__NOTOC__ Tachisme (alternative spelling: Tachism, derived from the French word ''tache'', stain) is a French style of

abstract Abstract may refer to: * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract of title a summary of the documents affecting title to parcel of land * Abstract (law), a summary of a legal document * Abstract (summary), in academic publishi ...

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The term is said to have been first used with regards to the movement in 1951.Ian Chilvers (2004
''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''
Oxford University Press It is often considered to be the European response and equivalent to

abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

, although there are stylistic differences (American abstract expressionism tended to be more "aggressively raw" than tachisme). It was part of a larger postwar movement known as

Art Informel Informalism or Art Informel is a pictorial movement from the 1943–1950s, that includes all the abstract and gestural tendencies that developed in France and the rest of Europe during the World War II, similar to American abstract expressionis ...

(or ''Informel''), which abandoned geometric abstraction in favour of a more intuitive form of expression, similar to

action painting Action painting, sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical a ...

. Another name for Tachism is Abstraction lyrique (related to American

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 ...

). COBRA is also related to Tachisme, as is Japan's

Gutai group The was a Japanese avant-garde artist group founded in the Hanshin region by young artists under the leadership of the painter Jirō Yoshihara in Ashiya, Japan, in 1954. The group, today one of the most internationally-recognized instances of ...

. After

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the term

School of Paris The School of Paris (french: École de Paris) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance ...

often referred to Tachisme, the

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 enti ...

an equivalent of American abstract expressionism. Important proponents were

Jean-Paul Riopelle Jean-Paul Riopelle, (October 7, 1923 – March 12, 2002) was a Canadian painter and sculptor from Quebec. He had one of the longest and most important international careers of the sixteen signatories of the ''Refus Global'', the 1948 manif ...

Wols Wols was the pseudonym of Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze (27 May 19131 September 1951), a German painter and photographer predominantly active in France. Though broadly unrecognized in his lifetime, he is considered a pioneer of lyrical abstracti ...

Jean Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a ...

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 held ...

Nicolas de Staël Nicolas de Staël (; January 5, 1914 – March 16, 1955) was a French painter of Russian origin known for his use of a thick impasto and his highly abstract landscape painting. He also worked with collage, illustration and textiles. Early life ...

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 art ...

Gérard Schneider Gérard ( French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful consti ...

Serge Poliakoff Serge Poliakoff (January 8, 1900 – October 12, 1969) was a Russian-born French modernist painter belonging to the 'New' Ecole de Paris (Tachisme). Biography Serge Poliakoff was born in Moscow in 1900, the thirteenth of fourteen children. His ...

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 ...

and

Jean Messagier Jean Messagier (Paris, 13 July 1920 – Montbéliard, 10 September 1999) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker and poet. Jean Messagier had his first solo exhibition in Paris at Galerie Arc-en-Ciel in 1947. From 1945 to 1949 the artist worke ...

, among several others. (See list of artists below.) According to Chilvers, the term ''tachisme'' "was first used in this sense in about 1951 (the French critics Charles Estienne and Pierre Guéguen have each been credited with coining it) and it was given wide currency by rench critic and painter

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 paint ...

in his book ''Un Art autre'' (1952)." Tachisme was a reaction to

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

and is characterized by spontaneous brushwork, drips and blobs of paint straight from the tube, and sometimes scribbling reminiscent of calligraphy. Tachisme is closely related to

Informalism Informalism or Art Informel is a pictorial movement from the 1943–1950s, that includes all the abstract and gestural tendencies that developed in France and the rest of Europe during the World War II, similar to American abstract expressionis ...

or Art Informel, which, in its 1950s French art-critical context, referred not so much to a sense of "informal art" as "a lack or absence of form itself"–non-formal or un-form-ulated–and not a simple reduction of formality or formalness. Art Informel was more about the absence of premeditated structure, conception or approach (''sans cérémonie'') than a mere casual, loosened or relaxed art procedure.Troy Dean Harris
A Note on Art Informel. 2009, Bauddhamata 11.6.09.

