Directions in painting. Styles and trends in fine arts Modern styles of fine arts

This article provides a brief description of the main art styles of the 20th century. It will be useful to know for both artists and designers.

Modernism (from French moderne modern)

in art, the collective name for artistic trends that established themselves in the second half of the 19th century in the form of new forms of creativity, where it was no longer so much following the spirit of nature and tradition that prevailed, but rather the free gaze of a master, free to change the visible world at his own discretion, following personal impressions, internal ideas or a mystical dream (these trends largely continued the line of romanticism). Its most significant, often actively interacting, directions were impressionism, symbolism and modernism. In Soviet criticism, the concept of “modernism” was ahistorically applied to all movements of art of the 20th century that did not correspond to the canons of socialist realism.

Abstractionism(art under the sign of “zero forms”, non-objective art) is an artistic direction that was formed in the art of the first half of the 20th century, completely abandoning the reproduction of forms of the real visible world. The founders of abstract art are considered to be V. Kandinsky, P. Mondrian and K. Malevich. V. Kandinsky created his own type of abstract painting, freeing the impressionist and “wild” stains from any signs of objectivity. Piet Mondrian arrived at his non-objectivity through the geometric stylization of nature initiated by Cézanne and the Cubists. Modernist movements of the 20th century, focused on abstractionism, completely depart from traditional principles, denying realism, but at the same time remaining within the framework of art. The history of art experienced a revolution with the advent of abstract art. But this revolution did not arise by chance, but quite naturally, and was predicted by Plato! In his late work Philebus, he wrote about the beauty of lines, surfaces and spatial forms in themselves, independent of any imitation of visible objects, from any mimesis. This kind of geometric beauty, unlike the beauty of natural “irregular” forms, according to Plato, is not relative, but unconditional, absolute.

Futurism- literary and artistic movement in the art of the 1910s. Assigning itself the role of a prototype of the art of the future, futurism as its main program put forward the idea of ​​​​destructing cultural stereotypes and instead offered an apologia for technology and lowness as the main signs of the present and the future. An important artistic idea of ​​futurism was the search for a plastic expression of the speed of movement as the main sign of the pace of modern life. The Russian version of futurism was called cubofuturism and was based on a combination of the plastic principles of French cubism and European general aesthetic installations of futurism ism. Using intersections, shifts, collisions and influxes of forms, the artists tried to express the fragmented multiplicity of impressions of a contemporary person, a city dweller.

Cubism- “the most complete and radical artistic revolution since the Renaissance” (J. Golding). Artists: Picasso Pablo, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger Robert Delaunay, Juan Gris, Gleizes Metzinger. Cubism - (French cubisme, from cube - cube) direction in art of the first quarter of the 20th century. The plastic language of cubism was based on the deformation and decomposition of objects on geometric planes, a plastic shift of shape. Many Russian artists went through a fascination with cubism, often combining its principles with the techniques of other modern artistic trends - futurism and primitivism. A specific version of the interpretation of cubism on Russian soil has become cubofuturism.

Purism- (French purisme, from Latin purus - pure) flow during French painting late 1910-20s The main representatives are the artist A. Ozanfan and architect S. E. Jeanneret (Le Corbusier). Rejecting the decorative tendencies of Cubism and other avant-garde movements of the 1910s and the deformation of nature they accepted, the purists sought a rationalistically ordered transfer of stable and laconic object forms, as if “cleansed” of details, to the depiction of “primary” elements. The works of purists are characterized by flatness, smooth rhythm of light silhouettes and contours of similar objects (jugs, glasses, etc.). Having not received development in easel forms, significantly rethought artistic principles purism was partially reflected in modern architecture, mainly in the buildings of Le Corbusier.

Serrealism- a cosmopolitan movement in literature, painting and cinema that arose in 1924 in France and officially ended its existence in 1969. It significantly contributed to the formation of the consciousness of modern man. The main figures of the movement are Andre Breton- writer, leader and ideological inspirer of the movement, Louis Aragon- one of the founders of surrealism, who was later transformed in a bizarre way into a singer of communism, Salvador Dali- artist, theorist, poet, screenwriter, who defined the essence of the movement with the words: “Surrealism is me!”, a highly surreal filmmaker Luis Buñuel, artist Joan Miro- “the most beautiful feather on the cap of surrealism,” as Breton and many other artists around the world called it.

Fauvism(from the French les fauves - wild (animals)) Local direction in painting early. XX century The name F. was mockingly assigned to a group of young Parisian artists ( A. Matisse, A. Derain, M. Vlaminck, A. Marche, E.O. Friez, J. Braque, A.Sh. Mangen, K. van Dongen), who jointly participated in a number of exhibitions from 1905 to 1907, after their first exhibition in 1905. The name was adopted by the group itself and firmly established itself. The movement did not have a clearly formulated program, manifesto or its own theory and did not last long, however, leaving a noticeable mark on the history of art. Its participants in those years were united by the desire to create artistic images exclusively with the help of extremely bright open color. Developing the artistic achievements of the Post-Impressionists ( Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh), relying on some formal techniques of medieval art (stained glass, Romanesque art) and Japanese engravings, popular in artistic circles in France since the time of the Impressionists, the Fauvists sought to maximize the use of coloristic possibilities of painting.

Expressionism(from the French expression - expressiveness) - a modernist movement in Western European art, mainly in Germany, in the first third of the 20th century, which emerged in a certain historical period - on the eve of the First World War. The ideological basis of expressionism was the individualistic protest against ugly world, the increasing alienation of a person from the world, a feeling of homelessness, collapse, collapse of those principles on which European culture seemed to rest so firmly. Expressionists are characterized by an affinity for mysticism and pessimism. Artistic techniques characteristic of expressionism: rejection of illusory space, desire for a flat interpretation of objects, deformation of objects, love of sharp colorful dissonances, a special coloring containing apocalyptic drama. Artists perceived creativity as a way to express emotions.

Suprematism(from Latin supremus - highest, highest; first; last, extreme, apparently, through Polish supremacja - superiority, supremacy) The direction of avant-garde art of the first third of the 20th century, the creator, main representative and theorist of which was a Russian artist Kazimir Malevich. The term itself does not reflect the essence of Suprematism. In fact, in Malevich’s understanding, this is an evaluative characteristic. Suprematism is the highest stage of development of art on the path of liberation from everything extra-artistic, on the path of the ultimate identification of the non-objective, as the essence of any art. In this sense, Malevich considered primitive ornamental art to be suprematist (or “supremacist”). He first applied this term to large group his paintings (39 or more) depicting geometric abstractions, including the famous “Black Square” on a white background, “Black Cross”, etc., exhibited at the Petrograd futurist exhibition “zero-ten” in 1915. It was for these and similar ones geometric abstractions and the name Suprematism was established, although Malevich himself attributed many of his works of the 20s to it, which outwardly contained some forms of specific objects, especially human figures, but retained the “Suprematist spirit.” And in fact, Malevich’s later theoretical developments do not give grounds to reduce Suprematism (at least by Malevich himself) only to geometric abstractions, although they, of course, constitute its core, essence, and even (black-and-white and white-white Suprematism) bring painting to the limit of its existence in general as a form of art, that is, to the pictorial zero, beyond which there is no longer painting itself. This path was continued in the second half of the century by numerous trends in art activity that abandoned brushes, paints, and canvas.

Russian avant-garde The 1910s presents a rather complex picture. It is characterized by a rapid change of styles and trends, an abundance of groups and associations of artists, each of which proclaimed its own concept of creativity. Something similar happened in European painting at the beginning of the century. However, the mixture of styles, the “confusion” of trends and directions were unknown to the West, where the movement towards new forms was more consistent. Many masters of the younger generation moved with extraordinary speed from style to style, from stage to stage, from impressionism to modernism, then to primitivism, cubism or expressionism, going through many stages, which was completely atypical for the masters of French or German painting. The situation that developed in Russian painting was largely due to the pre-revolutionary atmosphere in the country. It aggravated many of the contradictions that were inherent in all European art as a whole, because Russian artists learned from European models and were well acquainted with various schools and artistic movements. The peculiar Russian “explosion” in artistic life thus played a historical role. By 1913 it was Russian art reached new frontiers and horizons. A completely new phenomenon of non-objectivity appeared - a line beyond which the French Cubists did not dare to cross. One after another they cross this line: Kandinsky V.V., Larionov M.F., Malevich K.S., Filonov P.N., Tatlin V.E.

