Art History Terms Romanticism-Conceptual Art & Performance

ROMANTICISM (c. 1800–1850)

What it is:
Emotion, drama, political upheaval, and the Sublime. Anti-Enlightenment rationality.

How to spot it:

• Dramatic lighting

• Big emotional gestures, chaos, violence

• Exotic or political subjects

• Emphasis on human suffering

• Brushwork is loose, expressive, stormy

• Nature portrayed as overwhelming or terrifying (the Sublime)

Romanticism emphasizes emotion, drama, and the Sublime, often using loose brushwork, political themes, and depictions of overwhelming natural or emotional forces.

The Sublime

Definition: Human awe mixed with terror; nature or violence so powerful it overwhelms rationality.
Spot it: Storms, waves, shipwrecks, fire, darkness, disasters, violent skies.
Artworks from your list:

• Turner, The Slave Ship — ultimate Sublime example, terrifying sea + morality.

• Gericault, Raft of the Medusa — desperation, chaos, nature overpowering humanity.

• Goya, Third of May — emotional intensity, martyrdom, darkness.

Political Romanticism

Definition: Uses drama and heroism to comment on political events.
Spot it: Flags, revolutions, executions, heroic suffering.
Example:

• Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People — personification of freedom.

Romantic Brushwork

Spot it: Energetic, visible strokes; swirling atmosphere (Turner), rugged strokes (Goya).

EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY (1830s–1870s)

What it is:
The birth of photography; documenting reality, science, and war.

How to spot it:

• Monochrome images (black & white or sepia)

• Very still subjects (long exposure)

• Sharp detail (daguerreotype) or paper texture (albumen)

• Scientific, documentary, or everyday scenes

Early photography focuses on scientific accuracy, documentary truth, and new ways of capturing time and reality.

Daguerreotype

Definition: Earliest photographic process on a polished metal plate.
Spot it:

• Extreme detail

• Mirror-like reflective surface

• Small size
  Example:

• Daguerre, Still Life in Artist’s Studio

Albumen Print

Definition: Early paper photograph using egg whites.
Spot it:

• Glossy surface, sepia tone

• Used for war documentation
  Example:

• Mathew Brady, Confederate Dead at Fredericksburg

Chronophotography

Definition: Sequential photos studying movement.
Spot it:

• Grid-like layout

• Multiple frames of one moving subject
  Example:

• Muybridge, Horse in Motion

REALISM (1850s–1860s)

What it is:
Art showing real, modern life with no idealization — often political.

How to spot it:

• Ordinary people (workers, the poor)

• Gritty, unglamorous reality

• Earthy palettes, rough textures

• Everyday scenes in trains, streets, rural life

• Anti-academic, anti-ideal beauty

Realism rejects idealized subjects in favor of depicting modern life, often using rough textures and unposed scenes to address social inequality and contemporary reality.

Realism

Definition: Depicts modern life truthfully, without romanticizing.
Spot it:

• The poor, workers, everyday struggle

• Brown/earth tones

• Unposed, direct scenes
  Examples:

• Courbet, The Painter’s Studio — manifesto of Realism.

• Daumier, The Third Class Carriage — working-class hardship.

• Manet, Déjeuner sur l’Herbe — confrontational modern subject.

Social Commentary

Definition: Art exposes inequality or injustice.
Examples from your list:

• Daumier’s depiction of poverty

• Courbet’s anti-academic stance

Anti-Academic Art

Definition: Rejection of idealized historical or mythological subjects.
Spot it:

• Ordinary subject matter

• Unfinished look

• Visible brushstrokes
  Example: Manet’s shocking modern figures.

IMPRESSIONISM (1870s–1880s)

What it is:
Capturing fleeting moments, light, modern life, and atmosphere.

How to spot it:

• Loose, broken brushstrokes

• Focus on light effects

• Everyday leisure scenes

• Outdoor scenes (en plein air)

• High-key color palette

• Snapshot-style cropping (influenced by photography)

Impressionism captures the fleeting effects of light and modern life using broken color, loose brushwork, and compositions influenced by photography and urban experience.

Broken Color / Optical Mixing

Definition: Colors applied in small strokes that blend in the eye, not the palette.
Spot it: Flickering color, vibrating surfaces.
Examples:

• Monet, Impression: Sunrise

• Renoir, Bal du Moulin de la Galette

En Plein Air

Definition: Painting outdoors to capture natural light.
Spot it:

• Quick, spontaneous brushwork

• Landscapes or outdoor city life

Modernity

Definition: Depicting modern urban leisure, fashion, and social spaces.
Examples:

• Degas, L’Absinthe — café life

• Cassatt, In the Loge — women in modern public spaces

Photography Influence

Spot it:

• Cropped figures

• Off-center compositions

• Slice-of-life moments
  Examples: Degas’ café scenes and theaters.

