Formalism
An abstract trend that appeared in the 1960s and whose origins date back to the early twentieth century vanguard. This was a movement that rejected the spiritualism of artists such as Malevich or Kandinsky.
Formalism includes work from different tendencies and with diverse aspects, so it ends up seeming ambiguous and complex. Its dominant feature is austerity, as well as a geometric component that unites form and content. Its works have an impersonal and technological feeling, with no perception of the artist’s hand.
Formalist Art was introduced as such in 1961 when the American art critic, Clement Greenberg, published “Modernist Painting,” a study in which he claimed that Minimalism was the maximum expression of Formalism with its rejection of all the emotional elements surrounding Abstract Expressionism and Informalism.
Artists such as Dan Flavin, Robert Morris or Richard Serra at certain moments in their careers achieved works that can be classified within the Formalist school.
Formalism includes work from different tendencies and with diverse aspects, so it ends up seeming ambiguous and complex. Its dominant feature is austerity, as well as a geometric component that unites form and content. Its works have an impersonal and technological feeling, with no perception of the artist’s hand.
Formalist Art was introduced as such in 1961 when the American art critic, Clement Greenberg, published “Modernist Painting,” a study in which he claimed that Minimalism was the maximum expression of Formalism with its rejection of all the emotional elements surrounding Abstract Expressionism and Informalism.
Artists such as Dan Flavin, Robert Morris or Richard Serra at certain moments in their careers achieved works that can be classified within the Formalist school.