Art Informel | Articles on Contemporary Art Movements

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Art Informel was a mainly French postwar abstract art movement during the 1940's and 50's, although it was also present across Europe, notably in Germany, Spain and Italy. It is often seen as the European version of Abstract Expressionism.
Prior to The Second World War, geometric abstraction followed movements such as Cubism, Futurism and De Stijl. Cubism was huge in Paris, and seemed to be dictating the shape of things to come. However, in post war France it was thought by some that this still and studied method wasn't right for the current time of worldwide emotional upheaval and destitution. An erratic fully abstract and purely emotional form of painting developed, becoming known as Art Informel, more 'Formless' it is thought than 'Informal'.
Early Art Informel works tended to be small in scale, often watercolour on paper, but later larger works in oil became more common. The war had plunged the world into chaos, and this was inevitably reflected in the art that followed.
The term Art Informel derives from the book Un Art Autre, (Other Art) by Michel Tapie in 1952, when writing of artists like Willem de Kooning, Jean Du Buffet (see Art Brut) and Alberto Burri. Translating exactly what Tapie meant by this is difficult due to his largely poetic style of writing. Art Informel was not only seen as a continuation of abstraction, but also a deviation from Modernism. Hence, Other Art. Despite this, many roots to Art Informel can be seen in Pre-World War II art. The Automatism text on free association is relevant to, and was developed by artists associated with Art Informel and Abstract Expressionism. Notably in the work of Jackson Pollock. The artist abandoning much control over the image, and allowing the paint to land as it may to a large extent (sometimes applied direct from the tube), was a way of ignoring any potential hurdle the artist faced in expressing them-self. Other materials such as tar and sand were sometimes used. If it seemed ugly, crude, irrational or nonsensical, then it refelcted the world the war had left behind, highlighting the impulsive emotional reaction over a more stiffly intellectualised method. Comparisons are also made with Vasily Kandinsky's large abstract works, as well as contemporaries of Kandinsky such as Paul Klee. An exhibition named after Tapie's book, and organised by Tapie himself, was held in Paris soon after its publication, and featured many artists the book refers to.
Parallels can be made between Art Informel, Tachisme (sometimes spelt without the 'e', or known as Lyrical Abstraction. Considered a subsection of Art Informel), Matter Painting, COBRA, the Japanese Gutai group and American Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting.
Artists associated with Art Informel include Karel Appel, Alberto Burri, Camille Bryen, Jean Dubuffet, Jean Fautrier, Lucio Fontana, Ruth Frandken, Wols, Antoni Tapies, Willem de Kooning and Jean-Paul Riopelle.
Both Art Autre and Art Informel are terms used loosely, although Art Autre can more often refer to figurative work as well as abstract. Art Informel tends to refer to abstract work, but again, this is not always the case.

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