MODULE 2

Art Movements
& Styles

Contemporary Philippine Arts from the Region

 LESSON

Objectives:
Differentiate among the majority styles and movements in
contemporary art.
Name and describe different types of technique in art-making.
 Let’s discover these
together!
Abstract Expressionism Land Art
Art Nouveau Minimalism
Avant-grade Op Art
Digital Art Performance Art
Conceptual Art Body art
Installation Art Kinetic Art
 What is Art Movement?

It is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or

goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time,
(usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday
of the movement defined within a number of years.

Art movements were especially important in modern art, when each

consecutive movement was considered as a new avant-garde.
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, 1950. Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Abstract Expressionism

The designation ‘Abstract Expressionism’ encompasses a

wide variety of American 20th-century art movements in
abstract art. Also known as The New York School, this
movement includes large painted canvases, sculptures and
other media as well. The term ‘action painting’ is
associated with Abstract Expressionism, describing a
highly dynamic and spontaneous application of vigorous
brushstrokes and the effects of dripping and spilling paint
onto the canvas.
Art Nouveau

A decorative style that flourished between 1890 and 1910

throughout Europe and the U.S. It is characterized by
sinuous, asymmetrical lines based on organic forms.
Although it influenced painting and sculpture, its chief
manifestations were in architecture and the decorative and
graphic arts, aiming to create a new style, free of the
imitative historicism that dominated much of 19th-century
art movements and design.
Piero Manzoni, Merda d’artista, 1961
Avant-garde

In French, avant-garde means

“advanced guard” and refers to
innovative or experimental concepts,
works or the group or people producing
them, particularly in the realms of
culture, politics, and the arts.
 Conceptual Art
Sometimes, it is simply called conceptualism, was
one of several 20th-century art movements that
arose during the 1960s, emphasizing ideas and
theoretical practices rather than the creation of
visual forms. The term was coined in 1967 by the
artist Sol LeWitt, who gave the new genre its name in
his essay “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art.”
Installation Art

It is movement developed at the same time as

pop art in the late 1950s, which is
characterized by large-scale, mixed-media
constructions, often designed for a specific
place or for a temporary period of time. Often,
installation art involves the creation of an
enveloping aesthetic or sensory experience in a
particular environment, often inviting active
engagement or immersion by the spectator.
 Minimalism
Another one of the art movements from the 1960s,
and typified by works composed of simple art, such
as geometric shapes devoid of representational
content. The minimal vocabulary of forms made from
humble industrial materials challenged traditional
notions of craftsmanship, the illusion of spatial
depth in painting, and the idea that a work of
abstract art must be one of a kind.
 Op Art

Op Art is an abbreviation of optical art, a form of

geometric abstract art that explores optical
sensations through the use of visual effects such as
repetition of simple forms, vibrating colour-
combinations, moiré patterns, foreground-
background confusion, and an exaggerated sense of
depth.

Bridget Riley, Blaze, 1964 © Bridget Riley 2018, Courtesy National Galleries Scotland.
 Performance Art
A term that emerged in the 1960s to describe different
types of art that are created through actions
performed by the artist or other participants,
which may be live or recorded, spontaneous or
scripted. Performance challenges the conventions of
traditional forms of visual art such as painting and
sculpture by embracing a variety of styles such as
happenings, body art, actions, and events.
 Body Art

Body art is a form of art where the primary medium

and focus is the human body.

Body art is art that involves the human body in various

forms. It includes things like tattoos, body piercings,
scarification, and body painting. Body art can also be
part of performance art, and it's used for exploring
the body through different media like painting,
casting, photography, film, and video.
 Land Art
It is also known as Earth art, Environmental art and
Earthworks, is a simple art movement that emerged
in the 1960s and 1970s, characterized by works made
directly in the landscape, sculpting the land itself into
earthworks or making structures in the landscape
using natural materials such as rocks or twigs. It
could be seen as a natural version of installation art.
 Cubism
An artistic movement began in 1907 by artists Pablo
Picasso and Georges Braque who developed a visual
language whose geometric planes challenged the
conventions of representation in different types of
art, by reinventing traditional subjects such as nudes,
landscapes, and still life as increasingly fragmented
compositions.

Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907. Photo courtesy of MoMA

 Kinetic Art
Kinetic art is any type of artwork that contains
moving elements or requires movement in the
viewer in order to fully perceive the intended
effect. Kinetic art is not confined to any particular
medium or other artistic style but rather a property
that can accompany artwork of all types of motion
involved or required to experience.

Alexander Calder, A Universe, 1934

 Th a nk
you!
Contemporary Philippine Arts from the Region