Nouveaux
Réalisme
A
European movement that emerged in the late 1950s, and
focused on using everyday items and found objects
for aesthetic ends. The term was coined by the French
critic Pierre Restany in 1960. and translates as 'New
Realism'. Primarily based in France, the Nouveaux
Réalistes reacted against the gestural paintings of
the Abstract
Expressionists, producing works
which were rooted in contemporary experience.
Superficially resembling Pop Art, the work of
the Nouveaux Réalistes is in fact closer to the
assemblages of Dine and Rauschenberg, with their
emphasis on the use of discarded materials for poetic
ends.
Representative
painters:
Arman, Cesar,
Klein, Spoerri