An art movement is a tendency or style in
art with a specific art philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined within a number of years. Art movements were especially important in
modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...
, when each consecutive movement was considered a new
avant-garde movement.
Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of
perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality (
figurative art). By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new
style which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy (
abstract art).
Concept
According to theories associated with
modernism
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
and also the concept of
postmodernism, ''art movements'' are especially important during the period of time corresponding to
modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...
. The period of time called "modern art" is posited to have changed approximately halfway through the 20th century and art made afterward is generally called
contemporary art
Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...
.
Postmodernism in visual art begins and functions as a parallel to
late modernism and refers to that period after the "modern" period called contemporary art.
[''The Citadel of Modernism Falls to Deconstructionists'', – 1992 critical essay, ''The Triumph of Modernism'', 2006, Hilton Kramer, pp 218–221.] The postmodern period began during
late modernism (which is a contemporary continuation of modernism), and according to some theorists postmodernism ended in the 21st century.
[''Post-Modernism: The New Classicism in Art and Architecture'' Charles Jencks][William R. Everdell, ''The First Moderns: Profiles in the Origins of Twentieth-century Thought'', University of Chicago Press, 1997, p4. ] During the period of time corresponding to "modern art" each consecutive movement was often considered a new
avant-garde.
Also during the period of time referred to as "modern art" each movement was seen corresponding to a somewhat grandiose rethinking of all that came before it, concerning the visual arts. Generally there was a commonality of visual style linking the works and artists included in an art movement. Verbal expression and explanation of movements has come from the artists themselves, sometimes in the form of an
art manifesto,
["Poetry of the Revolution. Marx, Manifestos, and the Avant-Gardes" introduction, Martin Puchner]
Retrieved April 4, 2006 and sometimes from
art critics and others who may explain their understanding of the meaning of the new art then being produced.
In the
visual arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...
, many artists, theorists, art critics, art collectors, art dealers and others mindful of the unbroken continuation of modernism and the continuation of modern art even into the contemporary era, ascribe to and welcome new philosophies of art as they appear.
Postmodernist theorists posit that the idea of art movements are no longer as applicable, or no longer as discernible, as the notion of art movements had been before the postmodern era. There are many theorists however who doubt as to whether or not such an era was actually a fact;
or just a passing fad.
The term refers to tendencies in
visual art, novel ideas and
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
, and sometimes
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
. In
music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
it is more common to speak about
genre
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
s and
styles instead. See also
cultural movement, a term with a broader connotation.
As the names of many art movements use the -ism suffix (for example
cubism and
futurism), they are sometimes referred to as ''isms''.
19th century
File:Jacques-Louis David - The Coronation of Napoleon (1805-1807).jpg, Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
, '' The Coronation of Napoleon'', (1806), Musée du Louvre, neoclassicism
Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...
File:La Liberté guidant le peuple - Eugène Delacroix - Musée du Louvre Peintures RF 129 - après restauration 2024.jpg, Eugène Delacroix, '' Liberty Leading the People'' 1830, Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
File:Cole Thomas The Course of Empire The Savage State 1836.jpg, Thomas Cole, '' The Course of Empire: The Savage State'', 1836, Hudson River School
File:Gustave Courbet 018.jpg, Gustave Courbet, ''Stone-Breakers'', 1849, Realist School
File:corot.villedavray.750pix.jpg, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, , '' Ville d'Avray'' National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Barbizon SchoolImpressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
File:Van Gogh - Starry Night - Google Art Project.jpg, Vincent van Gogh, '' The Starry Night,'' 1889, Post-Impressionism
File:The Scream.jpg, Edvard Munch, '' The Scream'', early example of Expressionism
*
Academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
, –20th century
*
Aesthetic Movement
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American Barbizon school
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American Impressionism
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Amsterdam Impressionism
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Art Nouveau, –1910
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Arts and Crafts Movement, founded 1860s
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Barbizon school, –1870s
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Biedermeier, –1848
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Cloisonnism, –1900s (decade)
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Danish Golden Age -1850s
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Decadent movement
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Divisionism, –1910s
*
Düsseldorf School
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Etching revival
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Expressionism, s–1930s
*
German Romanticism
German Romanticism () was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to English Romanticism, the German vari ...