Cubofuturism Local direction in the Russian avant-garde (in painting and poetry) of the beginning of the 20th century. In the fine arts, cubo-futurism arose on the basis of a rethinking of pictorial finds, cubism, futurism, and Russian neo-primitivism. The main works were created in the period 1911-1915. The most characteristic paintings of Cubo-Futurism came from the brush of K. Malevich, and were also painted by Burliuk, Puni, Goncharova, Rozanova, Popova, Udaltsova, Ekster. Malevich's first cubo-futurist works were exhibited at the famous exhibition of 1913. “Target”, on which Larionov’s rayism also debuted. By appearance Cubo-Futurist works echo the compositions of F. Léger created at the same time and are semi-objective compositions composed of cylindrical, cone-, flask-, shell-shaped hollow volumetric colored forms, often having a metallic sheen. Already in the first similar works of Malevich, a tendency towards a transition from natural rhythm to purely mechanical rhythms of the machine world is noticeable (“The Carpenter”, 1912, “The Grinder”, 1912, “Portrait of Klyun”, 1913).

Neoplasticism- one of the early varieties of abstract art. Created in 1917 by the Dutch painter P. Mondrian and other artists who were members of the “Style” association. Neoplasticism is characterized, according to its creators, by the desire for “universal harmony,” expressed in strictly balanced combinations of large rectangular figures, clearly separated by perpendicular lines of black and painted in local colors of the main spectrum (with the addition of white and gray tones). Neo-plasticisme (Nouvelle plastique) This term appeared in Holland in the 20th century. Piet Mondrian defined by them his plastic concepts, erected into a system and defended by the group and the magazine “Style” (“De Sti-ji”) founded in Leiden in 1917. The main feature of neoplasticism was the strict use expressive means. To construct a form, neoplasticism allows only horizontal and vertical lines. Intersecting lines at right angles is the first principle. Around 1920, a second one was added to it, which, by removing the brushstroke and emphasizing the plane, limits the colors to red, blue and yellow, i.e. three pure primary colors to which only white and black can be added. With the help of this rigor, neoplasticism intended to go beyond individuality in order to achieve universalism and thus create a new picture of the world.

Official "baptism" orphism happened at the Salon of Independents in 1913. So the critic Roger Allard wrote in his report on the Salon: “... let us note for future historians that in 1913 a new school of Orphism was born...” (“La Cote” Paris March 19, 1913). He was echoed by another critic Andre Varnaud: “The Salon of 1913 was marked by the birth of a new school of the Orphic school” (“Comoedia” Paris March 18, 1913). Finally Guillaume Apollinaire reinforced this statement by exclaiming, not without pride: “This is Orphism. This is the first time that this direction, which I predicted, has appeared” (“Montjoie!” Paris supplement to March 18, 1913). Indeed, this term was invented Apollinaire(Orphism as the cult of Orpheus) and was first publicly stated during a lecture on modern painting given in October 1912. What did he mean? It seems he didn't know it himself. Moreover, I didn’t know how to define the boundaries of this new direction. In fact, the confusion that reigns to this day was due to the fact that Apollinaire unknowingly confused two problems that are interconnected, of course, but before trying to connect them he should have emphasized their differences. On the one hand, the creation Delaunay pictorial means of expression entirely based on color and, on the other hand, the expansion of Cubism due to the emergence of several different directions. After breaking up with Marie Laurencin at the end of the summer of 1912, Apollinaire sought refuge with the Delaunay family, who received him with friendly understanding in their workshop on the Rue Grand-Augustin. Just this summer, Robert Delaunay and his wife experienced a profound aesthetic evolution leading to what he later called the “destructive period” of painting based solely on the constructive and spatio-temporal qualities of color contrasts.

Postmodernism (postmodern, post-avant-garde) -

(from the Latin post “after” and modernism), the collective name of artistic trends that became especially clear in the 1960s and are characterized by a radical revision of the position of modernism and the avant-garde.

Abstract expressionism post-war (late 40s - 50s of the XX century) stage of development of abstract art. The term itself was introduced back in the 20s by a German art critic E. von Sydow (E. von Sydow) to refer to certain aspects of expressionist art. In 1929, the American Barr used it to characterize Kandinsky’s early works, and in 1947 he called the works “abstract expressionist” Willem de Kooning And Pollock. Since then, the concept of abstract expressionism has been consolidated behind a fairly broad, stylistically and technically variegated field of abstract painting (and later sculpture), which received rapid development in the 50s. in the USA, in Europe, and then throughout the world. The direct ancestors of abstract expressionism are considered to be early Kandinsky, expressionists, orphists, partly dadaists and surrealists with their principle of mental automatism. The philosophical and aesthetic basis of abstract expressionism was largely the philosophy of existentialism, popular in the post-war period.

Ready-made(English ready-made - ready) The term was first introduced into the art historical lexicon by the artist Marcel Duchamp to designate their works, which are objects of utilitarian use, removed from the environment of their normal functioning and, without any changes, exhibited at an art exhibition as works of art. Readymade claimed A New Look on thing and thingness. An object that had ceased to perform its utilitarian functions and was included in the context of the space of art, that is, had become an object of non-utilitarian contemplation, began to reveal some new meanings and associative moves, unknown either to traditional art or to the everyday utilitarian sphere of existence. The problem of the relativity of the aesthetic and the utilitarian has emerged acutely. The first ready-mades Duchamp exhibited in New York in 1913. The most notorious are his readymades. steel “Bicycle Wheel” (1913), “Bottle Dryer” (1914), “Fountain” (1917) - this is how an ordinary urinal was designated.

Pop Art. After World War II, America developed a large social class of people who earned enough money to buy goods that were not particularly important to them. For example, the consumption of goods: Coca Cola or Levi's jeans become an important attribute of this society. A person using this or that product shows his belonging to a certain social class. Mass culture was now being formed. Things became symbols, stereotypes. Pop art necessarily uses stereotypes and symbols. Pop art(pop art) embodied the creative quest of new Americans, who were based on the creative principles of Duchamp. This: Jasper Johns, K. Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, and others. Pop art gets meaning popular culture, so it is not surprising that it formed and became an art movement in America. Their like-minded people: Hamelton R, Tone China chosen as authority Kurt Schwieters. Pop art is characterized by a work that is an illusion of a game that explains the essence of the object. Example: pie K. Oldenburg, depicted in various variants. An artist may not depict a pie, but rather dispel illusions and show what a person really sees. R. Rauschenberg is also original: he glued to the canvas different photos, he outlined them and attached some stuffed animal to the work. One of his famous works is a stuffed hedgehog. His paintings, where he used photographs of Kenedy, are also well known.

Primitivism (Naive art). This concept is used in several senses and is actually identical to the concept "primitive art". In different languages ​​and by different scientists, these concepts are most often used to designate the same range of phenomena in artistic culture. In Russian (as in some others), the term “primitive” has a somewhat negative meaning. Therefore, it is more appropriate to dwell on the concept Naive art. In the broadest sense, this designates fine art, characterized by simplicity (or simplification), clarity and formal spontaneity of figurative and expressive language, with the help of which a special vision of the world is expressed, not burdened by civilizational conventions. The concept appeared in the modern European culture of recent centuries, and therefore reflects the professional positions and ideas of this culture, which considered itself the highest stage of development. From these positions, Naive art also includes the archaic art of ancient peoples (before the Egyptian or ancient Greek civilizations), for example, primitive art; the art of peoples delayed in their cultural and civilizational development (indigenous populations of Africa, Oceania, American Indians); amateur and non-professional art on a wide scale (for example, the famous medieval frescoes of Catalonia or the non-professional art of the first American settlers from Europe); many works of the so-called “international Gothic”; folk art; finally, the art of talented primitivist artists of the 20th century, who did not receive professional art education, but felt the gift artistic creativity and devoted themselves to its independent implementation in art. Some of them (French A. Rousseau, C. Bombois, Georgian N. Pirosmanishvili, Croatian I. Generalich, American A.M. Robertson etc.) created true artistic masterpieces that are included in the treasury of world art. Naive art, in its vision of the world and methods of its artistic presentation, is somewhat close to the art of children, on the one hand, and to the creativity of the mentally ill, on the other. However, in essence it differs from both. The closest thing in worldview to children's art is the naive art of the archaic peoples and aborigines of Oceania and Africa. Its fundamental difference from children's art lies in its deep sacredness, traditionalism and canonicity.

Net art(Net Art - from the English net - network, art - art) Newest look art, modern art practices, developing in computer networks, in particular on the Internet. Its researchers in Russia, who also contribute to its development, O. Lyalina, A. Shulgin, believe that the essence of Net art comes down to the creation of communication and creative spaces on the Internet, providing complete freedom of online existence to everyone. Therefore, the essence of Net art. not representation, but communication, and its unique art unit is an electronic message. There are at least three stages in the development of Net art, which emerged in the 80s and 90s. XX century The first was when aspiring Internet artists created pictures from letters and icons found on a computer keyboard. The second began when underground artists and just anyone who wanted to show something of their creativity came to the Internet.

