neoexpressionism

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neoexpressionism

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

neoexpressionism term given to an international art movement, mainly in painting, that began in the 1960s and 1970s, was a dominant mode in the 1980s, and has continued into the 1990s. A reaction against what was seen as the stark and sterile character of minimalism and other purely abstract movements, neoexpressionism stresses aggressive, personal, and often brutally distorted figural imagery, slashing brushstrokes, strong color contrasts, and an emphasis on conveying spontaneous feeling rather than formal concepts. Paintings are often extremely large and sometimes include collage elements, frequently rough or broken. Neoexpressionism has its roots in early 20th-century German expressionism and the abstract expressionism of the 1950s. The contemporary movement also arose in Germany, beginning in the late 1960s and early 70s in the work of such artists as Georg Baselitz , A. R. Penck, and Anselm Kiefer. Other artists who soon began to paint in a neoexpressionist style include the Italians Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, and Enzo Cucchi and the Americans Julian Schnabel , David Salle , and Susan Rothenberg.

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Neo-Expressionism

A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art | 1999 | | © A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art 1999, originally published by Oxford University Press 1999. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Neo-Expressionism (also known as Energism; New Fauvism; Vehement Painting, Violent Painting, or Wild Painting; in France as Figuration Libre, in Italy as the Transavant-garde). Movement in painting (and to a lesser extent sculpture) emerging in the late 1970s, characterized by intense subjectivity of feeling and aggressively raw handling of materials. Neo-Expressionist paintings are typically large and rapidly executed, sometimes with materials such as straw (see KIEFER) or brocken crockery (see SCHNABEL) embedded in their surfaces. They are usually figurative, often with violent or doom-laden subjects, but the image is sometimes almost lost in the welter of surface activity. Neo-Expressionism was put firmly on the map by a number of large exhibitions at the beginning of the 1980s, including ‘A New Spirit in Painting’ at the Royal Academy, London, in 1981. To some extent the movement marked a return from the ‘anything goes’ experimentation of the 1970s to more traditional forms. This development was welcomed by art dealers and collectors, but critical reaction has been very mixed. Several exponents, above all Schnabel, have become rich and famous, but to many critics their work seems deliberately bad, ignoring all conventional ideas of skill; indeed the term ‘Bad Painting’ (from the title of an exhibition at the New Museum, New York, in 1978) has been applied to certain works in the vein (Punk Art and Stupid Painting are alternative terms). Distinguishing between good ‘Bad Painting’ (i.e. that which deliberately cultivates crudeness for its emotional value) and bad ‘Bad Painting’ (something that is just a mess) is an unenviable critical task.

Neo-Expressionism has flourished mainly in Germany (where its exponents are sometimes called Neue Wilden—'New Wild Ones'), Italy, and the USA. Leading exponents include: in Germany, Georg Baselitz, Rainer Fetting (1949– ), Jörg Immendorf (1945– ), Anselm Kiefer, Bernd Koberling (1938– ), Markus Lüpertz (1941– ), and A. R. Penck (born Ralf Winkler) (1939– ); in Italy, Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente (1952– ), Enzo Cucci (1949– ), and Mimmo Paladino (1948– ); in the USA, Robert Kushner (1949– ), David Salle (1952– ), and Julian Schnabel. See also NEW IMAGE PAINTING.

The term ‘Neo-Expressionists’ had earlier been adopted (in 1952) by a group of German abstract painters called Quadriga.

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IAN CHILVERS. "Neo-Expressionism." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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IAN CHILVERS. "Neo-Expressionism." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O5-NeoExpressionism.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article Thick and thin.(painters and curators discuss the state of painting in the last two decades)(Critical Essay)
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 4/1/2003
Free Article Art of the Postmodern Era: From the Late 60s to the Early 90s.(BookForum)
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 11/1/1996
Free Article Counter-resolution. (painting, Jonathan Lasker, various galleries, various locations)
Magazine article from: Art in America; 4/1/1995

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'Bad Boy' Artist Martin Kippenberger; 43, Dies
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 3/12/1997; 526 words ; ...sculpture to work in other mediums, most of his better-known works had a common thread -- stark elements of neoexpressionism, pop and dadaism. Nothing was off limits. After he was wrongly accused of being a Fascist, he created a cubist...
Perspectives on York Holler: All contradictions reconciled?
Magazine article from: Musical Times; 10/1/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...Zero ethos of Stockhausen's avant-garde idealism, and the lure of a lyric and increasingly history-conscious neoexpressionism, often rooted in the world and work of Holderlin, the supreme poet of disciplined irrationality. Pace has also...
The delinquent
Magazine article from: The Village Voice; 10/14/1997; ; 700+ words ; ...a virtuosic draftsman and a terrific painter in the insolently trashy lu (while densely skilled) mode of '80s Neoexpressionism in Cologne. He scattered dadaistic, antiart gestures like loose change. The show I attended in Los Angeles was...
IGNACIO ITURRIA: PAINTING FROM MEMORY
Magazine article from: Americas; 9/1/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...museums in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. His work could be classified within NeoExpressionism and Existentialism, but although he borrows from these movements, he has created his own individual style. He...
ORIGINAL WORKS BY PETER MAX, ITZCHAK TARKAY AND OLD AND MODERN MASTERS FEATURED AT PARK WEST GALLERY ART AUCTION, FEB. 18 & 19 IN LOUISVILLE
PR Newswire; 2/10/1995; 700+ words ; ...reached millions of people around the world. He evolved from a visionary pop artist of the 1960s to a master of neoexpressionism, and his techniques with vibrant color have become a part of the contemporary American culture. A collection of...
Peeling paint. (paintings by various artists)(Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
Magazine article from: Newsweek; 1/15/1996; ; 700+ words ; ...museum asks: what's in a picture PAINTING HAS HAD A ROUGH TIME since the end of the 1980s, when the market for neoexpressionism collapsed and ambitious young artists went back to making installation art. The Corcoran Gahery of Art in Washington...
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Magazine article from: Dance Magazine; 2/1/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...November 9, 2007 Reviewed by Victoria Looseleaf After an absence of nearly a decade, the great German empress of NeoExpressionism returned to Los Angeles with the North American premiere of her 2004 extravaganza Ten Chi. Translated as "heaven...
Kenny Scharf plugs into prime time with animated TV show.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; 11/15/2002; ; 700+ words ; ...on the downtown art and club scenes. Andy Warhol is a friend and mentor. Scharf's lurid, cartoonish brand of neoexpressionism is fetching mid-five figures at international auctions, and he has been included in the Whitney Biennial, the...
Thick and thin.(painters and curators discuss the state of painting in the last two decades)(Critical Essay)
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 4/1/2003; 700+ words ; ...congested territory they currently occupy. The words haven't come easy. No handy monikers dominate conversation as "neoexpressionism" and "neo-geo" once did. ("Post-recent art" is still my favorite coinage of the label-fatigued last...
Art of the Postmodern Era: From the Late 60s to the Early 90s.(BookForum)
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 11/1/1996; ; 700+ words ; ...Neoconstruction, deconstruction, "neo-geo," commodity art, poststructural, feminist art, arte povera, Neoexpressionism, new image. . . . This index to the language that prevailed amongst the professionals is useful to the general...

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