, –1850s
*
*
Hague School, –1890s
*
Heidelberg School, –1900s (decade)
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Hoosier Group
*
Hudson River School, –1900s (decade)
*
Hurufiyya movement mid-20th-century in North Africa and the Middle East
*
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
, –1920s
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Incoherents, -1890s
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Jugendstil
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Les Nabis, s–1900s (decade)
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Les Vingt
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Letras y figuras, –1900s
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Luminism
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Lyon School
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Macchiaioli –1900s (decade)
*
Mir iskusstva, founded 1898
*
Modernism
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
, -ongoing
*
Naturalism
*
Nazarene, –1830
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Neo-classicism, –1900s (decade)
*
Neo-impressionism, –1910s
*
Norwegian romantic nationalism, –1867
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Norwich School, founded 1803
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Orientalism
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Peredvizhniki
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Pointillism, –1910s
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Pont-Aven School, –1890s
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Post-Impressionism, –1900s (decade)
*
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
*
Realism, –1900s (decade)
*
Realism, –1900s (decade)
*
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
, –1890s
*
Secession groups, s–1910s
*
Society of American Artists, –1906
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Spanish Eclecticism, -1890s
*
Symbolism
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Synthetism, –1900s (decade)
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Tipos del PaÃs
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Tonalism, –1915
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Vienna Secession, founded 1897
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Volcano School
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White Mountain art, –1870s
*
Spiritualist art, –
20th century
1900–1921
File:Wassily Kandinsky, 1903, The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter), oil on canvas, 52.1 x 54.6 cm, Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Zurich.jpg, Wassily Kandinsky, 1903, '' Der Blaue Reiter'' painting, '' Der Blaue Reiter''
File:Family of Saltimbanques.JPG, Pablo Picasso, '' Family of Saltimbanques,'' 1905, Picasso's Rose Period
File:Matisse-Open-Window.jpg, Henri Matisse, '' The Open Window'', 1905, Fauvism
File:Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.jpg, Pablo Picasso, '' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'', 1907, Proto-Cubism
File:Violin and Candlestick.jpg, Georges Braque 1910, Analytic Cubism
File:Supremus 55 (Malevich, 1916).jpg, Kazimir Malevich, ''(Supremus No. 58)'', Museum of Art, 1916, Suprematism
File:Marcel Duchamp, 1917, Fountain, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.jpg, Marcel Duchamp, '' Fountain,'' 1917, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, Dada
File:Albert Gleizes, 1920, Femme au gant noir (Woman with Black Glove), oil on canvas, 126 x 100 cm. Private collection.jpg, Albert Gleizes, '' Woman with Black Glove'', 1920, Crystal Cubism
File:Tableau I, by Piet Mondriaan.jpg, Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...
, ''Tableau I'', 1921, De Stijl
De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...
*
Academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
, (decade)-ongoing
*
American realism, s–1920s
*
Analytic Cubism, –1912
*
Art Deco, –1939
*
Ashcan School, s–1920s
*
Australian tonalism, –1930s
*
Berliner Sezession, founded 1898
*
Bloomsbury Group, (decade)–1960s
*
Brandywine School
*
Camden Town Group, –1913
*
Constructivism, –1922, 1920s–1940s
*
Cubism, –1919
*
Cubo-Futurism, –1918
*
Czech Cubism, –1914
*
Dada, –1922
*
Der Blaue Reiter, –1914
*
De Stijl
De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...
, –1931
*
Deutscher Werkbund, founded 1907
*
Die Brücke, founded 1905
*
Expressionism, s–1930s
*
Fauvism, –1910
*
Futurism, –1916
*
German Expressionism, –1930
*
Group of Seven (Canada), –1930s
*
Jack of Diamonds, founded 1909
*
Luminism (Impressionism), (decade)–1930s
*
Modernism
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
, –ongoing
*
Neo-classicism, (decade)–ongoing
*
Neo-primitivism, from 1913
*
Neue Künstlervereinigung München
*
Novembergruppe, founded 1918
*
Objective abstraction, –1936
*
Orphism, –1913
*
Photo-Secession, founded
*
Pittura Metafisica, –1920
*
Proto-Cubism, –1908
*
Purism, –1930s
*
Rayonism
*
Section d'Or, –1914
*
Suprematism, formed –1916
*
Synchromism, founded 1912
*
Synthetic Cubism, –1919
*
The Eight, –1918
*
The Ten, –1920
*
Vorticism, founded 1914
1920–1945
File:Theo van Doesburg Composition XX.jpg, Theo van Doesburg, ''Composition XX'', 1920, De Stijl
De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...
File:The Elephant Celebes.jpg, Max Ernst, '' The Elephant Celebes'', 1921, Tate, Surrealism
File:NY Met demuth figure 5 gold.JPG, Charles Demuth, '' I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold'', 1928, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Precisionism
File:Grant Wood - American Gothic - Google Art Project.jpg, Grant Wood, '' American Gothic'', 1930, Art Institute of Chicago, Social Realism
*
American Scene painting, –1950s
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Arbeitsrat für Kunst
*
Art Deco
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Bauhaus, –1933
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Concrete art
*
Der Ring
*
De Stijl
De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...
