See Also: expressionism(dictionary)
Expressionism(encyclopedia)
Neo-Expressionism(encyclopedia)
expressionism(dictionary)
Abstract Expressionism(encyclopedia)
Abstract Expressionism(dictionary)

Neo-Expressionism (sh)




Art movement, chiefly of painters, that dominated the European and American art market in the early to mid-1980s.

It was controversial both in the quality of its production and in the highly commercialized aspects of its presentation. Its practitioners, including Julian Schnabel and Anselm Kiefer, reacted to the highly intellectualized abstract art of the 1970s by creating dramatic, gestural paintings that incorporated some figurative elements and recognizable symbols. Their art was characterized by a tense yet playful presentation of objects in a "primitivist" manner, vivid colour harmonies, large scale, and a sense of inner tension and alienation. See also Expressionism.