Tachisme
Encyclopedia
Tachisme is a French
style of abstract
painting
popular in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often considered to be the European equivalent to abstract expressionism
. It was part of a larger postwar movement known as Art Informel (or Informel), which abandoned geometric abstraction in favour of a more intuitive form of expression, similar to action painting
. Another name for Tachism is Abstraction lyrique (related to American Lyrical Abstraction
). COBRA
is also related to Tachisme, as is Japan's Gutai group
.
After World War II
the term School of Paris
often referred to Tachisme, the Europe
an equivalent of American
abstract expressionism. Important proponents were Jean Dubuffet
, Pierre Soulages
, Nicholas de Stael, Hans Hartung
, Serge Poliakoff
, and Georges Mathieu
, among several others. (See list of artists below.)
According to Chilvers, the term tachisme "was first used in this sense in about 1951 (the French critics Charles Estienne and Pierre Guéguen have each been credited with coining it) and it was given wide currency by [French critic and painter] Michel Tapié
in his book Un Art autre (1952)."
Tachisme was a reaction to Cubism
and is characterized by spontaneous brushwork, drips and blobs of paint straight from the tube, and sometimes scribbling reminiscent of calligraphy
.
Tachisme is closely related to Art Informel, which, in its 1950s French art-critical context, referred not so much to a sense of "informal art" as "a lack or absence of form itself"–non-formal or un-form-ulated–and not a simple reduction of formality or formalness. Art Informel was more about the absence of premeditated structure, conception or approach (sans cérémonie) than a mere casual, loosened or relaxed art procedure.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
style of abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
popular in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often considered to be the European equivalent to abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...
. It was part of a larger postwar movement known as Art Informel (or Informel), which abandoned geometric abstraction in favour of a more intuitive form of expression, similar to action painting
Action painting
Action painting sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied...
. Another name for Tachism is Abstraction lyrique (related to American Lyrical Abstraction
Lyrical Abstraction
Lyrical Abstraction is either of two related but distinctly separate trends in Post-war Modernist painting, and a third definition is the usage as a descriptive term. It is a descriptive term characterizing a type of abstract painting related to Abstract Expressionism; in use since the 1940s...
). COBRA
COBRA (avant-garde movement)
COBRA was a European avant-garde movement active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home cities: Copenhagen , Brussels , Amsterdam .-History:...
is also related to Tachisme, as is Japan's Gutai group
Gutai group
The Gutai group was an artistic movement and association of artists founded by Jiro Yoshihara in Japan in 1954...
.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the term School of Paris
School of Paris
School of Paris refers to two distinct groups of artists — a group of medieval manuscript illuminators, and a group of non-French artists working in Paris before World War I...
often referred to Tachisme, the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an equivalent of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
abstract expressionism. Important proponents were Jean Dubuffet
Jean Dubuffet
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a more authentic and humanistic approach to image-making.-Life and work:Dubuffet was...
, Pierre Soulages
Pierre Soulages
Pierre Soulages is a French painter, engraver, and sculptor.-Biography:Born in Rodez in 1919, Soulages also is known as "the painter of black" because of his interest in the colour, "...both a colour and a non-colour. When light is reflected on black, it transforms and transmutes it. It opens up...
, Nicholas de Stael, Hans Hartung
Hans Hartung
Hans Hartung was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the French Foreign Legion.-Life:...
, Serge Poliakoff
Serge Poliakoff
Serge Poliakoff was a Russian-born French modernist painter belonging to the 'New' Ecole de Paris .- Biography :...
, and Georges Mathieu
Georges Mathieu
Georges Mathieu is a French painter in the style of lyrical abstraction.-Biography:He was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, and gained an international reputation in the 1950s as a leading Abstract Expressionist. His large paintings are created very rapidly and impulsively...
, among several others. (See list of artists below.)
According to Chilvers, the term tachisme "was first used in this sense in about 1951 (the French critics Charles Estienne and Pierre Guéguen have each been credited with coining it) and it was given wide currency by [French critic and painter] Michel Tapié
Michel Tapié
Michel Tapié was an internationally active French critic, curator, and collector of art. He was an early and influential theorist and practitioner of "tachisme", which is generally regarded as the European equivalent of abstract expressionism...
in his book Un Art autre (1952)."
Tachisme was a reaction to Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
and is characterized by spontaneous brushwork, drips and blobs of paint straight from the tube, and sometimes scribbling reminiscent of calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
.