OP-ART(English Op-art - shortened version of optical art - optical art) - an artistic movement of the second half of the 20th century, using various visual illusions based on the peculiarities of perception of flat and spatial figures. The movement continues the rationalistic line of technicism (modernism). Goes back to the so-called “geometric” abstractionism, the representative of which was V. Vasarely(from 1930 to 1997 he worked in France) - the founder of op art. The possibilities of Op art have found some application in industrial graphics, posters, and design art. The direction of op art (optical art) originated in the 50s within abstractionism, although this time it was of a different variety - geometric abstraction. Its spread as a movement dates back to the 60s. XX century

Graffiti(graffiti - in archeology, any drawings or letters scratched on any surface, from Italian graffiare - to scratch) This is how works of the subculture are designated, which are mainly large-format images on the walls of public buildings, structures, vehicles, made using various types of spray guns, aerosol spray paint cans. Hence another name for “spray art” - Spray-art. Its origin is associated with the massive appearance of graffiti. in the 70s on New York subway cars, and then on the walls of public buildings and store shutters. The first authors of graffiti. There were mostly young unemployed artists from ethnic minorities, primarily Puerto Ricans, so the first Graffiti showed some stylistic features of Latin American folk art, and by the very fact of appearing on surfaces not intended for this, their authors protested against their disenfranchised position. By the beginning of the 80s. a whole trend of almost professional masters of G. was formed. Their real names, previously hidden under pseudonyms, became known ( CRASH, NOC 167, FUTURA 2000, LEE, SEEN, DAZE). Some of them transferred their technique to canvas and began exhibiting in galleries in New York, and soon graffiti appeared in Europe.

HYPERREALISM(hyperrealism - English), or photorealism (photorealism - English) - artistic. a movement in painting and sculpture based on photography and the reproduction of reality. Both in its practice and in its aesthetic orientations towards naturalism and pragmatism, hyperrealism is close to pop art. They are primarily united by a return to figurativeness. It acts as an antithesis to conceptualism, which not only broke with representation, but also questioned the very principle of the material realization of art. concept

Land art(from the English land art - earthen art), a direction in the art of the last thirdXXc., based on the use of a real landscape as the main artistic material and object. Artists dig trenches, create bizarre piles of stones, paint rocks, choosing for their works usually deserted places - pristine and wild landscapes, thereby, as if trying to return art to nature. Thanks to his<первобытному>In appearance, many actions and objects of this kind are close to archeology, as well as photo-art, since the majority of the public can only contemplate them in a series of photographs. It looks like we will have to come to terms with yet another barbarism in the Russian language. I don't know if it's a coincidence that the term<лэнд-арт>appeared at the end 60s, at a time when in developed societies the rebellious spirit of students directed its forces towards overthrowing established values.

MINIMALISM(minimal art - English: minimal art) - artist. a flow that comes from minimal transformation of the materials used in the creative process, simplicity and uniformity of forms, monochrome, creativity. artist's self-restraint. Minimalism is characterized by a rejection of subjectivity, representation, and illusionism. Rejecting the classic techniques of creativity and tradition. artist materials, minimalists use industrial and natural materials of simple geometric shapes. shapes and neutral colors (black, grey), small volumes, serial, conveyor methods of industrial production are used. An artifact in the minimalist concept of creativity is a predetermined result of the process of its production. Having received its most complete development in painting and sculpture, minimalism, interpreted in a broad sense as an economy of art. means, has found application in other forms of art, primarily theater and cinema.

Minimalism originated in the USA in the trans. floor. 60s Its origins lie in constructivism, suprematism, dadaism, abstract art, formalistic amer. painting from the 50s, pop art. Directly forerunner of minimalism. is American artist F. Stella, who presented a series of “Black Paintings” in 1959-60, where ordered straight lines prevailed. The first minimalist works appear in 1962-63. The term "minimalism." belongs to R. Wollheim, who introduces it in relation to the analysis of creativity M. Duchamp and pop artists who minimize the artist's intervention in the environment. Its synonyms are “cool art”, “ABC art”, “serial art”, “primary structures”, “art as a process”, “systematic”. painting". Among the most representative minimalists are K. Andre, M. Bochner, U. De Ma-ria, D. Flavin. S. Le Witt, R. Mangold, B. Murden, R. Morris, R. Ryman. They are united by the desire to fit the artifact into the environment, to play with the natural texture of materials. D. Zhad defines it as “specific. object”, different from the classic one. works of plastic arts Independently, lighting plays a role as a way of creating minimalist art. situations, original spatial solutions; Computer methods are used to create works.

There is simply a huge variety of trends and styles in the fine arts. Often they do not have any clear boundaries and can smoothly move from one to another, while being in continuous development, resistance and mixing. Most trends in painting coexist simultaneously precisely for this reason - there are practically no “pure styles”. We present you the most popular painting styles today.

Impressionism

Claude Monet “Impression. Rising Sun”

It got its name from the painting “Impression, soleil levant” by Claude Monet. Impressionism is a style of painting that is generally aimed at working outdoors. Painting in this direction is designed to convey the light sensation of the master.

The key characteristics of impressionism include: thin, relatively small, barely visible brush strokes; accurately conveyed lighting changes; open composition; the presence of any movement; unusual vision of objects.

Prominent representatives of impressionism: Pierre Renoir, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet.

Expressionism

Edvard Munch “The Scream”

One of the modern art movements that originated in Germany around the first half of the 20th century. At first, expressionism covered only poetry and painting.

Expressionists usually depict the world only subjectively, completely distorting reality for an even greater emotional effect. In this way, they make their viewer think.

Among its representatives: Amedeo Modigliani, Edvard Munch, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, etc.

Cubism

Pablo Picasso “Dora Maar”

Cubism is an avant-garde art movement that originated in the 20th century thanks to the famous Pablo Picasso. Therefore, he is the most prominent representative of this style. Note that this movement revolutionized the sculpture and painting of Europe, also inspiring similar movements in architecture, literature and music.

Works of art in this style are characterized by recombined, broken objects in an abstract form.

Modernism

Henri Matisse “Dancer in a Blue Dress”

Modernism demonstrates a combination of different cultural trends, as well as a number of united art movements that originated in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Painters call modernism “another art,” the goal of which is to create unique, unlike anything else, paintings, that is, they show the artist’s special vision.

Famous representatives: Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Neoclassicism

Nicolas Poussin “Parnassus”

Neoclassicism was the main direction in Northern Europe approximately the 18th and 19th centuries, which is characterized by the art of the Renaissance, antiquity and even classicism.

Thanks to their deep knowledge of church laws, the masters of neoclassicism tried to reconstruct and also introduce canons into their works.

Prominent representatives are: Nicolas Poussin, Franz Joseph Haydn, Raphael.

Pop Art

Andy Warhol “Dollar”

Romanticism

Francisco Goya “Tribunal of the Inquisition”

Romanticism as an art movement originated in the 18th century in Europe. Strong emotions were considered the true source of aesthetic knowledge. The most valued emotions were awe, fear, horror and awe.

Among its representatives: Francisco Goya, Isaac Levitan, Ivan Shishkin, Ivan Aivazovsky, William Turner.

Realism

Ilya Repin “The Timid Little Man”

Surrealism is the revelation of psychological truth by separating objects from their everyday meaning in order to create a powerful image in order to evoke the empathy of the viewer.

Famous representatives of this style: Max Ernst, Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali.

Symbolism

Mikhail Vrubel “Defeated Demon”

Symbolism is a kind of protest in favor of spirituality, dreams and imagination, which developed in some European countries at the end of the 19th century.

Symbolist artists had a fairly strong influence on surrealism and expressionism in painting. These two directions came directly from symbolism.

Among the representatives of the style: Mikhail Vrubel, Gustave Moreau, Hugo Simberg, Viktor Vasnetsov, etc.

One of the main ways we think. Its result is the education of the most general concepts and judgments (abstractions). In decorative art, abstraction is the process of stylizing natural forms.

IN artistic activity abstraction is constantly present; in its extreme expression in fine arts it leads to abstractionism, a special direction in the fine arts of the 20th century, which is characterized by the refusal to depict real objects, extreme generalization or complete rejection of form, non-objective compositions (from lines, dots, spots, planes, etc.), experiments with color , spontaneous expression inner world the artist, his subconscious in chaotic, disorganized abstract forms (abstract expressionism). This direction includes the painting of the Russian artist V. Kandinsky.

Representatives of some movements in abstract art created logically ordered structures, echoing the search for a rational organization of forms in architecture and design (the Suprematism of the Russian painter K. Malevich, constructivism, etc.) Abstractionism was less expressed in sculpture than in painting.

Abstract art was a response to general disharmony modern world and was successful because it proclaimed the rejection of the conscious in art and called for “giving in to the initiative to forms, colors, colors.”