, –1931
*
École de Paris
*
Geometric abstraction
*
Gruppo 7
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International Style, –1970s
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Kapists,
*
Magic realism
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Neo-romanticism
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Neue Sachlichkeit
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Novecento Italiano
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Novembergruppe, founded 1918
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Os renovadores, founded 1922
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Precisionism, –1940s
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Regionalism (art), –1940s
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Return to order, 1918–1922
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Scuola Romana, –1945
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Social Realism, –1960s
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Socialist Realism
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Surrealism, –1960s
*
Universal Constructivism, –1970
1940–1965
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Abstract expressionism
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Action painting
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Arte Povera
Arte Povera (; literally "poor art") was an art movement that took place between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s in major cities throughout Italy and above all in Turin. Other cities where the movement was also important are ...
*
Art Informel
*
Assemblage
*
Bay Area Figuration
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Beatnik art
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Chicago Imagists
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CoBrA, c. 1948–1951
*
Color Field painting
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Combine painting
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De-collage
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Fluxus
Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...
*
Happening
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Hard-Edge Painting
*
Kinetic Art
*
Kitchen Sink School
*
Lettrism
*
Lyrical abstraction
*
Neo-Dada
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New Brutalism
*
Northwest School
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Nouveau Réalisme
*
Op Art
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Organic abstraction
*
Outsider Art
*
Panic Movement
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Pop Art
*
Post-painterly abstraction
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Process art
*
Public art
*
Retro art
*
Serial art
*
Shaped canvas
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Situationist International
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Tachism
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Video art
1965–2000
File:Art & Language, Untitled Painting (1965), Tate Modern, London - 20130627.jpg, Art & Language
Art & Language is an English conceptual artists' collaboration that has undergone many changes since it was created around 1967. The group was founded by artists who shared a common desire to combine intellectual ideas and concerns with the cre ...
, ''Untitled Painting'' (1965), Tate, Conceptual art
File:Art-LanguageV3No1-1974.jpg, Art & Language
Art & Language is an English conceptual artists' collaboration that has undergone many changes since it was created around 1967. The group was founded by artists who shared a common desire to combine intellectual ideas and concerns with the cre ...
, '' Art-Language Vol.3 No.1'' (1974), Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art, Conceptual art
File:She Who Must Be Obeyed tony smith007.JPG, Tony Smith, ''She Who Must Be Obeyed'', 1975, Tony Smith Department of Labour Building, Minimalism
File:Unititled (Corner Piece) by Dan Flavin, Tate Liverpool.jpg, Dan Flavin, ''Untitled (Corner Piece),'' 1930, Tate Liverpool, Installation art
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Abstract Illusionism
*
Appropriation
*
Arte Povera
Arte Povera (; literally "poor art") was an art movement that took place between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s in major cities throughout Italy and above all in Turin. Other cities where the movement was also important are ...
*
Art Photography
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Body Art
*
Classical Realism
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Conceptual Art
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Dogme 95
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Earth Art
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Figuration Libre
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Funk art
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Graffiti art
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Hyperrealism
*
Installation art
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Internet Art
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Land art
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Late modernism
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Light and Space
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Lowbrow
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Lyrical Abstraction
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Mail art
*
Massurrealism
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Maximalism
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Minimalism
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Neo-expressionism
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Neo-figurative
*
Neo-pop
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Performance Art
*
Postminimalism
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Postmodernism
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Photorealism
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Psychedelic art
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Relational art
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Site-specific art
*
Sound Art
Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary Time-based media, time-based Artistic medium, medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in Cross-genr ...
*
Transavanguardia
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Young British Artists
21st century
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Algorithmic art
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Altermodernism
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Artificial intelligence art
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Biomorphism
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Computer art
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Computer graphics
Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. ...
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Craftivism
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Digital art
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Electronic art
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Environmental art
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Excessivism
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Internet art
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Intervention art
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Metamodernism
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Modern European ink painting
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Neo-minimalism
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New media art
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Pixel art
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Postinternet
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Post-postmodernism
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Relational art
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Remodernism
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Social practice (art)
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SoFlo Superflat
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Stuckism International
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Superflat
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Superstroke
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Transgressive art
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Toyism
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Unilalianism
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Vaporwave
See also
*
20th-century Western painting
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Art periods
*
List of art movements
*
Post-expressionism
*
Western art history
References
External links
Art Movements since 1900at the-artists.org ()
Compiled by Dr.Witcombe, Sweet Briar College, Virginia.
WebMuseum, ParisThemes index and detailed glossary of art periods.
{{Authority control
History of art
Style
Visual arts