POST-IMPRESSIONISM (1880s–1900s)

What it is:
Artists reacting against Impressionism’s focus on surface effects, seeking structure, emotion, symbolism, or psychology.

How to spot it:

• Still uses bright color BUT more intentional

• Less about light, more about meaning

• Each artist has a very distinct personal style

Pointillism / Divisionism

Definition: Painting with tiny dots of pure color that blend optically.
Spot it:

• Close up = dots

• Far away = solid image

• Scientific approach to color
  Example:

• Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

What to say:
Seurat uses Pointillism to apply scientific color theory, emphasizing order and structure over Impressionist spontaneity.

Expressive Color

Definition: Color used to convey emotion, not realism.
Spot it:

• Intense blues, yellows, swirling strokes

• Emotion feels heightened or anxious
  Example:

• Van Gogh, Starry Night

What to say:
Van Gogh uses expressive color and energetic brushwork to communicate emotional and psychological intensity.

Formal Structure

Definition: Reducing nature into geometric forms.
Spot it:

• Figures feel heavy, solid, architectural

• Calm but monumental
  Example:

• Cézanne, The Large Bathers

What to say:
Cézanne sought underlying structure in nature, paving the way for Cubism.

Modern Urban Alienation

Definition: Nightlife, performers, psychological distance.
Spot it:

• Cropped figures

• Artificial lighting

• Emotional isolation
  Example:

• Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge

SYMBOLISM

What it is:
Art that represents ideas, dreams, myths, and inner psychology, rejecting realism.

How to spot it:

• Mythological or dreamlike scenes

• Unreal color or atmosphere

• Narrative is unclear or symbolic

Definition: Visual language of metaphor and inner meaning.
Spot it:

• Figures stand for ideas, not real people
  Examples:

• Gauguin, Where Do We Come From?

• Moreau, Oedipus and the Sphinx

Mysticism / Spiritual Allegory

Definition: Art exploring existential or spiritual questions.
Spot it:

• Ancient myths

• Otherworldly tone
  Example:

• Gauguin’s philosophical narrative painting

Lithograph

Definition: Print made from stone using oily ink.
Spot it:

• Grainy texture

• Black-and-white dream imagery
  Example:

• Redon, The Eye Like a Strange Balloon…

AMERICAN REALISM

What it is:
Truthful depictions of American life, including violence, labor, and urban struggle.

How to spot it:

• Harsh realism

• Direct confrontation

• American settings

Surgical Realism

Definition: Unfiltered depiction of medical science.
Example:

• Eakins, The Gross Clinic

Urban Grit

Definition: Violence and chaos of modern cities.
Example:

• Bellows, Both Members of This Club

MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY

What it is:
Photography becomes art — focus on form, structure, and abstraction.

Straight Photography

Definition: Sharp focus, no manipulation.
Spot it:

• Clean lines

• Geometric shapes
  Examples:

• Stieglitz, Flatiron Building

• Strand, From the Viaduct

• Weston, Pepper No. 30

FAUVISM

What it is:
Emotion through wild, non-natural color.

How to spot it:

• Extremely bright color

• Flattened space

• Simplified forms

Arbitrary Color

Definition: Color chosen for emotion, not realism.
Examples:

• Matisse, Le bonheur de vivre

• Matisse, The Red Studio

• Derain, Turning Road

NORTHERN EXPRESSIONISM

What it is:
Emotional anxiety, spiritual searching, psychological tension.

Die Brücke

Definition: Urban alienation and raw emotion.
Example:

• Kirchner, Street, Berlin

Der Blaue Reiter

Definition: Spiritual abstraction and inner harmony.
Example:

• Kandinsky, Composition VII

CUBISM & ORPHISM

What it is:
Breaking reality into fragments and multiple viewpoints.

Analytic Cubism

Spot it:

• Muted browns/greys

• Difficult to recognize subject
  Example:

• Picasso, Ma Jolie

Proto-Cubism

Example:

• Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

Orphism

Definition: Cubism + bright color + rhythm.
Example:

• Delaunay, Simultaneous Contrasts

Futurism

Definition: Speed, machines, motion.
Example:

• Boccioni, States of Mind

Suprematism

Definition: Pure abstraction, spiritual simplicity.
Example:

• Malevich, Black Square

Constructivism

Definition: Art serving social purpose.
Example:

• Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge

SOCIAL REALISM & MURALISM

Definition: Art as political protest.

