Art Informel
アンフォルメル / 1945–1960 / Style / Postwar Abstract Painting
A postwar European abstraction that refused both geometric composition and figuration, making the surface out of matter and the traces of the act itself. Thickly piled paint, scratches, stains and tears present a state before form. The source of all design that pushes the physicality of material to the front. Tachisme names the same paintings seen from the speed of the gesture, and Lyrical Abstraction names them seen from the lyric side.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Traces of impasto and scratching
- Stains that never settle into form
- A range of earth and ash tones
- Tears and exposure of the support
Best used for
- Texture-led art direction for craft, ceramics or fashion houses
- Cover art and interiors where raw matter carries the emotion
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Few words set large, part of them buried in the scratched surface
- Composition
- Centreless fields running to the edge, composed by density rather than by figure
- Material
- Impasto, plaster and tar in earth and ash tones on thick paper, scraped and torn
- Caution
- Avoid faking the texture with clean digital filters—the style lives on real material resistance, and simulated grunge reads instantly as decor.
- Further study
- The naming by Michel Tapié / The difference from American Abstract Expressionism / The exchange with the Gutai group
Related entries
- Tachisme (タシスム)Same Postwar Abstract Painting lineage.Compare Art Informel and Tachisme
- Gutai (具体美術協会)Shared effects: Play.Compare Art Informel and Gutai
Often confused with
More from Postwar Abstract Painting
Continue through styles in the same Postwar Abstract Painting family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Neo-Expressionism (新表現主義)Shared effects: Nostalgia.
- Nouveau Réalisme (ヌーヴォー・レアリスム)Shared effects: Technique.
- ZERO (ZERO)Shared effects: Technique.
Browse all Postwar Abstract Painting entries
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