Realism

From fr. realisme, from lat. realis - real. In art, in a broad sense, a truthful, objective, comprehensive reflection of reality using specific means inherent in the types of artistic creativity.

The general features of the realism method are reliability in the reproduction of reality. At the same time, realistic art has a huge variety of ways of cognition, generalization, and artistic reflection of reality (G.M. Korzhev, M.B. Grekov, A.A. Plastov, A.M. Gerasimov, T.N. Yablonskaya, P.D. . Korin, etc.)

Realistic art of the 20th century. acquires bright national traits and variety of forms. Realism is the opposite phenomenon to modernism.

Avant-garde

From fr. avant - advanced, garde - detachment - a concept that defines experimental, modernist endeavors in art. In every era, innovative phenomena arose in the fine arts, but the term “avant-garde” was established only at the beginning of the 20th century. At this time, such trends as Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, and Abstractionism appeared. Then, in the 20s and 30s, surrealism occupied avant-garde positions. In the 60-70s, new varieties of abstract art were added - various forms of actionism, working with objects (pop art), conceptual art, photorealism, kineticism, etc. Avant-garde artists express with their creativity a kind of protest against traditional culture.

In all avant-garde movements, despite their great diversity, common features can be identified: rejection of the norms of classical imagery, formal novelty, deformation of forms, expression and various playful transformations. All this leads to a blurring of the boundaries between art and reality (ready-made, installation, environment), creating the ideal of an open work of art that directly invades the environment. Avant-garde art is designed for dialogue between artist and viewer, active human interaction with a work of art, participation in creativity (for example, kinetic art, happenings, etc.).

Works of avant-garde movements sometimes lose their pictorial origin and are equated with objects of the surrounding reality. Modern directions avant-garde are closely intertwined, forming new forms of synthetic art.

Underground

English underground - underground, dungeon. A concept meaning an “underground” culture that opposed itself to the conventions and restrictions of traditional culture. Exhibitions of artists of the movement in question were often held not in salons and galleries, but directly on the ground, as well as in underground passages or the metro, which in a number of countries is called the underground (subway). Probably, this circumstance also influenced the fact that this direction in the art of the 20th century. this name was established.

In Russia, the concept of underground has become a designation for a community of artists representing unofficial art.

Surrealism

Fr. surrealisme - super-realism. Direction in literature and art of the 20th century. developed in the 1920s. Having emerged in France on the initiative of the writer A. Breton, surrealism soon became an international trend. Surrealists believed that creative energy comes from the sphere of the subconscious, which manifests itself during sleep, hypnosis, painful delirium, sudden insights, automatic actions (random wandering of a pencil on paper, etc.)

Surrealist artists, unlike abstractionists, do not refuse to depict real-life objects, but present them in chaos, deliberately devoid of logical relationships. Lack of meaning, rejection of a reasonable reflection of reality is the basic principle of the art of surrealism. About isolation from real life The name of the direction itself speaks: “sur” in French “above”; artists did not pretend to reflect reality, but mentally placed their creations “above” realism, passing off delusional fantasies as works of art. Thus, the number of surrealist paintings included similar, inexplicable works by M. Ernst, J. Miró, I. Tanguy, as well as objects processed by the surrealists beyond recognition (M. Oppenheim).

The surrealist movement, which was headed by S. Dali, was based on the illusory accuracy of reproducing an unreal image that arises in the subconscious. His paintings are distinguished by a careful brushwork style, accurate rendering of light and shade, and perspective, which is typical for academic painting. The viewer, succumbing to the persuasiveness of illusory painting, is drawn into a labyrinth of deceptions and unsolvable mysteries: solid objects spread, dense objects become transparent, incompatible objects twist and turn out, massive volumes acquire weightlessness, and all this creates an image impossible in reality.

This fact is known. Once at an exhibition, a viewer stood for a long time in front of a work by S. Dali, peering carefully and trying to understand the meaning. Finally, in complete despair, he said loudly: “I don’t understand what this means!” The viewer's exclamation was heard by S. Dali, who was at the exhibition. “How can you understand what this means if I don’t understand it myself,” said the artist, thus expressing the basic principle of surrealist art: to paint without thinking, without reflecting, abandoning reason and logic.

Exhibitions of works by surrealists were usually accompanied by scandals: spectators were indignant at the absurd, strange pictures, believed that they were being deceived and mystified. The surrealists blamed the audience, declaring that they were lagging behind and had not matured enough to catch up with the work of “advanced” artists.

The general features of the art of surrealism are fantasy of the absurd, alogism, paradoxical combinations of forms, visual instability, variability of images. Artists turned to imitation of primitive art, the creativity of children and the mentally ill.

Artists of this movement wanted to create on their canvases a reality that did not reflect the reality suggested by the subconscious, but in practice this resulted in the creation of pathologically repulsive images, eclecticism and kitsch (German - kitsch; cheap, tasteless mass production designed for external effect).

Some of the surrealist finds were used in the commercial fields of decorative art, for example optical illusions, allowing you to see two different images or scenes in one picture depending on the direction of view.

The works of the surrealists evoke the most complex associations and can be identified in our perception with evil. Frightening visions and idyllic dreams, violence, despair - these feelings are in various options appear in the works of surrealists, actively influencing the viewer; the absurdity of the works of surrealism affects the associative imagination and psyche.

Surrealism is a controversial artistic phenomenon. Many truly advanced cultural figures, realizing that this trend was destroying art, subsequently abandoned surrealist views (artists P. Picasso, P. Klee and others, poets F. Lorca, P. Neruda, Spanish director L. Buñuel, who made surreal films ). By the mid-1960s, surrealism was replaced by new, even more striking directions of modernism, but the bizarre, mostly ugly, meaningless works of the surrealists still fill the halls of museums.

Modernism

Fr. modernisme, from Lat. modernus - new, modern. A collective designation for all the latest trends, directions, schools and activities of individual masters of art of the 20th century, breaking with tradition, realism and considering experiment as the basis creative method(fauvism, expressionism, cubism, futurism, abstractionism, dadaism, surrealism, pop art, op art, kinetic art, hyperrealism, etc.). Modernism is close in meaning to avant-garde and opposite to academicism. Modernism was negatively assessed by Soviet art critics as a crisis phenomenon bourgeois culture. Art has the freedom to choose its historical paths. The contradictions of modernism as such must be considered not statically, but in historical dynamics.

Pop Art

English pop art, from popular art - popular art. Art movement in Western Europe and the USA since the late 1950s. The heyday of pop art came in the turbulent 60s, when youth riots broke out in many countries of Europe and America. The youth movement did not have a single goal - it was united by the pathos of denial.

Young people were ready to throw overboard the entire past culture. All this is reflected in art.

A distinctive feature of pop art is a combination of challenge and indifference. Everything is equally valuable or equally priceless, equally beautiful or equally ugly, equally worthy or unworthy. Perhaps only the advertising business is based on the same dispassionate and businesslike attitude towards everything in the world. It is no coincidence that advertising had a huge influence on pop art, and many of its representatives worked and are working in advertising centers. The creators of advertising programs and shows are able to cut into pieces and combine in the combination they need, washing powder and a famous masterpiece of art, toothpaste and Bach's fugue. Pop art does the same.

Motifs of mass culture are exploited by pop art in different ways. Real objects are introduced into the picture through collage or photographs, usually in unexpected or completely absurd combinations (R. Rauschenberg, E. War Hall, R. Hamilton). Painting can imitate compositional techniques and billboard techniques; a comic book image can be enlarged to the size of a large canvas (R. Lichtenstein). The sculpture can be combined with dummies. For example, the artist K. Oldenburg created the likes of display models of food products of enormous size from unusual materials.

There is often no boundary between sculpture and painting. A work of pop art often not only has three dimensions, but also fills the entire exhibition room. Due to such transformations, the original image of an object of mass culture is transformed and perceived completely differently than in a real everyday environment.

The main category of pop art is not the artistic image, but its “designation”, which relieves the author of the man-made process of creating it, depicting something (M. Duchamp). This process was introduced with the aim of expanding the concept of art to include non-artistic activities, the “exit” of art into the field of mass culture. Pop art artists were the initiators of such forms as happenings, object installations, environments and other forms of conceptual art. Similar movements: underground, hyperrealism, op art, readymade, etc.

Op art

English op art, abbreviated from optical art - optical art. A movement in art of the 20th century that became widespread in the 1960s. Op art artists used various visual illusions, relying on the peculiarities of perception of flat and spatial figures. The effects of spatial movement, merging, and floating of forms were achieved by introducing rhythmic repetitions, sharp color and tonal contrasts, the intersection of spiral and lattice configurations, and twisting lines. In op art, installations of changing light and dynamic structures were often used (discussed further in the section kinetic art). Illusions of flowing movement, sequential changes of images, unstable, continuously rearranging forms appear in op art only in the viewer’s perception. The direction continues the technical line of modernism.

