Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early-

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of modern ...

painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called '' Transavantgarde'', '' Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wilden'' ('The new wild ones'; 'New Fauves' would better meet the meaning of the term). It is characterized by intense subjectivity and rough handling of materials. Neo-expressionism developed as a reaction against

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called inst ...

and

minimal art Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or conc ...

of the 1970s. Neo-expressionists returned to portraying recognizable objects, such as the human body (although sometimes in an

abstract Abstract may refer to: * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract of title a summary of the documents affecting title to parcel of land * Abstract (law), a summary of a legal document * Abstract (summary), in academic publishi ...

manner), in a rough and violently emotional way, often using vivid colors. It was overtly inspired by

German Expressionist German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

painters, such as

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the ...

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 192 ...

George Grosz George Grosz (; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Ob ...

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (6 May 1880 – 15 June 1938) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-centu ...

James Ensor James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgium, Belgian Painting, painter and Printmaking, printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was ...

and

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, '' The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the d ...

. It is also related to American

Lyrical Abstraction Lyrical abstraction is either of two related but distinct trends in Post-war Modernist painting: ''European Abstraction Lyrique'' born in Paris, the French art critic Jean José Marchand being credited with coining its name in 1947, considered ...

painting of the 1960s and 1970s,

The Hairy Who The Chicago Imagists are a group of representational artists associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center in the late 1960s. Their work was known for grotesquerie, Surrealism and complete ind ...

movement in Chicago, the Bay Area Figurative School of the 1950s and 1960s, the continuation of

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

, precedents in Pop Painting, and New Image Painting: a vague late 1970s term applied to painters who employed a strident figurative style with cartoon-like imagery and abrasive handling owing something to Neo-Expressionism. The New Image Painting term was given currency by a 1978 exhibition entitled ''New Image Painting'' held at the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude ...

Critical reception

Neo-expressionism dominated the art market until the mid-1980s. The style emerged internationally and was viewed by many critics, such as

Achille Bonito Oliva Achille Bonito Oliva (born 1939) is an Italian art critic and historian of contemporary art. Since 1968 he has taught history of contemporary art at La Sapienza, the university of Rome. He has written extensively on contemporary art and contempor ...

and Donald Kuspit, as a revival of traditional themes of self-expression in European art after decades of American dominance. The social and economic value of the movement was hotly debated. From the point of view of the history of

Modern Art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

, art critic Robert Hughes dismissed Neo-Expressionist painting as retrograde, as a failure of radical imagination, and as a lamentable capitulation to the

art market The art market is the marketplace of buyers and sellers trading in commodities, services, and works of art. The art market operates in an economic model that considers more than supply and demand: it is a hybrid type of prediction market where ...

. Critics such as Benjamin Buchloh,

Hal Foster Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip ''Prince Valiant''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship a ...

Craig Owens Craigery "Craig" Owens (born August 26, 1984) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of Chiodos. He has also had an involvement in various projects such as Cinematic Sunrise, The Sound of Animals Fighting, Isles & Glaciers, ...

, and

Mira Schor Mira Schor (born June 1, 1950) is an American artist, writer, editor, and educator, known for her contributions to critical discourse on the status of painting in contemporary art and culture as well as to feminist art history and criticism. Earl ...

were highly critical of its relation to the marketability of painting on the rapidly expanding art market, celebrity, the backlash against feminism,

anti-intellectualism Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism, commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy and the dismissal of art, literature, and science as impractical, politically ...

, and a return to mythic subjects and individualist methods they deemed outmoded. Women were notoriously marginalized in the movement, and painters such as Elizabeth Murray and

Maria Lassnig Maria Lassnig (8 September 1919 – 6 May 2014) was an Austrian artist known for her painted self-portraits and her theory of "body awareness".Attias, Lauri''Maria Lassnig'', ''Frieze'', May 1996. She was the first female artist to win the Gran ...

were omitted from many of its key exhibitions, most notoriously the 1981 ''New Spirit in Painting'' exhibition in London which included 38 male painters but no female painters.

Neo-expressionist artists around the world

Australia

Davida Allen Davida Frances Allen (born 20 October 1951) is an Australian painter, filmmaker and writer. Early life and education Davida Allen was born on 20 October 1951 in Charleville, Queensland. She studied under Betty Churcher at the Stuartholme Scho ...