Tachisme is closely related to Art Informel, which, in its 1950s French art-critical context, referred not so much to a sense of "informal art" as "a lack or absence of form itself"–non-formal or un-form-ulated–and not a simple reduction of formality or formalness. Art Informel was more about the absence of premeditated structure, conception or approach (sans cérémonie) than a mere casual, loosened or relaxed art procedure.
Artists
- Pierre AlechinskyPierre AlechinskyPierre Alechinsky is a Belgian artist. He has lived and worked in France since 1951. His work is related to Tachisme, Abstract expressionism, and Lyrical Abstraction.Alechinsky was born in Brussels...
(born 1927) – Cobra group - Karel AppelKarel AppelChristiaan Karel Appel was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s...
(1921-2006) – Cobra group - Jean René BazaineJean René BazaineJean René Bazaine was a French painter, designer of stained glass windows, and writer. He was the great great grandson of the English Court portraitist Sir George Hayter.-Studies:...
(1904–2001) - Roger BissièreRoger BissièreRoger Bissière was a French artist who painted in the abstract Tachisme style. He was born in Villeréal, Lot-et-Garonne, and died in Boissièrettes...
(1888–1964) - Dieter Borst (born 1950)
- Norman BluhmNorman BluhmNorman Bluhm , was an American painter classified as an abstract expressionist, and as an action painter.- Biography :...
(1921-1999) – American associated with this movement - Camille Bryen (1902–1977)
- Alberto BurriAlberto BurriAlberto Burri , was an Italian abstract painter and sculptor. Città di Castello has memorialized him with a large permanent museum of his works....
(1915–1995) - Jean DubuffetJean DubuffetJean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a more authentic and humanistic approach to image-making.-Life and work:Dubuffet was...
(1901–1985) - Jean FautrierJean FautrierJean Fautrier was a French painter and sculptor. He was one of the most important practitioners of Tachisme.He was born in Paris. Given his unwed mother's surname, he was raised by his grandmother until her death in 1908, when he went to live with his mother in London.In 1912 he studied at the...
(1898–1964) - Lucio FontanaLucio FontanaLucio Fontana was an Italian painter, sculptor and theorist of Argentine birth. He was mostly known as the founder of Spatialism and his ties to Arte Povera.-Early life:...
(1899–1968) - Sam FrancisSam FrancisSamuel Lewis Francis was an American painter and printmaker.-Early life:...
(1923–1994) – American associated with this movement - Elaine HamiltonElaine Hamilton-O'NealElaine Hamilton-O'Neal, , professionally known as Elaine Hamilton, was an internationally known American abstract painter and muralist born near Catonsville, Maryland...
(1920–2010) – American associate of Tapié, influenced by this movement - Hans HartungHans HartungHans Hartung was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the French Foreign Legion.-Life:...
(1904–1989) - Paul Jenkins (born 1923) – American associated with this movement
- Asger JornAsger JornAsger Oluf Jorn was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International...
(1914-1973) – Cobra group - René LaubiesRené LaubiesRené Laubies was a French painter.He is associated with Tachisme and Art Informel but particularly linked to Nuagisme or the "cloudist" group of painters....
(1922–2006) - André LanskoyAndré LanskoyAndré Lanskoy was a Russian painter and printmaker who worked in France. He is associated with the School of Paris and Tachisme, an abstract painting movement that began during the 1940s.-Biography:...
(1902–1976) - Georges MathieuGeorges MathieuGeorges Mathieu is a French painter in the style of lyrical abstraction.-Biography:He was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, and gained an international reputation in the 1950s as a leading Abstract Expressionist. His large paintings are created very rapidly and impulsively...
(born 1921) - Henri MichauxHenri MichauxHenri Michaux was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian-born poet, writer, and painter who wrote in French. He later took French citizenship. Michaux is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, and his body of work includes poetry, travelogues, and art criticism...
(1899–1984) - Jean MiotteJean MiotteJean Miotte is a French abstract painter, in the style known as L'Art Informel. His work is preserved and studied at the Miotte Foundation....
(born 1926) - Ludwig MerwartLudwig MerwartLudwig Merwart was an influential Austrian painter and graphic artist. He is an important representative of abstract expressionism and was a major force in graphic arts and prints, especially after World War II...
(1913–1979) - Jean MiotteJean MiotteJean Miotte is a French abstract painter, in the style known as L'Art Informel. His work is preserved and studied at the Miotte Foundation....