Kinetic art

From gr. kinetikos - setting in motion. A movement in contemporary art associated with the widespread use of moving structures and other dynamic elements. Kineticism as an independent movement took shape in the second half of the 1950s, but it was preceded by experiments in creating dynamic plastic art in Russian constructivism (V. Tatlin, K. Melnikov, A. Rodchenko) and Dadaism.

Previously, folk art also showed us examples of moving objects and toys, for example, wooden birds of happiness from the Arkhangelsk region, mechanical toys imitating labor processes, from the village of Bogorodskoye, etc.

In kinetic art, movement is introduced in different ways: some works are dynamically transformed by the viewer himself, others - by vibrations air environment, and still others are driven by a motor or electromagnetic forces. The variety of materials used is endless - from traditional to ultra-modern technical means, right up to computers and lasers. Mirrors are often used in kinetic compositions.

In many cases, the illusion of movement is created by changing lighting - here kineticism meets op art. Kinetic techniques are widely used in organizing exhibitions, fairs, discos, and in the design of squares, parks, and public interiors.

Kineticism strives for a synthesis of arts: the movement of an object in space can be supplemented by lighting effects, sound, light music, film, etc.
Techniques of modern (avant-garde) art

Hyperrealism

English hyperrealism. A movement in painting and sculpture that arose in the USA and became an event in world fine art in the 70s of the 20th century.

Another name for hyperrealism is photorealism.

Artists of this movement imitated photos using painterly means on canvas. They depicted the world of a modern city: shop windows and restaurants, metro stations and traffic lights, residential buildings and passers-by on the streets. At the same time, special attention was paid to shiny surfaces that reflect light: glass, plastic, car polish, etc. The play of reflections on such surfaces creates the impression of interpenetration of spaces.

The goal of the hyperrealists was to depict the world not just authentically, but super-similarly, super-real. To do this, they used mechanical methods of copying photographs and enlarging them to the size of a large canvas (slide projection and scale grid). The paint, as a rule, was sprayed with an airbrush in order to preserve all the features of the photographic image and to exclude the manifestation of the artist’s individual handwriting.

In addition, visitors to exhibitions of this type could meet in the halls human figures made of modern polymer materials in life-size, dressed in a ready-made dress and painted in such a way that they were completely indistinguishable from the audience. This caused a lot of confusion and shocked people.

Photorealism has set itself the task of sharpening our perception of everyday life, symbolizing the modern environment, and reflecting our time in the forms of “technical arts” that have become widespread precisely in our era of technical progress. Fixing and exposing modernity, hiding the author's emotions, photorealism in its programmatic works found itself on the border of fine art and almost crossed it, because it sought to compete with life itself.

Ready-made

English ready made - ready. One of the common techniques of modern (avant-garde) art is that an industrially produced object is taken out of its usual everyday environment and exhibited in an exhibition hall.

The meaning of the readymade is this: when the environment changes, the perception of the object also changes. The viewer sees in the object displayed on the podium not a utilitarian thing, but an artistic object, expressiveness of form and color. The name readymade was first used in 1913 - 1917 by M. Duchamp in relation to his “ready-made objects” (comb, bicycle wheel, bottle dryer). In the 60s, the readymade became widespread in various areas of avant-garde art, especially in Dadaism.

Installation

From English installation - installation. A spatial composition created by an artist from various elements - household items, industrial products and materials, natural objects, text or visual information. The founders of the installation were the Dadaist M. Duchamp and the surrealists. By creating unusual combinations of ordinary things, the artist gives them a new symbolic meaning. The aesthetic content of the installation is a play of semantic meanings that change depending on where the object is located - in a familiar everyday environment or in an exhibition hall. The installation was created by many avant-garde artists R. Rauschenberg, D. Dine, G. Uecker, I. Kabakov.

Installation is an art form widespread in the 20th century.

Environment

English environment - surroundings, environment. An extensive spatial composition that embraces the viewer like a real environment is one of the forms characteristic of avant-garde art of the 60s and 70s. Sculptures by D. Segal, E. Kienholz, K. Oldenburg, and D. Hanson created naturalistic environments that imitate an interior with human figures. Such repetitions of reality could include elements of delusional fiction. Another type of environment is a play space that involves certain actions by spectators.

Happening

English happening - happening, happening. A type of actionism, most common in avant-garde art of the 60s and 70s. The happening develops as an event, provoked rather than organized, but the initiators of the action necessarily involve the audience in it. Happenings emerged in the late 50s as a form of theater. In the future, artists most often organize happenings directly in the urban environment or in nature.

They consider this form as a kind of moving work in which the environment and objects play no less a role than the living participants in the action.

The action of a happening provokes the freedom of each participant and the manipulation of objects. All actions develop according to a pre-planned program, in which, however, great importance is given to improvisation, which gives vent to various unconscious impulses. Happenings may include elements of humor and folklore. The happening clearly expressed the desire of avant-gardeism to merge art with the flow of life itself.

And finally the most advanced view contemporary art- Superflat

Superflat

Superflat is a term coined by contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

The term Superflat was created to explain the new visual language actively used by the young generation Japanese artists, such as Takashi Murakami: “I was thinking about the realities of Japanese drawing and painting and how they differ from Western art. For Japan, the feeling of flatness is important. Our culture does not have 3D forms. 2D forms approved in historical Japanese painting, akin to the simple, flat visual language of modern animation, comics and graphic design."

Painting is perhaps the most ancient form of art. Even in the primitive era, our ancestors made images of people and animals on the walls of caves. These are the first examples of painting. Since then, this type of art has invariably remained a companion to human life. Examples of painting today are numerous and varied. We will try to cover this type of art as much as possible, talk about the main genres, styles, trends and techniques in it.

Painting techniques

Let's first look at the basic painting techniques. One of the most common is oil. This is a technique that uses oil-based paints. These paints are applied in strokes. With their help, you can create a variety of different shades, as well as convey the necessary images with maximum realism.

Tempera- another popular technique. About her we're talking about when using emulsion paints. The binder in these paints is egg or water.

Gouache- a technique widely used in graphics. Gouache paint is made with an adhesive base. It can be used to work on cardboard, paper, bone or silk. The image is durable and the lines are crisp. Pastel- This is a technique of drawing with dry pencils, and the surface should be rough. And, of course, it’s worth mentioning watercolors. This paint is usually diluted with water. A soft and thin layer of paint is obtained using this technique. Particularly popular Of course, we have listed only the main techniques that are used most often in painting. There are others too.

What are paintings usually painted on? The most popular painting is on canvas. It is stretched onto a frame or glued to cardboard. Note that in the past, wooden planks were used quite often. Today, not only painting on canvas is popular; any other flat materials can be used to create images.

Types of painting

There are 2 main types of it: easel and monumental painting. The latter is related to architecture. This type includes painting the ceilings and walls of buildings, decorating them with images made from mosaics or other materials, stained glass windows, etc. Easel painting is not associated with a specific building. It can be moved from place to place. There are many varieties of easel painting (otherwise called genres). Let's look at them in more detail.

Genres of painting

The word "genre" is French in origin. It is translated as “genus”, “species”. That is, under the name of the genre there is a content of some kind, and by pronouncing its name, we understand what the picture is about, what we will find in it: humans, nature, animals, objects, etc.

Portrait

The most ancient genre of painting is portraiture. This is an image of a person who resembles only himself and no one else. In other words, a portrait is an image in painting of an individual appearance, since individual person each of us has. This genre of painting has its own varieties. The portrait can be full-length, bust-length, or only one face can be painted. Let us note that not every image of a person is a portrait, since the artist can create, for example, “a person in general” without copying him from anyone else. However, when he depicts a specific representative of the human race, he works specifically on a portrait. Needless to say, there are numerous examples of painting in this genre. But the portrait presented below is known to almost every resident of our country. We are talking about the image of A. S. Pushkin, created in 1827 by Kiprensky.

You can also add a self-portrait to this genre. In this case, the artist depicts himself. There is a couple portrait, when the picture shows people in pairs; and a group portrait, when a group of people is depicted. One can also note the ceremonial portrait, a type of which is equestrian, one of the most solemn. It was very popular in the past, but such works are rare now. However, the next genre we will talk about is relevant at any time. What are we talking about? This can be guessed by going through the genres that we have not yet named when characterizing painting. Still life is one of them. This is what we will talk about now, continuing to look at painting.

Still life

This word is also of French origin, it means “dead nature”, although the meaning would be more accurate “inanimate nature”. Still life is an image of inanimate objects. They are very diverse. Let us note that still lifes can also depict “living nature”: butterflies quiet on the petals, beautiful flowers, birds, and sometimes you can see a person among the gifts of nature. However, this will still be a still life, since the image of a living thing is not the most important thing for the artist in this case.

