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Contemporary art

first act
The following table will allow to all the art world professionals and art lovers to make sense of the jargon in the artistic movements of contemporary art. Abstract Expressionism, Pre-Funk, Raw Art, Spatialism, Paris School, Art Informel, Cobra, Assemblage, Junk Art, Gutaï, Funk, Multiple, Kinetic Art, Color Field Painting, Hard-Edge Painting, Neo-Dada, Actionnism, Happening, all these artistic movements are chronologically presented here, with a short explanation of what it is and also the artists that can't be ignored for each movement. This guide will be very useful for every contemporary artist. And also for the collectors, galleries, critics and general public.

Artistic movements from 1945 to today
Contemporary Art

Abstract Expressionism Dripping All-Over Action Painting	1940's end of the 1950's	Willem De Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Tobey, David Smith	American painting, New-York School. Very big sizes. Technique of all-over. Varying degrees of abstraction used to convey strong emotional or expressive content.
Pre-Funk San Francisco School	1940-1960	David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff	American painting, San Francisco. Reactionary movement against the abstract expressionism to New-York. Total refusal of abstraction, well visible stroke of brush, expressive use of color. Portrait very often.
Art Brut Raw Art	1945	Jean Dubuffet, Gaston Chaissac	Europe and United States. Artists "...unharmed of artistic culture": the Dubuffet's raw. It's not to consider as the art of madmen: what is madness?...
Spazialismo Spatialism	post-war 1945	Lucio Fontana	Italy and Argentina. Takes account of new techniques made possible by scientific progress (e.g. television, neon lighting). Matter has to be transformed into energy and invade space in dynamic form.
Ecole de Paris Paris School	1945-1960	Jean-Michel Atlan, Jean Bazaine, Camille Bryen, Olivier Debré, Jean Degottex, Jean Dubuffet, Jean Fautrier, Hans Hartung, Toshimitsu Imaï, André Lanskoy, Alfred Manessier, Georges Mathieu, Serge Poliakoff, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Pierre Soulages, Maria Viera Da Silva, Nicolas de Staël, Pierre Tal-Coat, Wols.	Term applied to the loose affiliation of artists working in Paris.
Art Informel Tachism Matter Painting Lyrical Abstraction	1945-1960	Jean-Michel Atlan, Pierre Soulages, Bram Van Velde, Nicolas de Staël HansJean Dubuffet, Antoni Tàpies Hartung, Gérard Schneider Georges Mathieu, Camille Bryen, Wols	Europe and USA. Brushwork is generally gestural or calligraphic. Refusal of figuration while not abolishing the references to the reality. Expressive use of the pictorial matter and heterogeneous materials.
Cobra	1948-1951	Cornelis Corneille, Pierre Alechinsky, Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, Constant	"Co" for Copenhagen, "br" for Bruxelles and "a" for Amsterdam. Fiery technique, colors with high contrasts. Figurative painting being inspired by primitive arts, popular arts and prehistoric arts. Inspired by Marxism, the artists reject Western culture and its aesthetics.
Assemblage	since the 1950's	Joseph Beuys, Louise Nevelson	Especially in United States. Kind of collage in three dimensions with inclusion of real objects and materials. Is inspired by Cubism. Technique favouring the banal objects in every day.
