Informel

Informel is the shortened form for the French expression "art informel" (informal art) and went down into art history as a style of the 1940’s. As the name "informel" implies, the group understood itself as a countermovement to geometric abstraction. The emphasis in informel did not lay on form; instead of the architectural, the spontaneous and unexamined nature of the painting process was to be emphasized, through which the spiritual was to achieve immediate expression. The painting process thus became more important in informel than the finished work of art. Informal art was an international style and appeared in different forms; among them are tachism (from the French "tache" = patch), action painting, abstract expressionism and art brut (French = raw art). Important artists of informel in the US are Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and in France, Wols, Jean Fautrier and Jean Dubuffet. In Germany, informel reached its climax in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Among the definitive representatives of German informel are Hans Hartung, Emil Schumacher, Karl Fred Dahmen, K.O. Götz, Gerhard Hoehme, Hans-Jürgen Schlieker, Bernard Schultze, K.R.H. Sonderborg, Fred Thieler and Hann Trier. Artist groups such as SPUR, WIR, Geflecht or also the members of the group CoBrA developed the theories of informel further.

Related artists:  Bissier, Julius Heinrich  |  Bott, Francis  |  Brodwolf, Jürgen  |  Brüning, Peter  |  Buchheister, Carl  |  Caspar-Filser, Maria  |  Cavael, Rolf  |  Corpora, Antonio  |  Dahmen, Karl Fred  |  Fautrier, Jean  |  Gaul, Winfred  |  Girke, Raimund  |  Götz, Karl Otto  |  Hartung, Hans  |  Hartung, Karl  |  Hoehme, Gerhard  |  Imai, Toshimitsu  |  Jenkins, Paul  |  Jorn, Asger  |  Kirkeby, Per  |  Kricke, Norbert  |  Mathieu, Georges  |  Matschinsky-Denninghoff, Martin und Brigitte  |  Michaux, Henri  |  Music, Zoran  |  Nay, Ernst Wilhelm  |  Nitsch, Hermann  |  Prachensky, Markus  |  Rainer, Arnulf  |  Santomaso, Giuseppe  |  Schultze, Bernard  |  Schumacher, Emil  |  Sonderborg, K.R.H. (d.i. Kurt R. Hoffmann)  |  Soulages, Pierre  |  Staudacher, Hans  |  Stöhrer, Walter  |  Tàpies, Antoni  |  Thieler, Fred  |  Tinguely, Jean  |  Tobey, Mark  |  Trier, Hann  |  Werner, Theodor  |  Wessel, Wilhelm  |  Westpfahl, Conrad  |  Winter, Fritz  |  Wols, (d.i. Wolfgang Schulze)  |  Wou-Ki, Zao  |  Wunderlich, Paul  |  Zimmer, Bernd