History of Cont Art Vocab

​​Automatism: Subconscious creation, not self editing. Became prominent in surrealism in the 20th century. Extremely important in abstract expressionism; Jackson Pollock. 

WPA (Works Progress Administration): He new deal- part of the ABC groups. Employed artists to create artwork; murals, design programs in national parks, photography

Cold War: Conflict between US and Soviet Union over nuclear weapons, mostly espionage and talk. Not much war occurred, too many weapons to risk using them.

Carl Jung: a psychologist that was after Freud and went against his ideas. Influences Pollock. Studying dreams. Encouraged automatism. 

Black Mountain College: In North Carolina where abstract expressionists attended. Students could choose what they wanted to do in their program. 

Action Painting: Pollock and de Kooning, very physical paintings where you can see the action of the artist within the art. 

Color Field Painting: Large fields of color.

Clement Greenberg: Art critic, loved abstract expressionism, extremely harsh.

Peggy Guggenheim: Massive art collector, brought in work from Europe. Went to Paris and bought one painting a day. Supported abstract expressionism. 

Leo Castelli: Owner of the Castelli Gallery. 

New York School: 40s and 50s- first purely american art movement.

Art Students League: Teaching, studio spaces, supports artists in and near the city.

Combine (as in work of Rauschenberg): combination of different styles of art into one

Encaustic: mixing pigment and wax

Screen printing / Serigraph: The process of screen printing, fancy stencil

Beat Generation: young writers and poets active in the us associated with abstract expressionism and the pop generation

John Cage: composer

The Factory: meeting and socialization of artist at the time\andy warhol's studio

Ben-Day dots: small dots used to produce shade and contour in comic works

Consumerism: a social and economic belief that encourages people to buy more goods and services than what is necessary for survival.

Formalism: how that medium is used on the canvas

Dada: Dada artists rejected logic and reason in favor of irrationality, nonsense, and intuition. Their work often mocked nationalism and materialism

Appropriation: taking something that already exists and using it at your own

Readymade work: when an artist takes something that already exists and changes it a little and calls it a work of art-idea that: whatever an artists decides is a work of art is a work of art

Sublime: overwhelming spiritual feeling from nature (ex the feeling at niagara falls, rainbows)

Collage and Photomontage: collage- a piece of art made by sticking various different materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric onto a backing. Photomontage- a collage of photos that were taken from other sources

Assemblage: a collection or gathering of things or people.

Holocaust: Destruction and slaughter on a mass scale. Genocide of Jews during World War II. 

World War II: The devastation of WWII is still around today- court cases about missing/looted paintings. The reconstruction of Europe took a long time. Time of surrealism.

Performance art: conceptual art. Combines visual art with performance.

Marshall Plan: Recovery of European economy  Gave money to European nations, Global capitalism, Rise of Le Culture de Masse. Involved films. The marshall plan helped with the rebuilding of the countries that were hurt the most. 

Propaganda: a set of techniques used to manipulate or influence people's opinions, beliefs, or actions.

Kitsch: mass media NOT art

Diptych: Two Panels

Triptych: Three Panels

Polyptych: Four or More Panels

Soak Stain Painting: Soaks into canvas and staines it.

Existentialism: Vast topics and ideas, we are a tiny blip in the world, an overwhelming feeling that you don’t matter. Pondering existence.

Jean Paul Sartre: Postmodernism philosopher who wrote about what artists were making after the war. Existentialist. 

Surrealism: Art and lit movement roughly between the wars, dominated art movement in Europe during WWII, dealt with dreams and weirdness, unrealities.

Art Brut: Raw art. Examples would be art created by children or by people with mental illness.

Marshall Plan: Recovery of European economy  Gave money to European nations, Global capitalism, Rise of Le Culture de Masse. Involved films. The marshall plan helped with the rebuilding of the countries that were hurt the most. 

The Gaze: Refers to how the viewer looks at the piece of the art, people are drawn to eyes in a work when they look at a piece of art.

Arte Povera: Art of everyday life “art poor”.

Spatialismo: Spatialism. Art movement that deals with space.

Icon (as related to religious imagery): A painting that is holding religious meaning. Holy, religious symbol.

Abstract expressionism: Action painting and gesture, color psychology.

Nouveau Realism: New Realism- was launched in Paris in 1960, people started to critique that we are now changing how we deal with reality because of mass media culture. We are not living the “real real” life. 

Proto-Pop: Lots of consumer goods in artworks, American Made. 

Pop: Pop art was a reaction and a rejection of abstract expressionism.

Post-War European Art: a broad term for art created in Europe after World War II. It encompasses a variety of styles and movements, including Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art.

Fluxus: first unified group of performance artists- Germany 1960s, aimed for social goals, no emphasized aesthetics. Wanted to eliminate “middle class sickness” the artist becomes an actor. A stress on the process. Watching the action happen is prominent. Purging the world of dead abstract art and replacing it with “Concrete Art”

Happenings: An art event where viewer participation is required. Could be held anywhere Brought people, objects and events in juxtaposition.

Post painterly abstraction: Bridging abstract expressionism to minimalism. Not focused on gestures as much.

Eras:

Abstract Expressionism: Action painting and gesture, color psychology

Post war European art: dark and pessimistic, dealing with the aftermath of the war and the holocaust. 

Nouveau Realism: New realism was bumping up against pop, questioning new reality after the war and America's influence in europe. (can you believe reality)

Fluxus: Performance art. Aimed for social goals, no emphasized aesthetics. Purging the world of dead abstract art and replacing it with “Concrete Art”.

Brit Pop and Proto Pop: The first representation of pop, Mass media, and consumer culture. AMERICAN MADE.

Happenings: An art event where viewer participation is required. Could be held anywhere. Brought people objects and events in juxtaposition.

Pop art: Direct relation to consumer and celebrity culture (mass media) Opposite of abstract expressionism.

Post Painterly Abstraction: Bridging abstract expressionism to minimalism. Not focused on gesture as much