Art Styles

Op Art, Fauvism and Pointillism

Op Art

Optical Art, better known as Op Art, is a mathematically-oriented form of (usually) abstract art, which uses repetition of simple forms and colors to create vibrating effects, moiré patterns, an exaggerated sense of depth, foreground or background confusion and other visual effects. It is usually hard-edged black and white patterning or geometric shapes. Op Art's origins are found in the 1960's art movement, where tricks of visual perception and the illusions of three-dimensional space create visions that challenge the eye to make sense of visual images that are themselves the actual artwork.

Artists of the time were very much interested in the idea of creating movement on a flat plane, and the illusions they masterminded remain as an icon to their processes. Such artists as Josef Albers, Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley and M.C. Escher were among the abstract painters who are credited with this mid-20th century movement. Escher's work was less abstract and more extensively involved with various visual tricks and paradoxes. It survives today as possibly the most recognized and beloved Op Art.

The movement actually began in Europe and in the United States simultaneously. The term Op Art was actually pinned to the movement in an article in Time Magazine in October, 1964, and by 1965 was the rage in the art world. It also spilled over into advertising and design in Pop culture.

Fauvism

Fauvism grew out of Pointillism and Post-Impressionism, but is characterized by slightly more primitive and less natural style. One of the artists who greatly influenced this movement was Paul Gauguin with his use of color and shape. Artists who are most closely associated with Fauvism are Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet and Andre Derain.

A short-lived movement, it all took place between 1898 and 1908. It was during the time when the work of Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne first became widely exhibited. Liberated by what they viewed, painters began to experiment with radical new styles originated by these icons. Fauvism was the first movement of this modern period in which color was the most significant element.

The Fauves (or wild beasts as they were called by friends and enemies alike) are credited with the birth of modernism, and their Salon d'Automne in Paris, 1905, created a stir with the avant-garde of the time. The style of painting, especially the use of unnatural colors, opened grand new avenues of creativity to artists of the movement. Van Gogh was revered for his dynamic use of color and the relationship it played with the subjects he captured. He is quoted to have said of his own art: "Instead of trying to render what I see before me, I use color in a completely arbitrary way to express myself powerfully." Artists leaped on this bandwagon and then carried the idea further, translating their feelings and emotions with a completely unknown, rather raw style.

Henri Matisse was not only a dominant figure in the movement, but is actually credited with working to keep the style alive, along with the freedom it gave. His work needed color to serve him, much the same as Gauguin did when he interpreted the landscape in unreal colors to express emotion. With Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck and Andre Derain, color lost its usual descriptive qualities and became luminous, creating light rather than merely attempting to capture it.

The 1905 Salon d'Automne shocked viewers with unconventional style and expressive use of color, both exhibiting undeniable proof of the intense study of van Gogh's art. But, the work was more severe, more primal than anything seen before. Some of the practitioners considered their art "primitive" in style, totally unlike anything seen in the Louvre or elsewhere.

Fauvism is all about color, color and more color. Artists abandoned the softness of the Impressionism palette's shimmering tones in favor of the violent qualities and rich tones combined to create this style, often combined with an expressionistic style that allowed each to interpret his own feelings directly in the work.

Pointillism

Pointillism was a late 19th century method of painting. The style, actually the evolvement of impressionist color theories, originated from the French painters Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. The goal of Pointillism was to develop a systematized color theory that was already in practice by the impressionists, but without scientific precision. It was also an influence in the development of Fauvism.

Color was the most important element in this period of artistic exploration. In Pointillism, dots of complementary colors were placed close together, creating a vibration that made objects and scenes appear more alive. The combination of light and color by pointillist artists, along with the experiments of the impressionists, helped to develop a method where hues were mixed visually by the viewer. This was achieved by placing pure dots of color adjacent to each other.

Although there are clear distinctions between Fauvism and Pointillism, they were so closely linked as to be nearly related. The pointillist artists simply created a theory that the Fauves continued to expand upon until another movement evolved. And because all these compelling and dynamic art forms were pouring into the mainstream, the art-viewing public was part of the process as well. The excitement and energy generated by all three of these styles of art insured continued magnetism among the art, the artists and the public.

Exhibition

The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., has brought together its collection of fauve paintings in an exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the naming of this movement in French art. Fauve Painting from the Permanent Collection is on view through May 30. Highlighting the exhibition is Matisse's "Open Window, Collioure" (1905), a central icon of the fauve movement and one of the artist's acknowledged early masterpieces.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 15 No. 7 -- May 2005