Scenery

Landscape is another French word that means "view of the country." It is similar to the German concept of "landscape". Landscape is an image of nature in its diversity. The following varieties join this genre: architectural landscape and the very popular seascape, which is often called one word “marina”, and the artists working in it are called marine painters. Numerous examples of painting in the seascape genre can be found in the works of I.K. Aivazovsky. One of them is "Rainbow" from 1873.

This painting is done in oil and is difficult to execute. But creating landscapes in watercolor is not at all difficult, so in school drawing lessons this task was given to each of us.

Animalistic genre

The next genre is animalistic. Everything is simple here - this is an image of birds and animals in nature, in their natural environment.

Everyday genre

The everyday genre is a depiction of scenes from life, everyday life, funny “incidents”, home life and stories of ordinary people in an ordinary environment. Or you can do without stories - just capture everyday activities and affairs. Such paintings are sometimes called genre painting. As an example, let's take the work presented above by Van Gogh (1885).

Historical genre

The themes of painting are varied, but the historical genre stands out separately. This is a depiction of historical heroes and events. The battle genre is adjacent to it; it presents episodes of war and battle.

Religious and mythological genre

In the mythological genre, works of painting are written on the themes of ancient and ancient tales about gods and heroes. It should be noted that the image is of a secular nature, and in this way it differs from the images of deities presented on the icon. By the way, religious painting is not only icons. It brings together various works written on religious subjects.

Clash of genres

The richer the content of a genre, the more its “companions” appear. Genres can merge, so there is painting that cannot be placed within the framework of any of them. In art there is both general (techniques, genres, styles) and individual (a specific work taken separately). A separate picture also contains something in common. Therefore, many artists may have the same genre, but the paintings painted in it are never similar. The culture of painting has such features.

Style

Style is an aspect of the visual perception of paintings. It can combine the works of one artist or the works of artists of a certain period, movement, school, or locality.

Academic painting and realism

Academic painting is a special direction, the formation of which is associated with the activities of European art academies. It appeared in the 16th century at the Bologna Academy, from which people sought to imitate the masters of the Renaissance. Since the 16th century, methods of teaching painting began to be based on strict adherence to rules and regulations, following formal patterns. art in Paris was considered one of the most influential in Europe. She promoted the aesthetics of classicism that dominated France in the 17th century. Paris Academy? Having contributed to the systematization of education, it gradually turned the rules classical direction into dogma. Thus, academic painting became a special direction. In the 19th century, some of the most prominent manifestations of academicism were the works of J. L. Jerome, Alexandre Cabannel, and J. Ingres. The classical canons were replaced by realistic ones only at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is realism that becomes at the beginning of the 20th century basic method training in academies turns into a dogmatic system.

Baroque

Baroque is a style and era of art characterized by aristocracy, contrast, dynamic images, simple details when depicting abundance, tension, drama, luxury, a fusion of reality and illusion. This style appeared in Italy in 1600 and spread throughout Europe. Caravaggio and Rubens are its most prominent representatives. Baroque is often compared to expressionism, however, unlike the latter, it does not have too repulsive effects. Paintings of this style today are characterized by the complexity of lines and an abundance of ornaments.

Cubism

Cubism is an avant-garde art movement that emerged in the 20th century. Its creator is Pablo Picasso. Cubism made a real revolution in sculpture and painting in Europe, inspiring the creation of similar movements in architecture, literature, and music. Art painting in this style is characterized by recombined, broken objects that have an abstract form. When depicting them, many points of view are used.

Expressionism

Expressionism is another important movement of modern art that appeared in Germany in the first half of the 20th century. At first it covered only poetry and painting, and then spread to other areas of art.

Expressionists depict the world subjectively, distorting reality to create greater emotional effect. Their goal is to make the viewer think. Expression in expressionism prevails over image. It can be noted that many works are characterized by motifs of torment, pain, suffering, screaming (the work of Edvard Munch, presented above, is called “The Scream”). Expressionist artists are not at all interested in material reality; their paintings are filled with deep meaning and emotional experiences.

Impressionism

Impressionism is a style of painting aimed primarily at working in the plein air (open air), rather than in the studio. It owes its name to the painting “Impression, Sunrise” by Claude Monet, which is shown in the photo below.

The word "impression" in English is impression. Impressionistic paintings primarily convey the artist’s sense of light. The main features of painting in this style are the following: barely visible, thin strokes; changes in lighting, accurately conveyed (attention is often focused on the effect of the passage of time); open composition; simple common goal; movement as a key element of human experience and perception. The most prominent representatives of such a movement as impressionism are Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir.

Modernism

The next direction is modernism, which originated as a set of trends in various fields of art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Parisian "Salon of the Rejected" was opened in 1863. Artists whose paintings were not allowed into the official salon exhibited here. This date can be considered the date of the emergence of modernism as a separate movement in art. Otherwise, modernism is sometimes called “another art.” His goal is to create unique paintings, unlike others. The main feature of the works is the author’s special vision of the world.

Artists in their work rebelled against the values ​​of realism. Self-awareness is a striking characteristic of this direction. This often leads to experimentation with form, as well as a penchant for abstraction. Representatives of modernism pay special attention to the materials used and the work process. Some of its most prominent representatives are considered to be Henry Matisse (his work “The Red Room” of 1908 is presented above) and Pablo Picasso.

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism was the main direction of painting in Northern Europe from the mid-18th century to the end of the 19th. It is characterized by a return to the features of the ancient Renaissance and even the times of classicism. In architectural, artistic and cultural terms, neoclassicism emerged as a response to Rococo, which was perceived as a shallow and pretentious style of art. Neoclassical artists, thanks to their good knowledge of church laws, tried to introduce canons into their works. However, they avoided simply reproducing classical motifs and themes. Neoclassical artists tried to place their paintings within the framework of tradition and thus demonstrate their mastery of the genre. Neoclassicism in this regard is directly opposed to modernism, where improvisation and self-expression are considered virtues. Its most famous representatives include Nicolas Poussin and Raphael.

Pop Art

The last direction we will consider is pop art. It appeared in Britain in the mid-50s of the last century, and in the late 50s in America. Pop art is believed to have originated as a reaction to the ideas of abstract expressionism that were dominant at the time. Speaking about this direction, it is impossible not to mention In 2009, “Eight Elvises,” one of his paintings, was sold for $100 million.

Style is understood as a formed complex of visual techniques and means of expression that identifies the artistic originality of an art phenomenon. The word "style" comes from Lat. stilus, from Greek. stylos, meaning "pointed writing stick". The styles are not equivalent to each other - some styles have existed for centuries, others have been relevant for only a few years. The division of artists' creativity into styles, or directions, is conditional. This happens because it is not possible to clearly define the boundaries of a particular style. The number of styles and their types is not a constant quantity; movements, changes, and development occur continuously. There is an almost endless variety of them.

Abstractionism

Abstractionism (from the Latin abstractio - removal, distraction) is a direction in painting characterized by the rejection of the desire to bring the depicted objects as close as possible to the forms of the real objective world. Abstractionism is also called “art under the sign of “zero forms””, “non-objective art”, “nonfigurative art”, “non-objectivity”. Abstractionism as a movement emerged in the 10s. twentieth century, and is the extreme manifestation of modernism. Artists of this movement used only formal elements when creating works, such as lines, color spots, configurations. In the twentieth century in Russia, the most prominent representatives of abstract art are V. Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich (author of the very famous painting “Black Square”), as well as the creator of Suprematism and Mikhail Fedorovich Larionov, who was the founder of such a movement as "rayonism"(1910-1912 XX century).

From the position Rayonism, the purpose of painting is not to depict the objects themselves, but the color rays reflected from them, because this is the closest thing to how objects are perceived by the human eye. Workers in Rayonism: Mikhail Le-Dantu, N.S. Goncharova, S.M., Romanovich.

Avant-garde

Avant-garde (from the French avant-gardisme, from avant-garde - vanguard) is a set of art movements characterized by underestimation and a break with pre-existing canons and traditions of creativity, a continuous search for new forms of expression, and the elevation of innovation to the rank of the most important value. The term “avant-garde” itself appeared in the 20s. XX century and finally established itself in the 50s. In various periods, avant-gardeism was classified as various directions(cubism, futurism, expressionism, dadaism, surrealism, etc.)

Academicism

Academicism (from the French academisme) is a direction in painting characterized by elevation to an ideal and strict adherence to certain canons. This direction was highlighted in painting of the 16th-19th centuries, when the norms of any art school were elevated to the rank of a standard, a model for others. On the one hand, academism contributed to the introduction of art education into the system and the consolidation of traditions; on the other hand, it grew into an endless system of “prescriptions”. Academicism understood the art of antiquity and Italian Renaissance. For example, when studying at art academies, it was mandatory to fulfill theses on mythological, historical or biblical subjects. The choice of other topics was not allowed, which entailed an inevitable gap between the realities of life and art. Protests by artists against following existing canons gradually led to the fact that the term “academicism” acquired a negative connotation.

