The term applied to the style of art produced by artists working in the general spirit of the anarchic, rebellious dada movement of the early twentieth century. Emphasizing freedom, nonrational creativity, and the breaking down of barriers between art and life, the art of Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Allan Kaprow in the 1950s and 1960s was described by certain writers as "neo-dada."
new realism
A general term applied by various critics to the return around 1960 of full-fledged figurative styles of art (pop, photo-realism, superrealism) following more than half a century during which abstract styles of art (formalist abstraction, surrealism, abstract expressionism, and their variants) dominated the modern art world.
happenings
Arising worldwide around 1960, a mixed-media environmental art form that features theater-like activities in which persons and/or objects interact in improvisational ways.
photo-realism
A style of realistic painting, rising to prominence in the 1970s, based on photographs of a person, object, or scene. In keeping with the photographic way of seeing and picturing, the paintings of photo-realist artists such as Richard Estes and Chuck Close are characterized by extraordinary detail, a tremendously subtle range of values, and objective physical accuracy.
superrealism
A style of sculpture beginning around 1970 characterized by extreme fidelity to realistic detail. Duane Hanson sculptures such as Old Man and Dishwasher are sufficiently lifelike that they are sometimes mistaken for actual people.
neo-expressionism
Rising to prominence in the 1980s, a style of art pioneered by figurative artists in Germany (Anselm Kiefer), Italy, and the United States (Leon Golub). In the service of subjective expression, neo-expressionists ("new expressionists") distort natural form, space, color, and composition in a style reminiscent of early twentieth-century expressionism.
multiculturalism
A prominent cultural and educational movement begun in the 1980s that emphasizes understanding and respect for cultural diversity in the arts and all areas of life.