Junk Art	especially since the 1950's	César, John Chamberlain, Jean Tinguely	In Europe and United States. Sculpture which rescues the industrial wastes in order to insert them in 'assemblages': César's compressions, Tinguely's rusty automatons...
Gutaï	1954-1972	Jiro Yoshihara, Kazuo Shiraga, Sadamasa Motonaga	Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai: means Concrete Art Association. Japanese group of artists. They began experimenting in performance art. They practised also kinetic art.
Funk	since 1951	Roy de Forest, Ken Price	Especially in California. Opposition to the formalism and to the intellectual ambitions of the Art from New-York. Use of found objects. Working with ceramics which is inserted in objects-paintings, trompe l'oeil still life... Provocative art, practising readily the heteregeneous accumulations.
Multiple	since 1955	Yaacov Agam, Jean Tinguely	Artwork which is published to several copies. Limited edition. Questions the dogm of the uniqueness of the artwork.
Kinetic Art	1950's-1960's	Jean Tinguely, Jésus-Raphaël Soto, Alexander Calder, Pol Bury	Europe and also Latin America, United States and Israel. Works of art concerned with real and apparent movement: machines, mobiles and light objects in actual motion. Includes also works in virtual or apparent movement, which could be placed under the denomination of Op Art.
Color-Field Painting	1950's-1960's	Morris Louis, Sam Gilliam, Jack Bush, Gene Davis	United States and Canada. Abstract Expressionists. Spectacular use of the color. The painting makes full use of its bidimensional nature. Paintings presenting vast ranges of uniform painting in which is excluded every illusion of depth. Compositions which are spontaneously elaborated.
Hard-Edge Painting	1950's-1960's	Josef Albers, Ellsworth Kelly	United States. Abstract painting. Resistant to the body movements of the abstract expressionism. Paintings present a well-organized surface in a geometry which is absolutely geometrical. Assumes a precision totally impersonal. Limited palette, even monochrome.
Neo-Dada	1950's-1960's	Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns	United States. Affinities with Dada: handling of paradox and ambiguity, recovery of found objects, "sculptures" of daily objects. Figuration rooted in daily life. Conserves the gestural appearance, the big dimensions and the pictorial thickenings.
Esthétique de l'Instantané	1950's-1970's	Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank	Especially in United States . The simplest form of the photography. Banality of subjects, simplicity of style.
Actionnism	towards 1960	Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch	To Vienne. Preceding body art. Works under the sign of erotic violence. Thought to Freudian themes by means of ritualized performances. The importance is given to the artist as a participant in the process of production, as a witness to creation rather than as a creator.
Happening	beginning of the 1960's	Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, Al Hansen, Jim Dine	A kind of public intervention. Collage of done or seen actions to different places at the same time and to different moments. The manifestations of Happening melt painting, music, movies, dances, poetries, are often complete improvisations and attach a preponderant role to the public who became a real actor.