Actionism

Actionism (from the English action art - the art of action) is an art direction characterized by diverting the viewer's attention from the work itself to the process of its creation. Happenings, performance, events, process art, demonstration art and a number of other art forms are close to actionism. Actionism arose in the 60s. XX century Actionism seeks to erase the line between art and reality, involving the viewer/artist in some action or action.

Empire style

Empire (French empire - empire from Latin imperium - command, power) - the essence of this art direction is reflected in the name. It is characterized by the display in paintings of the power and strength of the army, the greatness of the state; This was achieved by turning to ancient Egyptian decorative forms (military trophies, winged sphinxes), Etruscan vases, Pompeian painting, Greek and Roman decor, Renaissance frescoes and ornaments. The Empire style manifested itself most clearly in architecture. Empire style originated in France at the beginning of the 19th century, during the First Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte. Empire style is the finale of the development of classicism. Like classicism, the Empire style strictly follows the canons. But it has a number of features: the Empire style is characterized by the use of bright colors - red, blue, white and gold; the composition of the painting is built (as a rule) on the contrast of monochromatic surfaces of the interior, dishes and minimal ornamentation located in a strictly designated place, whereas in classicism the boundaries of the interior are blurred. Empire style is hard and cold. It is characterized by monumentalism and laconism. Decorative motifs of the Empire style consist mainly of elements of ancient Roman military equipment: legionary badges with eagles, bundles of spears, shields, bundles of arrows, and announcer's axes.

underground

Underground (from the English underground - underground, dungeon) is a direction in art characterized by opposition to mass culture, existing restrictions and conventions; deliberate violation of accepted norms. The underground arose in the USA in the late 50s. XX century IN Soviet time Almost any unofficial (unapproved by the authorities) art fell under the concept of “underground”. The themes that most often appeared in works of this style were the “sexual revolution”, drugs, problems of marginal groups. After the collapse of the USSR and the lifting of bans on freedom of creativity, the underground lost its relevance and essence.

Art Deco

Art Deco, also art deco (from the French art deco, abbreviated from decoratif, literally “decorative art”) is an eclectic style that is a mixture of several trends such as modernism, neoclassicism, as well as cubism, futurism and constructivism . Characteristic features: a rich palette of colors, luxury, chic, many ornaments, following patterns, but at the same time using bold geometric shapes, an unusual combination of expensive and exotic materials (ivory, crocodile skin, silver, black - ebony, mother-of-pearl, diamonds, shagreen leather, even lizard skins). Fantastic creatures and languid pale women with flowing hair were often depicted. Paintings painted in the Art Deco style reek of fatigue and satiety. The Art Deco style originated in France in the 1920s. XX century, later spread throughout the world (by the 40s). Art Deco is called the last of the artistic styles that “connected the incompatible.”

Baroque

Baroque is an art direction characterized by an abundance of decorative details, pomp, grandeur, contrast (light, shadow, materials, scale), heaviness, and colossal nature in the creation of works. The history of the origin of this word deserves special attention, because It is not completely clear from which word the name of this style was originally derived. The word "baroque" in Portuguese was used by sailors as a name for defective pearls of a bizarre, distorted shape (perola barroca). Later, in the middle of the 16th century. this word was borrowed by the Italians and became synonymous with rude, false, clumsy. The French word “baroquer” for jewelers meant “to soften the outline, make the shape more picturesque”; and in 1718 This word appeared in French dictionaries and was interpreted as abusive. In connection with this, they refused to use this word as a name for a style in art for a long time. The Baroque style itself arose around 1600 in Italy and Rome, later spread throughout Europe and became one of the dominant styles in architecture and art. European countries late 16th - mid 18th centuries. The most prominent representatives of Baroque painting are P. Rubens and M. Caravaggio.

Verism

G. Fattori "Battle of Montebleau"

Verism (from Italian il verismo, from the word vero - true, truthful) is a direction in art characterized by the desire to most fully convey the truthfulness of the events described. The term itself arose in the 17th century and served to designate the realistic movement in Baroque painting. Later (in the second half of the 19th century) the term takes on a different meaning, reflecting the desire not for realism, but for naturalism.

Renaissance, or Renaissance

Renaissance, or Renaissance (from the French renaissance, Italian Rinascimentom - revival) is one of the most important areas of art, characterized by anthropocentrism (interest in man and his activities), the secular nature of culture, a humanistic worldview, and an appeal to the ancient cultural heritage(i.e. a “rebirth” occurs). It is quite difficult to establish the chronological framework of the Renaissance: in Italy the XIV-XVI centuries, in other countries - the XV-XVI centuries. Artists still turn to traditional religious themes, but at the same time they begin to use new artistic techniques in their canvases: constructing a three-dimensional composition, using a landscape in the background. This allows you to achieve greater realism in the image, “bringing it to life.” The Renaissance is characterized by changes in the culture of society as a whole concerning the orientation and content of art; man and the world around him are affirmed as the highest value. The Renaissance had a strong effect on all subsequent development of European art.

Gothic

Gothic (from Italian gotico - unusual, barbaric) is a movement that arose in the middle of the 12th century, characterized by an organic connection between fine art and architecture and interior design, complexity and richness of composition, spirituality and sublimity of images. During the Renaissance, this art of the Middle Ages was considered “barbaric.” Gothic art was cultic in purpose and religious in theme. Gothic in its development is divided into Early Gothic, Heyday, Late Gothic. The famous European cathedrals, which are so popular to be photographed, have become masterpieces of the Gothic style. the smallest details tourists. In the design of the interiors of Gothic cathedrals, an important role was played by color schemes. The exterior and interior decoration was dominated by an abundance of gilding, the luminosity of the interior, the openwork of the walls, and the crystalline dissection of space. The best examples of authentic Gothic stained glass open to view in the cathedrals of Chartres, Bourges and Paris.

Dadaism or dada

Dadaism, or dada, is a movement in art characterized by the denial of canons, art standards, unsystematicity and disappointment, and irrationality. Dadaism arose in Switzerland as a response of creative individuals to the First world war. Switzerland maintained neutrality, and artists could observe the life of refugees and deserters. The main idea of ​​Dadaism was the consistent destruction of all aesthetics. The explanation for this is that the Dadaists believed rationality and logic to be the cause of wars and conflicts. Protesting against this, in their works they destroyed and abandoned aesthetics and accepted norms. The term "Dadaism" comes from the word "dada", which has several meanings: the tail of a sacred cow; mother, children's wooden horse, doubled statement in (Russian and Romanian); as well as baby talk. In general, it was something meaningless, which reflected the essence of this style. A common form of Dadaist creativity was collage. This style quickly exhausted itself, but had a great influence on the development of art. It is believed that Dadaism was the predecessor of surrealism.

Decadence

Decadence (from the French décadence, décadentisme - decline, decadence) is a collective name for phenomena in art caused by a crisis of traditional ideas and values. It was widespread in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Characteristic features: moods of despondency, pessimism, denial of historically established spiritual ideals and values, rejection of everyday reality, fundamental apoliticality, a tendency towards irrationalism and mysticism, a vague longing for an unearthly ideal, deliberate obscurity and mystery of images, motives of skepticism and hopelessness, interest in eroticism, close attention to the topic of death. The decadents demanded the creation of new forms in art, without offering specific measures and ideas. The philosophical basis was the ideas of A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche, E. Hartmann, M. Nordau.

Impressionism

Impressionism (French: impressionnisme, from impression) is an art direction characterized by the desire to capture the beauty of the real world “as it is,” to convey its variability, and to reflect one’s fleeting impressions. Impressionism originated in France; its period of existence can be noted as the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The term “impressionism” itself was first used by the critic L. Leroy, who spoke with disdain about the exhibition of artists in 1874, including C. Monet’s “Impression. Rising Sun. " In their works, the impressionists sought to convey the freshness of perception of life, depicting momentary situations, torn from the flow of reality, and strong passions.

Highlight neo-impressionism(French neo-impressionnisme) and post-impressionism(from Latin post - after and impressionism). Neo-impressionism arose in France around 1885, its peculiarity being the application in art of the latest achievements in the field of optics. Post-impressionism is a collective name for movements in painting; its peculiarity is the search for means of expressing not only a specific moment of life, but also understanding the long-term states of the surrounding world.