Artists

Pierre Alechinsky Pierre Alechinsky (born 19 October 1927) is a Belgian artist. He has lived and worked in France since 1951. His work is related to tachisme, abstract expressionism, and lyrical abstraction. Life Alechinsky was born in Schaerbeek. In 1944 he att ...

(born 1927) – Cobra group *

Karel Appel Christiaan Karel Appel (; 25 April 1921 – 3 May 2006) was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-gar ...

(1921–2006) – Cobra group * Frank Avray Wilson (1914–2009) *

Jean René Bazaine Jean René Bazaine (21 December 1904 – 4 March 2001) was a French painter, designer of stained glass windows and writer. He was the great great grandson of the English Court portraitist Sir George Hayter. Studies Bazaine was born in Paris. He ...

(1904–2001) *

Roger Bissière Roger Bissière (22 September 1886 – 2 December 1964) was a French artist. He designed stained glass windows for Metz cathedral and several other churches. Biography Roger Bissière was born 22 September 1886 in Villeréal, Lot-et ...

(1888–1964) *

Ferruccio Bortoluzzi Ferruccio Bortoluzzi (December 6, 1920 – May 25, 2007) was an Italian modern painter, he was one of the founders of the ''Centro di Unità della Cultura L'Arco'' together with venetian artists and writers. Biography Born in Venice in 192 ...

(1920–2007) *

Norman Bluhm Norman Bluhm (March 28, 1921 – February 3, 1999), was an American painter classified as an abstract expressionist, and as an action painter. Biography He was born on March 28, 1921 in Chicago, Illinois. His father Henry Bluhm was of Polish ...

(1921–1999) – American associated with this movement * Bram Bogart (1921–2012) – Cobra group * Alexander Bogen (1916–2010) *

Denis Bowen Denis Bowen (5 April 1921 – 23 March 2006) was a South African artist, gallery director and promoter of abstract and avant-garde art in Britain. He was founder of the New Vision Group and the New Vision Centre Gallery, both of which played a ...

(1921–2006) * Camille Bryen (1907–1977) *

Alberto Burri Alberto Burri (12 March 191513 February 1995; ) was an Italian visual artist, painter, sculptor, and physician based in Città di Castello. He is associated with the matterism of the European informal art movement and described his style as a ...

(1915–1995) *

Beauford Delaney Beauford Delaney (December 30, 1901 – March 26, 1979) was an American modernist painter. He is remembered for his work with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as his later works in abstract expressionism following his move ...

(1901–1979) – American associated with this movement *

(1901–1985) *

Agenore Fabbri Agenore Fabbri (20 May 1911 – 7 November 1998) was an Italian sculptor and painter. He moved between a rigorous expressionism and experimental informalism. Biography Fabbri was born in Quarrata (Tuscany). At the age of 12, he attended the ...

(1911–1998) *

Jean Fautrier Jean Fautrier (May 16, 1898 – July 21, 1964) was a French painter, illustrator, printmaker, and sculptor. He was one of the most important practitioners of Tachisme. Early life Jean Fautrier was born in Paris in 1898. He was given his unwed m ...

(1898–1964) *

Lucio Fontana Lucio Fontana (; 19 February 1899 – 7 September 1968) was an Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor and theorist. He is mostly known as the founder of Spatialism. Early life Born in Rosario, to Italian immigrant parents, he was ...

(1899–1968) *

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,

(1923–1994) – American associated with this movement * Elaine Hamilton (1920–2010) – American associate of Tapié, influenced by this movement *

(1904–1989) *

Jacques Hérold Jacques Hérold (born Herold Blumer; 10 October 191011 January 1987) was a prominent surrealist painter born in Piatra Neamț, Romania. Biography Considered one of the most important late-period Surrealist painters, Hérold was born in a Jewish ...

(1910–1987) * Laurent Jiménez-Balaguer (born 1928) * Paul Jenkins (1923–2012) – American associated with this movement *

Asger Jorn Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest c ...

(1914–1973) – Cobra group * Karel Kuklík (1937–2019) – Czech photographer regarded as a representative of Informel in photography. * Joseph Lacasse (1894–1975) *

René Laubies René Laubies (1917–2006) was a Colonial French painter, translator, traveler and writer associated with the Lyrical Abstraction, Arte Informale and Tachism movements though particularly linked to the Nuagisme (Cloudism) painters.

