The Creative Movements List
Abstraction is an art form which is not linked to movements.
This means that many artists now use it as a kind of tool to
help express themselves in Contemporary painting.
People like to categorise this kind of painting as a picture's
subject matter which is non representational.
This means that it doesn't resemble any object from nature.
In the 20th century the trend in art was to move beyond
the re-creating of nature. Creative art groups were formed by
"like minded individuals."
Belonging to this kind of group they believed in specific
philosophies and often political viewpoints. The Artwork
follows a specific style that can be instantly
recognisable especially from the early 2oth century.
However in the 21st century artists prefer to have an
independent voice and have less of an interest in being
part of an organisation. Instead of trying to understand the
world around they have become more inspired by the "inner
world." A search for meaning coming from exploring what's
within themselves. The development and creation of an
individual language.
So to understand historical Abstract Art from around the
20th century we must try and find out what groups the
artists were influenced by.
This can be detected by looking at the artist's style.
We can compare one individual's work to another’s of the same time period or look for similarities by comparing "movements"
to the artist's work.
The difficulties lie when we try to understand 21st century
painting. If the artist is "well known" or famous then we can
find out more through documentation about the their
inspirations and philosophy but if the artist is unknown we
are only limited to analysing the actual painting for clues
of understanding.
There have been many strong organisations in the early
20th century which can provide us with clues if you are
trying to understand a painting from this time.
As we move towards the end of the century these groups
become more fragmented and specialised often becoming
difficult to understand.
Movement List and Timeline
Groups are often categorised under Time Periods.
Modern Art is all the movements from the late 19th century
to approximately 1970 (as there is a natural overlap).
Contemporary Art is from around late 1960s to our present
day time period.
Note: The countries listed are the country in which the
group started. Most modern art movements were
international in scope.
Modern Art
Impressionism - 1863 - 1890, France
American Impressionism 1880, United States
Cos Cob Art Colony 1890s, United States
Heidelberg School late 1880s, Australia
Luminism (Impressionism)
Arts and Crafts movement - 1880 - 1910, United Kingdom
Tonalism - 1880 - 1920, United States
Luminism (Impressionism)
Symbolism (arts) - 1880 - 1910, France/Belgium
Russian Symbolism 1884 - c. 1910, Russia
Aesthetic movement 1868 - 1901, United Kingdom
Post-impressionism - 1886 - 1905, France
Pointillism 1880s, France
Les Nabis 1888 - 1900, France
Fauvism - 1904 - 1909, France
Cloisonnism c. 1885, France
Synthetism late 1880s - early 1890s, France
School of Paris early 20th century, France
Neo-impressionism 1886 - 1906, France
Art Nouveau - 1890 - 1914, France
Vienna Secession (or Secessionstil) 1897, Austria
Jugendstil Germany, Scandinavia
Modernisme - 1890 to 1910, Catalan
Art à la Rue 1890s - 1905, Belgium/France
Young Poland 1890 - 1918, Poland
Mir iskusstva 1899, Russia
Hagenbund 1900 - 1930, Austria
Expressionism - 1905 - 1930, Germany
Die Brücke 1905 - 1913, Germany
Der Blaue Reiter 1911, Germany
Bloomsbury Group - 1905 - c. 1945, England
Cubism - 1907 - 1914, France
Analytic Cubism 1909, France
Cubism - 1907 - 1914, France
Orphism - 1912, France
Purism - 1918 - 1926
Cubo-Expressionism 1909 - 1921
Ashcan School 1907, United States
Jack of Diamonds (artists) 1909, Russia
Futurism (art) - 1910 - 1930, Italy
Cubo-Futurism 1912 - 1915, Russia
Rayonism 1911, Russia
Synchromism 1912, United States
Universal Flowering 1913, Russia
Vorticism 1914 - 1920, United Kingdom
Biomorphism 1915 - 1940s
Suprematism 1915 - 1925, Russia/Ukraine/Soviet Union
Dada - 1916 - 1930, Switzerland
Proletkult 1917 - 1925, Soviet Union
Productivism after 1917, Russia
De Stijl (Neoplasticism) 1917 - 1931, Holland
Pittura Metafisica 1917, Italy
Arbeitsrat für Kunst 1918 - 1921
Bauhaus - 1919 - 1933, Germany
UNOVIS 1919 - 1922, Russia
Others group of artists 1919, United States
American Expressionism c. 1920 -
Precisionism c. 1920, United States
Surrealism since 1920
Acéphale France
Lettrism 1942 -
Les Automatistes 1946 - 1951, Canada
Devetsil 1920 - 1931
Group of Seven 1920 - 1933, Canada
Harlem renaissance 1920 - 1930s, United States
American scene painting c. 1920 - 1945, United States
New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) 1920s, Germany
Constructivism (art) 1920s, Russia/Ukraine/Soviet Union
Art Deco - 1920s - 1930s, France
Grupo Montparnasse 1922, France
Soviet art 1922 - 1986, Soviet Union
a. r. group 1929 - 1936
Northwest School (art) 1930s - 1940s, United States
Social realism, 1929, international
Socialist realism - c. 1930 - 1950, Soviet Union/Germany
Abstraction-Création 1931 - 1936, France
Allianz (arts) 1937 - 1950s, Switzerland
Art and Freedom 1939 - mid-1940s
Abstract Expressionism - 1940s, Post WWII, United States
Action painting United States
Color field painting
Lyrical Abstraction
COBRA (avant-garde movement) 1946 - 1952, Denmark/Belgium/Holland
Tachisme late-1940s - mid-1950s, France
Abstract Imagists United States
Arte Madí 1940s
Art informel mid-1940s - 1950s
Outsider art (Art brut) mid-1940s, United Kingdom/United States
Vienna School of Fantastic Realism - 1946, Austria
The Concretists early 1950s -
Neo-Dada 1950s, international
International Typographic Style 1950s, Switzerland
Soviet Nonconformist Art 1953 - 1986, Soviet Union
Russian Non-Conformist Russia/Ukraine
Pop Art mid-1950s, United Kingdom/United States
Situationism 1957 - early 1970s, Italy
Magic realism 1960s, Germany
Minimalism - 1960 -
Op Art 1964 -
Post-painterly abstraction 1964 -
Contemporary Art
Contemporary art - present
Postmodern art - present
Modernism - present
New realism 1960 -
Performance art - 1960s -
Fluxus - early 1960s - late-1970s
Conceptual art - 1960s -
Graffiti 1960s-
Junk art 1960s -
Psychedelic art early 1960s -
Lyrical Abstraction mid-1960s -
Process art mid-1960s - 1970s
Arte Povera 1967 -
Photorealism - Late 1960s - early 1970s
Land art - late-1960s - early 1970s
Post-minimalism late-1960s - 1970s
Installation art - 1970s -
Neo-expressionism late 1970s -
Figuration Libre early 1980s
Metaphorical realism
Young British Artists 1988 -
Rectoversion 1991 -
Transgressive art
Synaesthesia events
Neoism 1979
Deconstructivism
Battle Elephants 1984
Massurrealism 1992 -
Stuckism 1999 -
Remodernism 1999 -
Maximalism
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