Equilibrium

The balance of a composition’s components. This is achieved through the careful distribution of elements, the varied lines of the design and the balanced use of color. List of types of equilibrium, the condition of a system in which all competing influences are balanced, in a wide variety of contexts. Equilibrium may also refer to:

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Event-structure

Theory proposed by the British artist JOHN LATHAM which stresses the importance of process over product: structures in events (through time) are more valid than structure in art objects (in space). In 1967 Latham’s ideas were adopted by THEO BOTSCHIVER, JEFFREY SHAW and SEAN WELLESLEY-MILLER who formed the Event-structure Research Group (ERG) in Amsterdam.

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Expressionism

Name applied to early 20th-century art (mainly northern European) where the artist’s state of mind is paramount when depicting the real world, which is thus often depicted in distorted forms. More a tendency than a style, it was based on the increasingly acceptable belief by the 1900s that expression is of primary importance and

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Fauvism

From the French word fauves, meaning ‘wild beasts’, this name refers to a small group of painters who in Paris exhibited works notable for the bold and expressive use of pure color. In this they were influenced by the arbitrary application of color for emotional effect by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The most prominent

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Feminist aesthetics

Belief that oppressive social conditions have blurred the idea of ‘women’s art’ throughout the history of European culture. Recent feminist art aims to put forward a specifically female consciousness. Favored media are non-traditional, such as ready mades, collages and performances. Feminist aesthetics first emerged in the 1970s[1] and refers not to a particular aesthetic or style but to

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Formalism

A concept associated with modernism, especially by the British critics CLIVE BELL (1881-1964) and ROGER FRY (1886-1934), and the American CLEMENT GREENBERG. In response to a developing interest in non-European art in the first decades of the 20th century, Fry and Bell attempted to formulate a semi-scientific system in which visual analysis of the formal

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Freudian aesthetics

Psychoanalytical methods and theories of the unconscious formulated by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) were fundamental to the development of aesthetic theory in the early 20th century. Freud’s principle contribution was to highlight the importance of the unconscious in the production and appreciation of art; to relate daydreams and dreams to art and creativity; and to

Fundamental art

E de WILDE coined this phrase to describe abstract paintings by a group of American and European artists. Characterized by some critics as post-conceptual art, its concentration on procedure and the physical nature of materials brings it close to minimalism; emphasizing the means rather than the result. Anyone that takes their art education seriously will

Futurism

Avant-garde movement founded by the Italian poet and novelist EMILIO FILIPPO TOMMASO MARINETTI (1876-1944). Futurism was inspired by modernity, speed, the machine, the sights and sounds of the 20th century; it was against sentimentalism and history. In art, the first manifesto was followed by the Manifesto of Futurist Painting (1910) and a Technical Manifesto

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Happening

Ultimately related to performances in dada and surrealism, this term was coined by American artist ALLAN KAPROW (1927- ) in 1959. It refers to an assemblage of events which can occur in any environment, according to a plan but without rehearsal, and depending on audience participation for its development (for example, the Fluxus group and body art). History

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Hogarth’s line

A term introduced by the English painter WILLIAM HOGARTH (1697-1764). The so-called line of beauty is a graceful curve, proposed as the foundation of all good artistic design. Line of beauty is a term and a theory in art or aesthetics used to describe an S-shaped curved line (a serpentine line) appearing within an object, as the boundary line of an

Humanism

(15th-16th century) A formal term applied in the 19th century to the re-emergence and synthesis of classical thought during the Renaissance. Although evident in Petrarch’s studies of classical texts in the 14th century, it was particularly during the 15th century (in Florence, Venice and Naples) that scholars’ rediscovery of classical civilization and literature led

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Idealization

The theory that art not only reproduces nature, but perfects and improves upon it. Since Aristotle (384-322 BC) and Plato (c.427-c.347 BC) there have been accounts of artists who reveal beauty in nature through their own work. The neo-Platonists revived Plato’s Theory of Ideas, in which objects are imperfect copies which relate to a doctrine of Ideas and

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Ideoplastic

Coined by MAX VORWORM, this term refers to a type of representation which derives from the artist’s knowledge of a subject and not from direct observation or memory of an object. Applied specifically to the study of chil-drens’ and primitive peoples’ schematic drawings, the theory has been contested by GESTALT psychologists who argue that

Illusionism

The use of pictorial techniques such as perspective and foreshortening to deceive the eye into believing that what is painted is real. Popular in the Hellenistic period, especially in the painted fictive architecture at Pompeii, the technique was revived by Italian painter ANDREA MANTEGNA (1431-1506) in his ceiling for the Camera degli Sposi (1474)

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Imagism

A term coined by H H ARNASON in reference to the exhibition held at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in 1961 entitled ‘American Abstract Expressionists and Imagists’. It referred to the work produced by artists contemporary with the Abstract Expressionists whose style was not expressionist, and is sometimes described as ‘hard edge’. Imagism was a

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Impressionism

Originally a derogatory name given to a broad movement which emerged in Paris on the occasion of an independent exhibition in 1874. The name was suggested by one of the exhibits: Impression: Sunrise (1872) by French painter CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926). Although no manifesto for their theories was formulated, the Impressionists’ aim was to achieve

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Jungian aesthetics

The theories of art proposed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) are concerned with the artist’s use of archetypes, either consciously or unconsciously. His assumption was that all artists are driven to creativity (which he deemed feminine) by their involvement with the Mother archetype. The experience of Jungian analysis prompted American painter JACKSON

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Kalte kunst

Career Gerstner attended Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel.[1] From 1944 to 1948, Gerstner apprenticed as a typographer for artist Fritz Bühler’s studio, alongside graphic designer Armin Hofmann, in Basel, Switzerland.[1] His supervisor at Bühler’s studio, Max Schmid, later went on to work at the Geigy chemical company. In 1949, Gerstner began freelancing for Geigy after Schmid recruited him.[1] In 1958, he and Markus

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Kinetic art

Term first used in connection with the Realistic Manifesto (1920) of Russian brothers Naum Gabo (1890-1977) and ANTOINE PEVSNER (1886-1962), but applied more frequently to a range of art styles current in the 1950s. These include: styles in which optical illusions and visual ambiguity are emphasized, promoting instability in the spectator; objects whose appearance changes as

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