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Abstraction - "The term 'abstraction' is used with two different meanings in the literature of 20th-c. art. [1] Non-iconic abstraction, also called 'non-representational', 'non-figurative' and 'non-objective [gegenstandlos]' abstraction, is that mode of abstraction in which neither the work itself nor any of its parts represents or symbolizes objects in the visible world . . . . virtually specific to the painting and sculpture of the 20th c., although of course it has been common in the decorative art of the past. [2] The second and more pervasive kind of abstraction is a mode of representing visible objects which reduces the amount or the paticularity of the detail depicted. It is always a matter of degree . . . . . common to most art of the past but has been carried further and used more self-consciously in the 20th c. than ever before. Together these two kinds of abstraction account for one of the most important features of 20th-c. art up to the emergence of a new taste for exaggerated Realism in the 1960s. Although different in principle, the two modes of abstraction may occur together in a single work; or abstraction by the suppresion of detail may be carried to a point where the representational element is no longer detectable --as for example in some works by Ivon Hitchens, Roger Bissiere, Jean Bazaine, Maurice Estève, etc.

Non-iconic abstraction has two major modes, each prolific of diverse schools and stylistic manifestations. The major modes are Expressive Abstraction and Geometrical Abstraction. The reader will find Expressive [non-iconic] Abstraction discussed at greater length in Abstract Expressionsm, Tachism and related articles there referred to; Geometrical Abstraction is more fully dealt with in Constructivism, Suprematism, De Stijl, Concrete Art and related articles. [Do look up these terms for a broader picture of the historical development of these two modes of non-iconic abstaction and about the main principles of difference between them.] [Osborne, Harold, editor. The Oxford C ompanion to Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford University Press. 1988.]

Abstract Expressionism
Non-iconic Abstraction
Non-representational Abstraction
Non-figurative Abstraction
Non-objective Abstraction
Abstract-Création: Art Non-Figuratif
Geometrical Abstraction

American Abstract Artists - An association of American abstract painters and sculptors formed in 1936 with the aims of making New York a centre for non-objective art, holding annual exhibitions and disseminatng the principles of abstract art by lectures, publications, etc. Josef Albers, Carl Holt, John Ferren, Karl Knaths, Jean Xceron, Balcomb Greene, George McNeil, Georgio Cavallion, Ad Reinhardt, Ilya Bolotowsky, Willem de Kooning, Fritz Glarner, Borgoyne Diller, David Smith, Lee Krasner, Ibram Lassaw . . . . Some of the artists followed the late Cubism of Picasso in the 1920s, some followed Purism and some worked within the conventions of Neo-Plasticism. Some were members of the French Constructivist group Abstraction-Création. The associatoin was supported by the painter-critic George L. K. Morris and by the collector A. E. Gallatin, who exhibited non-objective art in his Mus of Living Art established in New York University. By the mid 1940s the battle was won. Abstract art had achieved recognition and the activiites of the association dwindled, though it continued to stage exhibtions. In the 1950s, however, it became active again with more than 200 members.[Osborne, Harold, editor. The Oxford C ompanion to Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford University Press. 1988.]

Formes Art Abstrait - A group of Belgian artists founded in 1952 with an interest in geometrical rather than expressive abstraction. Active among them were Jo Delahaut, Jean Miro, Jan Burssens, Georges Collignon, and Pol Bury.[Osborne, Harold, editor. The Oxford C ompanion to Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford University Press. 1988.]

Accumulating-ink Method

Action Painting

Active Spectator Participation [Gottlieb, Carla. Beyond Modern Art. New York: E.P. Dutton. 1976]

Aerial perspective

Aestheticism

Aesthetics

Affichiste

Aleatory [Aleatic] - "Depending upon an element of chance or randomness [See Stochasticism]." [Osborne, Harold, editor. The Oxford C ompanion to Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford University Press. 1988.]

Alla prima

All-Over Painting

Amarna art

Amateur

American Scene Painting

Anamorphosis

Ancients

Angry Penguins

Anhui School

Animal Style

Anthemion

Anti-Art

Anti-Form

Antinous

Antipodean Group

The Antique

Applied Art

Applied Work [or appliqué]

Apsara

Arhats

Aquarelle

Arabesque

Archaic Art

Archaic Smile

Archaism

Arriccio [or arricciato]

Ars Moriendi

Art Autre

Art Brut

Art Concret [Konkrete Kunst]

L'Art Contemporain

Art Deco

Art Mobilier

Art Na•f

Art Non-Figuratif

Art Nouveau

Arte Povera

Arte Programmata

Arte Informel [Art Without Form]

Art for art's sake

Art of the Real

Artisan

Arts - Classification [Applied, Fine, Decorative, Liberal, etc.]

Arts & Craft Movement

Assemblage

Ash-Can School

Atelier D'Art Abstrait

Atmospheric perspecitve [An alternative term for aerial perspective]

Attributes

Australia - "An Art Nouveau style which often incorporated local flora and fauna characterized mcuh Austsralian d ecorative art during the 1890s . . . . "[Osborne, Harold, editor. The Oxford C ompanion to Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford University Press. 1988.]

Austria - "Historicism and Biedermeier persisted longer in Austria than elsewhere and were still dominant at the time of the Vienna World Exhibition in 1898. Impressionism and Symbolism had had but a slight impact and Realism little more . . . . ."[Osborne, Harold, editor. The Oxford C ompanion to Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford University Press. 1988.]

Auto-Destructive art

Automatism

Les Automatistes - "A group of seven Montreal abstract painters active during the later 1940s . . . . "[Osborne, Harold, editor. The Oxford C ompanion to Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford University Press. 1988.]

School of Avignon

Ax-cut Brushstrokes