Art Informel

The Art Informel style was developed between 1950 to 1960. The term was first used in 1952 by the French writer Michel Tapie who is the author of the book ‘Un Art Autre’ or ‘Art of Another Kind’. Tapié saw this art as 'other' because it appeared to him as a complete break with tradition. An important source of this kind of painting was the Surrealist doctrine of automatism. An exhibition titled Un Art Autre was organised in Paris the same year as Tapié's book and included Appel, Burri, De Kooning, Dubuffet, Fautrier, Mathieu, Riopelle, Wols. Other key figures were Henri Michaux, Hans Hartung and Pierre Soulages. The term Art Autre, from the title of Tapié's book, is also used for this art, but Art Informel seems to have emerged as the preferred name.

After WWII painters contemplated the legacy of geometric abstraction characterized in the early 20th century developments (through Cubism, Futurism, Suprematism, Constructivism and De Stijl) as a load and the cold intellectualism, out of touch with the post WWII reality of poverty and despair. Spontaneity and authenticity were more meaningful to a new generation of artists, then the clarity and functionality of De Stijl and other proponents of geometric abstraction.

From the reaction was born a new painting style which was fully abstract but didn't rely on intellectualist methodology. It was the result of the artist's emotional and physical engagement. The term Art Informel ("formless" art in French) was first used in early1950s by French art critic Michel Tapie to describe the works of an array of famous artists including Jean Dubuffet, Wols, Willem de Kooning, Jean Fautrier and Alberto Burri. It was a definition of a further development of abstraction that was seen as a radical break also with Modernism, toward something wholly "other."

The Informel artist was not interested in trying, at all cost, to have total control over the processes of artistic work. He emphasized spontaneity, irrationality, and freedom of form. He sought out "rebellious" tools and paints, capable of producing things accidental and unexpected. He strove to escape at any price a "prison" of the "well-made" traditional art works.

Lyrical Abstraction movement was contemporary to Art Informel and close with its approach. Some European abstract artists were associated with those both movements. The equivalent on the other side of Atlantic was similar in expressiveness, gesture and innovation - the Abstract Expressionism in America.

Most Notable Artists:

* Jean Dubuffet
* Jean Fautrier
* Wols
* Alberto Burri
* Antoni Tapies
* Lucio Fontana
* Karel Appel
* Camille Bryen
* Ruth Frandken
* Willem de Kooning
* Jean-Paul Riopelle