Examples:

• Kollwitz, Never Again War

• Rivera, Man at the Crossroads

NEW OBJECTIVITY

Definition: Cynical realism after WWI.

Spot it:

• Harsh satire

• Grotesque figures
  Examples:

• Grosz, Pillars of Society

• Beckmann, The Night

DADA

What it is:
Anti-art, absurdity, rejection of logic.

Readymade

Definition: Ordinary object declared art.
Example:

• Duchamp, Fountain

Photomontage

Definition: Collage from mass media images.
Example:

• Höch, Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife

SURREALISM (1920s–1940s)

What it is:
Art inspired by dreams, the unconscious mind, and Freudian psychology. Reality is distorted to reveal hidden truths.

How to spot it:

• Dreamlike or impossible scenes

• Unexpected object combinations

• Illogical scale or space

• Hyper-realistic technique with unreal subject matter

Automatism

Definition: Creating art without conscious control to access the unconscious.
Spot it:

• Loose, spontaneous marks

• Abstract or biomorphic shapes
  Example from your list:

• Miró, Harlequin’s Carnival

What to say:
Automatism reflects Surrealist interest in bypassing rational thought to reveal the unconscious mind.

Illusionistic Surrealism

Definition: Realistic technique depicting impossible scenes.
Spot it:

• Perfectly rendered objects in bizarre settings
  Example:

• Dalí, The Persistence of Memory

What to say:
Dalí uses precise realism to make dream imagery appear disturbingly believable.

Juxtaposition

Definition: Placing unrelated objects together to create new meaning.
Spot it:

• Logical mismatch (pipe + text, sky indoors, etc.)
  Example:

• Magritte, The Treachery of Images

AMERICAN REGIONALISM (1930s)

What it is:
Focus on American identity, rural life, and national values during the Great Depression.

How to spot it:

• Clear, readable scenes

• Rural or small-town settings

• Narrative clarity

• Often nostalgic or moral

Regionalism

Definition: Celebrates distinctly American themes and locations.
Example:

• Grant Wood, American Gothic

What to say:
Regionalism promotes national identity through accessible imagery rooted in rural American life.

Urban Alienation (American context)

Definition: Isolation in modern city life.
Example:

• Edward Hopper, Nighthawks

Spot it:

• Lonely figures

• Artificial lighting

• Emotional distance

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM (1940s–1950s)

What it is:
Large-scale abstraction emphasizing emotion, gesture, and the artist’s presence.

How to spot it:

• Very large canvases

• No clear subject matter

• Emphasis on process and emotion

• Viewer engagement

Action Painting

Definition: Physical, energetic painting process.
Spot it:

• Drips, splatters, sweeping gestures
  Example:

• Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm

What to say:
Action painting emphasizes the artist’s movement and process as the artwork itself.

Color Field Painting

Definition: Large areas of color meant to evoke emotional or spiritual responses.
Spot it:

• Minimal imagery

• Soft edges

• Floating color forms
  Examples:

• Mark Rothko, Orange and Yellow

• Barnett Newman, Vir Heroicus Sublimis

Gesture

Definition: Visible evidence of the artist’s movement.
Example:

• Pollock’s drip technique

POP ART (1950s–1960s)

What it is:
Art inspired by consumer culture, advertising, celebrities, and mass media.

How to spot it:

• Bold colors

• Familiar imagery (soup cans, celebrities)

• Flat, graphic style

• Mechanical reproduction

Mechanical Reproduction

Definition: Repetition using industrial processes.
Example:

• Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych

Appropriation

Definition: Borrowing existing images from popular culture.
Examples:

• Warhol’s use of photos

• Lichtenstein’s comic panels (Whaam!)

Irony

Definition: Art that critiques consumerism by imitating it.

CONCEPTUAL ART

What it is:
The idea matters more than the physical artwork.

How to spot it:

• Minimal visual object

• Heavy reliance on text or concept

• Questions what art is

Dematerialization

Definition: Art moves away from physical objects.
Example:

• Rauschenberg, Erased de Kooning Drawing

Institutional Critique

Definition: Challenges museums and art authority.
Example:

• Duchamp’s influence continues here

PERFORMANCE ART

What it is:
The artist’s body and actions become the artwork.

How to spot it:

• Temporary, live events

• Documentation via photos/video

Performance Art

Definition: Live action as art.
Example:

• Chris Burden, Shoot

What to say:
Performance art challenges traditional art objects by emphasizing experience, risk, and the artist’s body.