Art Styles and Techniques GILAS

Abstract Expressionism

A movement also known as The New York School, characterized by large painted canvases and action painting.

Art Deco

An art movement that emerged in 1925, blending modern aesthetics with craftsmanship and advanced technology across various mediums.

Art Nouveau

An art movement characterized by sinuous lines and organic forms, seeking to create a new style free from historicism.

Avant-garde

A French term meaning 'advanced guard,' referring to innovative or experimental concepts in culture, politics, and the arts.

Baroque

An art movement from the early seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century known for dramatic motion and clear detail.

Bauhaus

A school of art and design founded in Germany in 1919, focusing on materials and functions in art.

Classicism

Art principles focusing on traditional forms with elegance and symmetry, rooted in ancient Greek and Roman art.

CoBrA

A post-war group formed in 1948 advocating spontaneity, named after Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam.

Color Field Painting

An abstraction style that focuses on large flat areas of color, contrasting with the active gestures of action painting.

Conceptual Art

An art movement focusing on ideas and concepts rather than visual forms, coined by Sol LeWitt.

Constructivism

A branch of abstract art developed by the Russian avant-garde focusing on art's social purposes.

Cubism

An artistic movement initiated by Picasso and Braque, characterized by geometric forms and fragmented representations.

Dada / Dadaism

A protest movement that emerged during WWI, opposing traditional values in art through shock and anti-establishment messages.

Digital Art

Creative practices that use electronic technologies, resulting in digital Final products.

Expressionism

An artistic movement seeking to express emotional experience over physical reality, characterized by distortion and vivid color.

Fauvism

An early 20th-century art movement associated with vibrant color and strong brushstrokes, led by Matisse and Derain.

Futurism

An Italian art movement founded in 1909, focusing on capturing the dynamism and energy of the modern world.

Harlem Renaissance

An influential movement of African-American art that emerged after WWI, spanning visual arts, literature, music, and theater.

Impressionism

A 19th-century art movement characterized by capturing visual impressions using small, thin brush strokes.

Installation Art

A movement characterized by large-scale, mixed-media constructions designed for a specific space and time.

Land Art

Artworks made directly in the landscape, using natural materials, emerging in the 1960s and 1970s.

Minimalism

An art movement from the 1960s characterized by simplicity and geometric shapes, challenging notions of craftsmanship.

Neo-Impressionism

An avant-garde movement from 1886 to 1906 led by Seurat and Signac, focusing on pointillism and systematic painting techniques.

Neoclassicism

A style from the 18th century inspired by the classical art of ancient Greece and Rome.

Neon Art

Art that uses neon lighting, exploring the relationship between light, color, and consumerism.

Op Art

A form of geometric abstract art creating optical illusions and effects through repetition and perspective manipulation.

Performance Art

Art created through actions performed by the artist or participants, challenging traditional visual art conventions.

Pop Art

An art movement from the 1950s, drawing from popular culture and commercial imagery.

Post-Impressionism

A reaction against Impressionism, focusing on personal expression through bold colors and symbolic imagery.

Precisionism

An American modern art movement that celebrated the structure of skyscrapers and industrial landscapes.

Rococo

An early 18th-century movement known for elaborate ornamentation and light sensuous style in art.

Street Art

An art movement using urban spaces as canvases, evolving from graffiti into a recognized art form.

Surrealism

An artistic and literary movement aiming to liberate thought from rationalism, founded by André Breton.

Suprematism

An abstract style of painting emphasizing geometric forms and emotional expression, coined by Kazimir Malevich.

Symbolism

A late 19th-century movement focusing on emotions and ideas rather than realistic representation.

Zero Group

A group of artists in the 1950s focused on materiality and pure abstract art, emerging from Germany.

Cangiante

“to change,” change in color necessitated by an original color’s darkness or lightness limitation (when painting shadows on a yellow object, the artist may use a red color because the yellow paint cannot be made dark enough).

Unione

a harmony between chiaroscuro and sfumato; unione conveys the former’s contrasts, and from the latter it derives its harmony and unity, creating vivid richness.

Chiaroscuro

“light-dark,” use of strong contrasts between light and dark.

Sfumato

 “smoked off or blurred,” painting technique for softening the transition between colors.

Tenebrism

from Italian “tenebroso” meaning darkened or obscuring, violent contrasts of light and dark, darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image; common in Baroque paintings. 

Impasto

“dough or mixture,” technique used where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly so that the brush or painting knife strokes are visible; paint can also be mixed right on the canvas.

Cloisonné

technique of creating designs on metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal stripes or wire of gold, copper, or bronze. 

Sprezzatura

Italian word that first appears in Baldassare Castiglione’s 1528 The Book of the Courtier; a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.

ukiyo-e

a Japanese art style of woodblock prints and paintings that depict the urban culture of the Edo period (17th–19th centuries). The term translates to "pictures of the floating world"

Sprezzatura

Italian word that first appears in Baldassare Castiglione’s 1528 The Book of the Courtier; a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.