Second act
The following table will allow to all the art world professionals and art lovers to make sense of the jargon in the artistic movements of contemporary art. Appropriation, Fluxus, Shaped canvas, Nouveau Réalisme, Pop'Art, Video, Conceptual art, Body Art, Art and Technique, Hyperrealism, Minimal Art, Land-Art, New Realism, Postminimalism, Op'Art, Cybernetical Art, Narrative Art, Performance Art, Favouring aestheticism photography, all these artistic movements are chronologically presented here, with a short explanation of what it is and also the artists that can't be ignored for each movement. This guide will be very useful for every contemporary artist. And also for the collectors, galleries, critics and general public.

Appropriation	1960's	Artistes des courants: Nouveau Réalisme, néo-Dada	France. Fundamental activity of Nouveau Réalisme. It goes hand in hand with the quotation.
Fluxus	1960's	Nam June Paik, George Maciunas, John Cage, George Brecht, Yoko Ono	International group of artists. It is closed to Performance Art, Happenings. Importance accorded to the hazard. The works often required the participation of a spectator in order to be completed.
Shaped canvas	1960's	Frank Stella, Richard Smith	United States and Europe. Canvas or painting which is cut up. Minimalist paintings. Painting become an autonomous object.
Nouveau Réalisme Décollage Accumulation	1960's	Yves Klein, Arman, Christo, César, Mimmo Rotella, François Dufrêne Ben	France. Fundamental gesture of appropriation of the reality: "alive paintbrushes" of Yves Klein, compressions of César...
Pop'Art	1960's	Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton, Roy Lichtenstein	England and United States. Painting, sculpture and printmaking. Pop'ular Art. Use forms as advertising, science-fiction illustration and automobile styling.
Video	since the 1960's	Ant Farm, T.R. Uthco, Paul Kos	United States, Canada, Occidental Europe, Australia. As a technical way, video is integrated into performances or installations.
Conceptual Art Semiotics	1960's-1970's	Dennis Oppenheim, Les Levine Joseph Kosuth	Europe, United States, Australia, Japan. Idea is more important than object, in a such a way that the concrete realization of the artwork is not necessary.
Body Art	1960's-1970's	Gilbert & George, Gina Pane, Chris Burden	United States, Europe and Australia. Takes the body as medium of the artistic expression. Action executed in public.
Art and Technique	1960's-1970's	Vassilakis Takis, Otto Piene	United States, Occidental Europe. Works of artists in close collaboration with scientists.
Hyperrealism	1960's-1970's	Malcolm Morley, Robert Bechtle, Chuck Close, John De Andrea, Richard Estes, Malcolm Morley	United States. Painting and sculpture. So detailed and precise that art itself looks real. Hyperrealist paintings look like photos and Hyperrealism sculptures look like real objects.
Minimalism or Minimal Art Formalism	1960's-1970's	Richard Serra, Agnes Martin	United States. Style characterized by an impersonal austerity, plain geometric configurations and industrially processed materials. Form is content.
Land-Art In situ	1960's-1970's	Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, Richard Long, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Walter De Maria, Daniel Buren	United States, Netherlands, England. Works directly with nature. Sculptures on the same scale as landscape itself. Almost inaccessible, situated far from human settlements in deserts or abandoned areas. Public can see the works in the form of preparatory drawings, photographs or films.
New Realism	1960's-1970's	Alice Neel, Lucian Freud, Philip Pearlstein	United States, England. Very big sizes, simplification of colors, flattening out of the painting' space.
Postminimalisme Process Art Anti-Form	1960's-1970's	Hans Haacke, Eva Hesse, Robert Smithson	United States , Occidental Europe. Use poor materials such felt or latex. Characterized by the perishable, short-lived, even organic aspect of the artworks.
Op'Art	end of the 1960's	Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley, Richard Anuszkiewicz	Europe and United States. Abbreviation of 'optical art'. Optical illusions which produce a feeling of movement. These coercive suggestions of movement are created by lines and patterns in black and white.
Cybernetical Art	since the end of the 1960's	Herbert Franke, Wen-ying Tsai	Europe and United States. Forms of art which use modern techniques as computer, lasers, holograms, fax, photocopy or transmissions with satellite.
Narrative Art Mythologies personnelles Nouvelle Figuration	since the end of the 1960's	Valerio Adami, Hervé Télémaque, Bruce et Norman Yonemoto, Gilles Aillaud, Eduardo Arroyo, Leonardo Cremonini, Equipo Cronica, Henri Cueco, Erro, Peter Klasen, Jacques Monory, Bernard Rancillac, Antonio Recalcati, Gérard Tisserand	Europe and United States. Gives a visual representation of some kind of story, sometimes based on literary work, in all its forms: installations, paintings, videos... Two leanings: the Nouvelle Figuration which is politicized and the Mythologies Personnelles, more intimists.
Performance Art	since the end of the 1960's	Laurie Anderson, Robert Wilson	Europe, United States, Australia. Characterized by an action before a public in which intervene sound art, dance, poetry, theatre or video.
Favouring aestheticism photography	since the end of the 1960's	Robert Mapplethorpe, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Bruce Weber	United States and Occidental Europe. Diversion of the aesthetic of fashion photography. Often exalts body of woman, but also subjects as household refuse. Has contributed to masking the boundary between art and advertising.

Third act
The following table will allow to all the art world professionals and art lovers to make sense of the jargon in the artistic movements of contemporary art. Equipo Cronica, Arte Povera, Supports/Surfaces, Bad Painting, Mono-Ha, Installation; Aesthetic of Communication, Handled Photography, Neo-Expressionism, Meubles d'Artistes, New Image Painting, Pattern Painting, Post-modernism, Figuration libre, Graffiti, Neo-Geo, Trans-avant-garde, Simulationism, Neo-Kitsch, Ideorealism, all these artistic movements are chronologically presented here, with a short explanation of what it is and also the artists that can't be ignored for each movement. This guide will be very useful for every contemporary artist. And also for the collectors, galleries, critics and general public.

