Universal Principles of Art

52 MINIMALISM

ART STRIPPED BARE

Minimalism is a broad art movement that emerged at the end of the 1950s, in part as a reaction to the foregoing style of Abstract Expressionism. It is characterized by artworks that seek to strip away the traditional endeavors of art such as personal expression, narrative content, aesthetic engagement, compositional hierarchies, or symbolic meaning. Instead, Minimalist artists asserted the primacy of the object itself and the importance of the experience of the object for the viewer unmediated by the artist. Amongst the most important practitioners of Minimalism are Donald Judd (1928–94), Frank Stella (1936–), Carl Andre (1935–), Sol LeWitt (1928–2007), and Robert Morris (1931–).

STRATEGIES

• Use of simple geometric ...