschmidt (1 August 1912 – 17 September 1994), known as Gego, was a modern Venezuelan visual artist. Gego is perhaps best known for her geometric and kinetic sculptures made in the 1960s and 1970s, which she described as "dra ...

, and others, used Informalist art in response to the shift from dictatorship to democracy that their country was dealing with during this time. Their art represented their feelings on the matter as well as their response to this shift and to represent a lot of huge figures in the change over from a dictatorship into democracy. They used art to represent their support for the shift away from dictatorship during these times of extreme political turbulence in their country.

Improvement on Abstraction

During the Early 1950s, France was a hotbed for Informalist art, referred to as ''Un art autre,'' or ''art informel'', which were terms coined by French art critic Michel Tapié, who published a book by the name of ''Un Art Autre'' the same year as the exhibition of the same name. This style was about more than just the paintings, as it also referred to concepts such as lyrical abstraction and painting styles such as tachisme, and matter painting. Artists were inspired by European paintings, as well as American expressionism, while using automatism as their way of conveying this new style of art. Important artists that came out of this period in France were artists such as

, Jean Paul Riopelle, and

Sam Francis Samuel Lewis Francis (June 25, 1923 – November 4, 1994) was an American painter and printmaker. Early life Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California,

Informalist painters

Collections

References

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Contemporary art movements