(born 1926) - Ernst Wilhelm NayErnst Wilhelm NayErnst Wilhelm Nay was a German abstract painter influenced by L'Art Informel.Ernst Wilhelm Nay studied under Karl Hofer at the Berlin Art Academy from 1925 until 1928. His first sources of inspiration resulted from his preoccupation with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Henri Matisse as well as Caspar...
(1902–1968) – German influenced by this movement - Serge PoliakoffSerge PoliakoffSerge Poliakoff was a Russian-born French modernist painter belonging to the 'New' Ecole de Paris .- Biography :...
(1906–1969) - Jackson PollockJackson PollockPaul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
(1912–1956) - Maria Helena Vieira da SilvaMaria Helena Vieira da SilvaMaria Helena Vieira da Silva was a Portuguese-French abstractionist painter.-Life:Vieira da Silva was born in Lisbon, Portugal. At the age of eleven she had begun seriously studying drawing and painting at that city's Academia de Belas-Artes...
(1908–1992) - Emilio ScanavinoEmilio ScanavinoEmilio Scanavino was an Italian painter and sculptor.-Early life:In 1938 the young Scanavino enrolled to the Art School Nicolò Barabino of Genoa where he met his teacher Mario Calonghi, who had a great influence on Scanavino’s first formation. In 1942 he had his first exhibition at the Salone...
(1922–1986) - Emil SchumacherEmil SchumacherEmil Schumacher German painter, important representative of abstract expressionism in post-war Germany....
(1912-1999) - Pierre SoulagesPierre SoulagesPierre Soulages is a French painter, engraver, and sculptor.-Biography:Born in Rodez in 1919, Soulages also is known as "the painter of black" because of his interest in the colour, "...both a colour and a non-colour. When light is reflected on black, it transforms and transmutes it. It opens up...
(born 1919) - Nicolas de StaëlNicolas de StaëlNicolas de Staël was a painter known for his use of a thick impasto and his highly abstract landscape painting...
(1914–1955) - Pierre Tal-CoatPierre Tal-CoatPierre Tal-Coat was a French artist considered to be one of the founders of Tachisme.-Life and work:...
(1905-1985) - French - Michel TapiéMichel TapiéMichel Tapié was an internationally active French critic, curator, and collector of art. He was an early and influential theorist and practitioner of "tachisme", which is generally regarded as the European equivalent of abstract expressionism...
(1909-1987) - Antoni TàpiesAntoni TàpiesAntoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tàpies is a Catalan painter. He is one of the most famous European artists of his generation. After studying law for 3 years, he devoted himself from 1943 onwards only to his painting...
(born 1923) - Bram van VeldeBram van VeldeBram van Velde was a Dutch painter known for an intensely colored and geometric semi-representational painting style related to Tachisme, and Lyrical Abstraction...
(1895–1981) - Louis Van LintLouis Van LintLouis Van Lint was a Belgian painter, major figure of the Belgian post-war abstraction.- Biography :Louis Van Lint studied painting at the Academy of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode under Henry Ottevaere and Jacques Maes until 1939...
(1909-1986) - François Willi Wendt (1909-1970)
- WolsWolsWols was the pseudonym of Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze , a German painter and photographer predominantly active in France....
(Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze) (1913–1951) - Zao Wou KiZao Wou Ki-Biography:He was born in a cultivated family and studied calligraphy in his childhood and from 1935 to 1941 painting at the school of Fine Arts in Hangzhou. In 1948, he went with his wife Lan-lan, a composer, to Paris to live on the same block in Montparnasse where the classes of Émile Othon...
(born 1921)
See also
- French artFrench artFrench art consists of the visual and plastic arts originating from the geographical area of France...
- Abstract expressionismAbstract expressionismAbstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...
- Action paintingAction paintingAction painting sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied...
- Lyrical AbstractionLyrical AbstractionLyrical Abstraction is either of two related but distinctly separate trends in Post-war Modernist painting, and a third definition is the usage as a descriptive term. It is a descriptive term characterizing a type of abstract painting related to Abstract Expressionism; in use since the 1940s...
- Ecole de Paris
- Gutai groupGutai groupThe Gutai group was an artistic movement and association of artists founded by Jiro Yoshihara in Japan in 1954...
- SpatialismSpatialismSpatialism is an art movement founded by Italian artist Lucio Fontana in Milan in 1947 in which he grandiosely intended to synthesize colour, sound, space, movement, and time into a new type of art. The main ideas of the movement were anticipated in his Manifesto blanco published in Buenos Aires...
- Karl Otto GötzKarl Otto GötzKarl Otto Götz is a German artist who is best known for his spontaneous abstract painting in the Informel style...