MORE MOVEMENTS IN BRIEF  ACTION ART This term, first coined by Harold Rosenberg, refers to the dribbling, splashing or otherwise unconventional techniques of applying paint to a canvas. Connected to the Abstract Expressionist movement, but more precise in its meaning, Action Painting believes in the expressive power held in the actual act of painting as much as in the finished product. Rosenberg defined the notion of the canvas as seen by the artists in this movement as being 'not a picture but an event'. Jackson Pollock was the leading figure of the movement, employing the 'drip' technique to create his vast paint splattered canvases. There is some debate as to how much he left to chance and how much the finished product reflected his original intentions, but the power of his works lies in their energy and sheer drama. Other artists produced Action Paintings often employing quite unconventional techniques. The British painter William Green, for example, rode a bicycle over his canvas, while one of the Gutai Group in Japan painted with his feet as he hung from a rope. Critics were divided over the worth and purpose of this movement as for every Pollock there were numerous examples of over-indulgence and derisive imitations. In retrospect, however, it stands as an important aspect of Abstract Expressionism and it can be seen as a precursor to many later techniques such as Spin Art.  BARBIZON SCHOOL An association of French landscape painters, c. 1840-70, who lived in the village of Barbizon and who painted directly from nature. Theodore Rousseau was a leader; Corot and Millet were also associated with the group.  CLASSICISM This is a movement that can be defined by its attention to traditional forms concentrating on elegance and symmetry. It takes the art of the Greeks and Romans as its idea of perfection. Developing in Rome in the late 15th century, the classical style was widespread particularly among the Renaissance artists. Their aim was to capture the precision of the antique age which for them represented the possibility of attaining absolute beauty in their art. Using examples such as the 'Belvedere Torso' and the 'Medici Venus', the artists rejected emotionalism in favour of attention to form and detail. The style's main exponents included Michelangelo, Raphael, Correggio and Mantegna. The classical style was revived in the late 18th and early 19th century in Neoclassicism a movement that arose in reaction to the flamboyant Rococo style and which included artists such as Anton Raffael Mengs and Johan Joachim Winckelman.  COLOUR FIELD A technique in abstract painting developed in the 1950s. It focuses on the lyrical effects of large areas of color, often poured or stained onto the canvas. Newman, Rothko, and Frankenthaler painted in this manner.  CONCEPTUAL ART A movement of the 1960s and 1970s that emphasized the artistic idea over the art object. It attempted to free art from the confines of the gallery and the pedestal.  THE EIGHT A group of American painters who united out of opposition to academic standards in the early twentieth century. Members of the group were Robert Henri, Arthur Davies, Maurice Prendergast, William James Glackens, Ernest Lawson, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, and George Luks.  FLEMISH SCHOOL Characterised by idealism and experimentation with perspective, Flemish Art thrived in the 15th century with artists such as Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Dirk Bouts. They specialised in portrait painting with religious themes and complicated iconography. In the 16th century travel to Italy became easier resulting in many of the Flemish artists beginning to display techniques learnt from the Renaissance artists and architects. Key figures at this time included Patenier, Elsheimer and Massys.  FOLK ART Works of a culturally homogeneous people without formal training, generally according to regional traditions and involving crafts.  GOTHIC This style prevailed between the 12th century and the 16th century in Europe. Mainly an architectural movement, Gothic was characterised by its detailed ornamentation most noticeably the pointed archways and elaborate rib vaulting. First developed in France, Gothic was intended as a solution to the inadequacies of Romanesque architecture. It allowed for cathedrals to be built with thinner walls and it became possible to introduce stained glass windows instead of traditional mosaic decorations. Some of the finest examples of the style include the cathedrals of Chartres, Reims and Amiens. The term was also used to describe sculpture and painting that demonstrated a greater degree of naturalism.  GRAFFITI ART This was a movement which achieved an enormous amount of success in New York in the 1980s. It was named after the spray-can vandalism common in most cities and most associated with the New York subway system. The two most successful figures of this movement were Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. The New York art scene embraced Graffiti Art, with several galleries specialising in the genre and a Museum of American Graffiti opening in 1989. The genre was big business with artists in the field selling their work for huge amounts. The two most prominent figures died young, however, and the style soon went out of fashion.  MASSURREALISM Coined by the American Artist James Seehafer in 1992 the expression Massurrealism stands for a fusion of the dream like visions of surrealism, pop art and New Media Technology - as well as for an expression of the Hyper-real. Starting as a grass roots art style it started to generate interest very soon in the New York Area first, then spreading to L.A. and beyond the American borders to Mexico, Russia and Europe. Massusrrealism also is influenced by the postmodern time mass-media communications where examples of surreal imagery is present in form of print media, movies and music videos without the conscious notice of the observer that he is looking at a surreal image/scene. The ideology behind Massurrealism is rather oriented on the writings and theories of Marshall Mc Luhan, Jean Baudrillard, Cecil Touchon than on Freud or Breton. To explain massurrealism in words is rather difficult, and might be done best by example, as the visual expressions are in continuous progress. Representative Artists: James Seehafer, Salvatore Lodico, F. Michael Morris, Bayardo Carrillo, Jr, Marketta Leino, Ginnie Gardiner, Domenic Ali, Caplyn Dor, Alex Filipchenko, Peter Steinlechner, Cecil Touchon  NAIVE ART Artwork, usually paintings, characterized by a simplified style, nonscientific perspective, and bold colors. The artists are generally not professionally trained. Henri Rousseau and Grandma Moses worked in this style.  PHOTOREALISM A figurative movement that emerged in the United States and Britain in the late 1960s and 1970s. The subject matter, usually everyday scenes, is portrayed in an extremely detailed, exacting style. It is also called superrealism, especially when referring to sculpture.  POINTILISM This movement developed from Impressionism and involved the use of many small dots of colour to give a painting a greater sense of vibrancy when seen from a distance. The equal size dots never quite merge in the viewer's perception resulting in a shimmering effect like one experiences on a hot and sunny day. One of the leading exponents was Seurat to whom the term was first applied in regard to his painting 'La Grand Jette' (1886). Seurat was part of the Neo-Impressionist movement which included Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Signac. The word Divisionism describes the theory they followed while the actual process was known as pointillism.The effects of this technique, if used well, were often far more striking than the conventional approach of mixing colours together. The Neo-Impressionist movement was brief yet influential. The term Divisionism was also the name of an Italian version of Neo-Impressionism in the 1890s and early 1900s, and one can trace a line to Futurism which was founded in 1909.  SUPREMATISM Russian art movement founded (1913) by Casimir Malevich in Moscow, parallel to constructivism. Malevich drew Alexander Rodchenko and El Lissitsky (1890-1947) to his revolutionary, nonobjective art. In Malevich's words, suprematism sought "to liberate art from the ballast of the representational world. It consisted of geometrical shapes flatly painted on the pure canvas surface. Malevich's white square on a white ground (Mus. of Modern Art, New York City) embodied the movement's principles. Suprematism, through its dissemination by the Bauhaus, deeply influenced the development of modern European art, architecture, and industrial design.