Classicism

Classicism (derived from the Latin classicus - exemplary) is a movement in art characterized by an appeal to the ancient heritage as a standard to follow. The greatest value for classicism is the eternal and unchanging; individual characteristics fade into the background; the search for essential, typical features becomes dominant. The works were built on the basis of canons (it was in classicism that the division of genres into “high” and “low” appeared, while their mixing was not allowed) to convey the logic and perfection of the entire universe. The ideology of classicism attaches great importance to the social and educational functions of art. Characteristic features of classicism: harmony, order, logic, clarity, plastic clarity of pictorial constructions, reflection of the theme of nature, timeless, appeal to the themes of human life and history. Classicism manifested itself in the works artists XVII V. - beginning of the 19th century Over time, classicism transformed into academicism.

Cubism

Cubism (from the French cubisme, from cube - cube) is a direction in painting characterized by the desire to depict objects of reality through geometric shapes- straight lines, edges, cube-like shapes, intersecting planes. Cubism began in the 1910s. It is noteworthy that the term "Cubists" was originally used by a French critic in relation to artists as a derision. The most prominent representatives of Cubism are P. Picasso and J. Braque.

Mannerism

Mannerism (from the Italian maniera, manner) is a movement in art characterized by a lack of harmony between the physical and spiritual, nature and man. Artists attach excessive importance to plasticity, sensuality, and expression. The images in the paintings are either “overly beautiful”, the objects are elongated, elongated, or vice versa. Mannerism (from Italian manierismo, from maniera - manner, style) is a style in art based on the assimilation of the manner of some great master or a certain art school. The chronological framework of mannerism is the 16th century. until the first third of the 17th century. Some researchers consider mannerism to be a transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque, calling mannerism the early phase of the Baroque.

Art Nouveau, or Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau, or Art Nouveau (also Art Nouveau) (from the French art nouveau, lit. “new art”). Art Nouveau owes its origins to stained glass - that was the name of the store in Paris where they sold stained glass, which later became extremely popular. Synonyms for Art Nouveau are Art Nouveau (German), Secession (Austrian), Liberty (Italian), Modernisimo (Spanish). These directions are very close to each other, so we note the most pronounced features: the use of winding, smooth lines, decorativeness, “naturalness” - an abundance of natural and plant motifs (water lilies, lilies, octopuses, butterflies, dragonflies), mandatory adherence to stylistic unity, a combination of various textures and materials. This style arose in 1880-1900 and was popular in Europe and America, but not for long. This style received a “second wind” in the 50s of the twentieth century.

Naturalism

Naturalism (French naturalisme, from Latin natura - nature) is a direction in art characterized by the desire for an objective depiction of reality, without embellishment and taboos. Representatives of this direction proceeded from the ideas of complete predetermination of fate, dependence spiritual world people from the social environment, showed increased interest in the biological aspects of life, which led to a frank display of the physiological manifestations of a person, his pathologies, scenes of violence and cruelty. Naturalism arose in the last third of the 19th century in Europe and the USA. Naturalism is characterized by a rejection of generalizations, an interest in depicting the “social bottom”, and the reproduction of reality without its ideological comprehension, evaluation and selection.

Pop Art

Pop art (from the English pop art, short for popular art - popular, public art; the second meaning of the word is associated with the onomatopoeic English pop - abrupt blow, clap, slap, i.e. producing a shocking effect) - a direction in painting, spreading in the USA and England in the 1950s, characterized by the involvement and transformation of images of mass culture. Pop art artists set as their goal to reflect “life as it is,” to reflect reality, and the source of inspiration is the mass of media: advertising, comics, cinema, jazz, newspapers and magazines, etc. Pop art necessarily uses established stereotypes and symbols.

Realism

Realism is a direction characterized by the desire to depict the external and internal essence of phenomena and objects of reality with maximum plausibility, reliability and objectivity. The boundaries of realism are blurred and not clearly defined. Realism in the narrow sense is understood as a movement in the art of the second half of the 19th century century. The term “realism” was first used by the French critic J. Chanfleury in the 50s. XIX century to designate art opposed to romanticism and academicism. Realism was widespread not only in France, but also far beyond its borders, acquiring its own name in some countries: in Russia - Itinerantism, in Italy - verismo Macchiaioli, in Australia - the Heidelberg school (T. Roberts, F. McCubbin), in the USA - trash can school (E. Hopper). Realism is the longest existing movement.

Rococo

Rococo (from the French rococo, from rocaille, rocaille - a decorative motif in the shape of a shell) is an art direction characterized by a hedonistic mood, grace, lightness, and intimate and flirtatious character. The Rococo style replaced Baroque, being its logical continuation and at the same time its opposite. What Baroque and Rococo have in common is the desire for completeness of forms.

Painting in the Rococo style is decorative in nature, distinguished by the grace of color shifts and at the same time a certain “fading” of colors, the loss of the independent meaning of the image of a person in painting, and the predominance of such genres as landscapes and pastoral.

The chronological framework of Rococo is the second half of the 18th century - the 19th century. Having existed for about half a century, Rococo gradually gave way to neoclassicism.

Romanticism

Romanticism (from the French romantisme) is a movement that replaced classicism. Characterized by the dominant idea of ​​individualism in the image (as opposed to the ideal beauty of the classicists) and the transmission of passions; depicting rare, unusual, and fantastic phenomena. Chronological framework of romanticism - late XVIII V. - beginning of the 19th century Romanticism is characterized by the aspiration for unlimited freedom and infinity, the expectation of renewal, and the glorification of personal and civil independence.

Art became a kind of synthesis of the principles of romanticism and “burgher realism” Biedermeier(works of L. Richter, K. Spitzweg, M. von Schwind, F.G. Waldmüller.

Sentimentalism

Sentimentalism (from the French sentimentalisme, from the English sentimental - sensitive, from the French sentiment - feeling) is a direction whose characteristic features are the patriarchal idealization of everyday life, the cult of natural feeling, disappointment in a civilization that relies on reason. J. J. Rousseau is considered the ideologist of sentimentalism. The style arose in the 2nd half of the 18th century.

Symbolism

Symbolism (from the French symbolisme - sign, identifying mark) is a direction in painting, characterized by the use of hints, “innuendos”, mystery, and symbols in painting. The word "symbol" in Ancient Greece meant a coin divided into two parts, by which people could recognize each other when they met. However, later this word turned into a multifaceted and capacious concept. Symbolism originated in France in the 1870s and 80s. and reached its greatest development at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The word symbol acts as a sign, a universal image that has an infinite number of meanings. Symbolism is a person’s attempt to convey spirituality, the abstraction of life, to touch the abyss that goes beyond the visible world.

Suprematism

Suprematism (from Latin supremus - highest) is a movement in avant-garde art in Russia, founded in the 1st half of the 1910s. K. S. Malevich. It is a type of abstract art. The name “Suprematism” implied the primacy, the superiority of color over other properties of painting. Suprematism is characterized by combinations of multi-colored planes of the simplest geometric shapes devoid of pictorial meaning, a combination of multi-colored and different-sized geometric figures.

Surrealism

Surrealism (from the French surrealisme lit. superrealism) is a direction in painting, the source of inspiration for which was the sphere of the subconscious (dreams, hallucinations). Surrealism arose in France in the early 20s. XX century Artists used various contradictory and absurd combinations of naturalistic images and allusions; freedom and irrationality were proclaimed as the main values. Frequently used themes in the works were magic, eroticism, the subconscious and irony. Artists sought to create paintings with photographic precision, but at the same time the image turned out to be illogical and repulsive; or used unconventional techniques paintings that help convey the subconscious. There were cases when surrealists created under the influence of hunger, drugs, hypnosis, and anesthesia.

Tachisme

Tachisme - European variety abstract expressionism. The term was first used in 1950 by the Belgian-French critic M. Sefort to designate the painting technique of a group of artists whose method of work was the impulsive and spontaneous application of paints to the canvas and was close to what in the USA at the same time was called action painting ( action painting).

Primitivism

Primitivism is a direction in painting characterized by deliberate simplification visual arts and imitation of the primitive stages of the development of art - primitive, medieval, folk, art of ancient non-European civilizations, children's creativity. However, primitivism of form does not entail primitivism of content. The term “primitivism” was also applied to the so-called “naive” art, i.e. creativity of artists who do not have a specialized education.

Futurism

D.D. Burliuk "Lightning Horse"

Futurism (from Latin futurum - future) is a movement in art characterized by the rejection and destruction of previously existing traditions and stereotypes of culture; instead, it was proposed to praise technology and urbanism as the main signs of the present and future. Futurism proclaimed itself as the prototype of the art of the future.

It manifested itself most clearly in the painting and poetry of Italy and Russia; it arose at the beginning of the 20th century. Futurism is characterized by energetic compositions with figures fragmented into fragments and sharp angles intersecting them. The main idea of ​​futurism was the search for a reflection of the speed of movement as the most important sign of the pace of modern life.

In Russia there was a direction cubo-futurism(D. Burliuk, O. Rozanova), which was based on the combination of the plastic principles of French Cubism and European general aesthetic principles of Futurism.