automatism
(1940s)
This term describes both the aims and methods of surrealism in allowing unconscious images and chance effects to form a work; for example, the use of ink blots by French painter FRANCIS PICABIA (1879-1953).
The principle was adopted by the New York Surrealists of the 1940s and provided the basis for action painting, art informel; and, particularly, a group of seven Canadian artists active in the 1940s who called themselves Les Automatistes.
Have a Say?
Submit additional
information | Correct Mistakes