Matterism also known as Matter Painting () refers to a style of painting that emphasizes the material qualities of paint through heavy
impasto
''Impasto'' is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides ...
. The style marked a return to impulses characteristic of abstract expressionism.
Matterism first emerged in Paris in the 1940s in the work of
Jean Dubuffet
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a ...
and
Jean Fautrier
Jean Fautrier (May 16, 1898 – July 21, 1964) was a French painter, illustrator, printmaker, and sculptor. He was one of the most important practitioners of Tachisme.
Early life
Jean Fautrier was born in Paris in 1898. He was given his unwed m ...
. The style reached widespread popularity in the 1950s.
See also
*
Informalism
Informalism or Art Informel is a pictorial movement from the 1943–1950s, that includes all the abstract and gestural tendencies that developed in France and the rest of Europe during the World War II, similar to American abstract expressionis ...
References
French art movements
Painting techniques
Abstract expressionism
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