* Peter Booth * Kevin Connor *

Brett Whiteley Brett Whiteley AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. He held many exhibiti ...

Austria

Brazil

Rodrigo Franzão Rodrigo Franzão (born April 27, 1982) is a contemporary Brazilian artist known for his innovative textile art and mixed media creations. He lives and works between New York, New Orleans, and Sao Paulo, focusing on sustainability and environme ...

Cuba

* Adriano Nicot * Luis Marín

Denmark

* Anette Abrahamsson * Claus Carstensen *

Ursula Reuter Christiansen Ursula Reuter Christiansen (born 13 February 1943 in Trier, Germany) created work, whether it was painting or filmmaking, that showed examples of mythological symbolism. Biography Ursula Reuter Christiansen studied literature at the Philipp Univer ...

(born in Germany, active in Denmark) * Dorte Dahlin * Inge Ellegaard * Erik A. Frandsen * Michael Kvium *

Christian Lemmerz Christian Lemmerz (born January 30, 1959) is a German-Danish sculptor and visual artist who attended the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara, Italy, from 1978 to 1982 and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1983 to 1988. Despite classical ...

* Kehnet Nielsen *

Lars Nørgård Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel". A homonymous Etruscan name was bo ...

* Lars Ravn *

Nina Sten-Knudsen Nina Sten-Knudsen (born 1957) is a Danish painter who played a central role in the Danish Wild Youth trend in the 1980s. She gained recognition from her participation in the 1982 exhibition ''Kniven på hovedet'' (Knife on the Head) held at Trane ...

France

* Rémi Blanchard * Robert Combas * Jacques Grinberg * Hervé Di Rosa * René Marcil

Germany

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and Graphic arts, graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his Figurative art, figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his s ...

Anselm Kiefer Anselm Kiefer (born 8 March 1945) is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Peter Dreher and Horst Antes at the end of the 1960s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan h ...

Jörg Immendorff Jörg Immendorff (14 June 1945 – 28 May 2007) was a German painter, sculptor, stage designer and art professor. He was a member of the art movement ''Neue Wilde''. Early life and education Immendorff was born in Bleckede, Lower Saxony, ne ...

Per Kirkeby Per Kirkeby (1 September 1938 – 9 May 2018) was a Danish painter, poet, film maker and sculptor. Biography By the time Kirkeby completed a masters degree in arctic geology at the University of Copenhagen in 1964, he was already part of the ...

(born Denmark, active Germany) * A.R. Penck *

Markus Lüpertz Markus Lüpertz (born 25 April 1941) is a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and writer. He also publishes a magazine, and plays jazz piano. He is one of the best-known German contemporary artists. His subjects are characterized by suggest ...

* Peter Robert Keil * Rainer Fetting * Salomé *

Elvira Bach Elvira Bach (born 22 June 1951) is a postmodernist German painter known for her colourful images of women.Hahn, Werner (23 September 2011)"Gegenwarts-Kunst belanglos - NIEDERGANG/Misere: Werke von ELVIRA BACH (postmoderne „Junge Wilde“) im Ob ...

* Peter Angermann * Luciano Castelli (born in Switzerland, active Germany) * Marwan Kassab-Bachi (born in Syria, active Germany)

India

* Bhupen Khakhar * Ebenezer Sunder Singh

Iraq

* Ahmed Al Safi

Italy

* Francesco Clemente *

Sandro Chia Sandro Chia (born 20 April 1946) is an Italian painter and sculptor. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he was, with Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Nicola De Maria, and Mimmo Paladino, a principal member of the Italian Neo-Expressionist mov ...

Enzo Cucchi Enzo Cucchi (born 14 November 1949) is an Italian painter. A native of Morro d'Alba, province of Ancona, he was a key member of the Italian Transavanguardia movement, along with his countrymen Francesco Clemente, Mimmo Paladino, Nicola De Maria, ...

* Mimmo Paladino

Mexico

* Julio Galán

Poland

Ludwik Konarzewski-junior Ludwik Konarzewski – junior (April 20, 1918 in Buzuluk – January 23, 1989 in Cieszyn) was a Polish painter, sculptor and teacher of fine arts who worked in Upper Silesia and Cieszyn Silesia. A square in Rydułtowy is named after him. Konarz ...