Equipo Cronica	1964-1981	Manolo Valdès, Rafael Solbes, Juan Antonio Toledo	Spain. Characterized by using strongly narrative figurative images that were formally indebted to Pop Art and that had a pronounced social and political content directed primarily against Franco's regime.
Arte Povera or Art Pauvre	1967-1971	Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto	Italy. Means impoverished art. Group of Italian artists who attempted to break down the 'dichotomy between art and life', mainly through the creation of happenings and sculptures made from everyday materials.
Supports/Surfaces	1969-1972	Claude Viallat, Simon Hantaï	France. Shows the reality of canvas without stretcher or frame, by impression, folding, plugging or damping.
Bad Painting	1970's	Neil Jenney, Joan Brown, Malcom Morley, Robert Longo, David Salla	United States. Against the 'politically correct' of Minimalism and Conceptualism, against the idea of a predicted death of the painting. Figurative painting, gladly baroque. Generous thickenings, overabundances of color, colored mismatches. No respect of the classical rules, decentred compositions...
Mono-Ha	1970's	Nobuo Sekine, Shingo Honda, Kishio Suga	Japan. Means 'object school'. Natural objects: trees, stones and earth. Manmade objects such as beams, girders, concrete, paper and glass. The importance is given to the relationship between object and object or between objects and the spaces they occupy.
Installation	since the1970's	Daniel Buren, Michelangelo Pistoletto	United States and Europe. Artworks which are designed and fitted to a specific interior. Active performing of the spectator.
Aesthetic of Communication	since the 1970's	Fred Forest, Guerrilla Girls	Europe and United States. Critical search about the media and about the techniques of manipulating the opinion. Works under the form of newspapers, speeches in the dailies or in the television programmes, advertising posters...
Handled Photography	since the second half of the 1970's	Arnulf Rainer, Lucas Samaras, Ellen Brooks	Europe and United States. Technique of the show and manipulation sometimes on the printing itself.
Neo- Expressionism	1970's-1980's	Georg Baselitz, Julian Schnabel, Gérard Garouste, Karl Horst Hödicke, Markus Lüpertz, A.R. Penck	Europe, Australia, United States. Figurative, expressionist and colorful painting. Return to the traditional forms of the easel painting and to the modelled or direct cutting sculpture.
Meubles d'artistes	since the 1970's	Scott Burton, Isamu Noguchi, Memphis	Especially in United States. Painters, sculptors and architects are creating pieces of furniture generally designed as unique objects sold in galleries: separation between art and craft industry. Piece of furniture as a medium for the artistic expression.
New Image Painting	1970's-1980's	Philip Guston, Jonathan Borofsky, Jennifer Bartlett, Robert Moskowitz	United States. Return to the figurative painting characterized by simple compositions and a technique almost infantile.
Pattern Painting	1970's-1980's	Miriam Schapiro, Valerie Jaudon, Robert Zakanitch, Robert Kushner	United States. Group of artists who refuse to take into consideration the only Occidental art and who are inspired by craft industry and culture from the whole world. They continue the work of a visual and purely decorative research.
Post-modernism		Artistes des mouvements suivants: Figuration libre, Simulationnisme, Pittura Colta, nouveaux Fauves, Art Académique	Return of the figuration. Erasing of the old distinctions between learned art and popular culture.
Figuration libre Graffiti	since the 1980's	Keith Haring, Robert Combas, Lee Quinones, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Speedy Graphito, Keith Haring, Kenny Sharf, Rhonda Zwillinger	France and New-York. Figurative painting which is spontaneous, primitive, colorful, inspired by strip cartoons and Rock.
Neo-Geo	1980's	Jeff Koons, Meyer Vaisman	New-York. Abbreviation of 'Neo- Geometric'. Use of domestic objects as sculptural material.
Trans-avant-garde	1980's	Enzo Cucchi, Remo Salvadori	Italy. Figurative painting and scuplture. Borrowing of pictures to art history, popular culture and primitive cultures.
Simulationnism	1980's	Sherrie Levine, David Salle	United States and Europe. Resorting to the isolated, fixed or in movement picture which is presented out of context and boiling down to its only quality of abstract sign. Appropriation of the object which is redrawn, repainted or rephotographed.
Neo-Kitsch	1981-1987	Kenny Scharf, Rhonda Zwillinger	New-York. Loud artworks which gaily mix styles and exalt with jubilation the bad taste under all its forms.