(1922–2006) * André Lanskoy (1902–1976) * François Lanzi (1916–1988) *

Maria Lassnig Maria Lassnig (8 September 1919 – 6 May 2014) was an Austrian artist known for her painted self-portraits and her theory of "body awareness".Attias, Lauri''Maria Lassnig'', ''Frieze'', May 1996. She was the first female artist to win the Gran ...

(1919–2014) *

(1921–2012) *

(1920–1999) *

Henri Michaux Henri Michaux (; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim ...

(1899–1984) *

Jean Miotte Jean Miotte (1926-March 1, 2016) was a French abstract painter, in the style known as L'Art Informel. His work was preserved and studied by the Miotte Foundation and is in the collections of museums including: MoMA and the Guggenheim in New York ...

(born 1926) *

Ludwig Merwart Ludwig Merwart (1 September 1913 – 13 July 1979) was an influential Austrian painter and graphic artist. He is an important representative of Tachism and was a major force in graphic arts and prints, especially after World War II. His work be ...

(1913–1979) *

Zoran Mušič Zoran Mušič (12 February 1909 – 25 May 2005), baptised as Anton Zoran Musič, was a Slovene painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He was the only painter of Slovene descent who managed to establish himself in the elite cultural circles of I ...

(1909–2005) *

Ernst Wilhelm Nay Ernst Wilhelm Nay (June 11, 1902 – April 8, 1968) was a German painter and graphic designer of classical modernism. He is considered one of the most important painters of German post-war art. Biography Nay came from a Berlin civil servant' ...

(1902–1968) – German influenced by this movement * Gen Paul (1895–1975) *

(1906–1969) * Marie Raymond (1908–1989) *

(1923–2002) *

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (13 June 1908 – 6 March 1992) was a Portuguese abstract painter. She was considered a leading member of the European abstract expressionism movement known as Art Informel. Her works feature complex interiors and c ...

(1908–1992) * Emilio Scanavino (1922–1986) *

(1896–1986) *

Emil Schumacher Emil Schumacher (29 August 1912 in Hagen, Westfalen – 4 October 1999 in San José, Ibiza) was a German painter. He was an important representative of abstract expressionism in post-war Germany. In 2009 the Kunstquartier Hagen was inaugura ...

(1912–1999) *

(1919–2022) *

(1914–1955) *

Pierre Tal-Coat Pierre Tal-Coat (real name Pierre Louis Jacob; 1905–1985) was a French artist considered to be one of the founders of Tachisme. Life and work He was born the son of a fisherman, in the village of Clohars-Carnoët, Finistère in 1905. He atte ...

(1905–1985) - French *

(1909–1987) *

Antoni Tàpies Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tápies (; 13 December 1923 – 6 February 2012) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and art theorist, who became one of the most famous European artists of his generation. Life The son of Josep Tàpies i M ...

(1923–2012) *

Bram van Velde Bram (Abraham Gerardus) van Velde (19 October 1895 – 28 December 1981) was a Dutch painter known for an intensely colored and geometric semi-representational painting style related to Tachisme, and Lyrical Abstraction. He is often seen as mem ...

(1895–1981) * Louis Van Lint (1909–1986) * François Willi Wendt (1909–1970) *

(Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze) (1913–1951) *

Zao Wou Ki Zao Wou-Ki (; 1 February 1920 – 9 April 2013) was a Chinese-French painter. He was a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Zao Wou-Ki graduated from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he studied under Fang Ganmin and Wu ...

(1921–2013)

Notes

References

*Chilvers, Ian
''A dictionary of twentieth-century art''

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

;

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Press, 1998 *Tapié, Michel
''Un art autre où il s'agit de nouveaux dévidages du réel'

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, Gabriel-Giraud et fils, 1952

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It wa ...

1110556 *Tiampo, Ming. ''Gutai and Informel Post-war art in Japan and France, 1945—1965''. (Worldcat link

(Dissertation Abstracts International, 65-01A) , {{westernart Art Informel and Tachisme, French art movements Abstract expressionism Contemporary art movements French contemporary art School of Paris