* Wilhelm Sasnal

South Africa

Marlene Dumas Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter currently based in the Netherlands. Life and work Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father had ...

Spain

* Miquel Barceló * Peris Carbonell * Jorge Rando

Sweden

* Daniel Jouseff

Switzerland

* Miriam Cahn * Martin Disler *

Leiko Ikemura is a Japanese-Swiss painter and sculptor. Biography Leiko Ikemura studied at Osaka University from 1970–1972. She then left Japan to study in Spain from 1973 to 1978 at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Granada and Seville. In 1979, Ikemu ...

Ukraine

Vasiliy Ryabchenko Vasiliy Ryabchenko (born 23 July 1954, Odessa, USSR) is a Ukrainian painter, photographer, and installation artist. One of the key artists in contemporary Ukrainian art, and the " New Ukrainian Wave". Biography Vasiliy Ryabchenko was born on J ...

United Kingdom

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

Frank Auerbach Frank Helmut Auerbach (born 29 April 1931) is a German-British painter. Born in Germany, he has been a naturalised British subject since 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon ...

Peter Howson Peter Howson OBE (born 27 March 1958) is a Scottish painter. He was a British official war artist in 1993 during the Bosnian War. Early life Peter Howson was born in London of Scottish parents and moved with his family to Prestwick, Ayrs ...

* Leon Kossoff * Christopher Le Brun

United States

Ida Applebroog Ida Applebroog (born November 11, 1929) is an American multi-media artist who is best-known for her paintings and sculptures that explore the themes of gender, sexual identity, violence and politics. Applebroog has been the recipient of multiple ...

Donald Baechler Donald Baechler (November 22, 1956 – April 4, 2022) was an American painter and sculptor associated with 1980s Neo-expressionism. He had lived in Manhattan and Stephentown, New York. Early life and education Baechler was born in Hartford, ...

* Jennifer Bartlett * Leonard Baskin * Jean-Michel Basquiat *

Richard Bosman Richard Bosman (born 1944) is an American artist, educator, and illustrator. Bosman is best known for his paintings and prints. His work is often related to crime, adventure, and disaster narratives; rural Americana; and nature and domestic theme ...

* Christopher Brown *

Louisa Chase Louisa Lizbeth Chase (March 18, 1951 – May 8, 2016) was an American neo-expressionist painter and printmaker. Life Chase was born in 1951 in Panama City, Panama. She grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She earned her BFA in printmaking from ...

* Chuck Connelly * Norris Embry *

Eric Fischl Eric Fischl (born March 9, 1948) is an American painter, sculptor, printmaker, draughtsman and educator. He is known for his paintings depicting American suburbia from the 1970s and 1980s. Life Fischl was born in New York City and grew up on ...

* Leon Golub *

Philip Guston Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein, June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980), was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. Early in his five decade career, muralist David Siquieros described him as one of "the most promising ...

Michael Hafftka Michael Hafftka is an American figurative expressionist painter living in New York City. His work is represented in the permanent collections of a number of museums, including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Museum of Modern Art, Broo ...

* Marcus Jansen *

Nabil Kanso Nabil Kanso (1940-2019) was an American painter. Kanso began his career in New York. His works dealt with contemporary, historical and literary themes, and were marked by figurative imagery executed with spontaneous and vigorous handling of the p ...

* Kevin Larmee *

Danny Minnick Danny Minnick is an American Neo Expressionist painter and professional skateboarder. Early life Minnick was born in Seattle, Washington, United States. He started sketching out his favorite cartoon characters when he was only in 3rd grade. A ...

* Noel Rockmore *

David Salle David Salle (born September 28, 1952; last name pronounced "Sally") is a Pictures Generation American painter, printmaker, photographer, and stage designer. Salle was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and lives and works in East Hampton, New York. He ear ...

Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been ...

* Ouattara Watts

Puerto Rico

Arnaldo Roche Rabell Arnaldo Roche Rabell (December 5, 1955 – November 17, 2018) was a Puerto Rican painter, described as "one of the most important artists of the neo-expressionist movement". Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was educated at the Luchetti Schoo ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Contemporary art movements Expressionism Modern art Postmodern art 1970s in art