Minimalism

:This article is about minimalism in art and design. For the computer term see Computing minimalism and for the linguistic meaning of "Minimalism" see Transformational grammar.

Related Topics:
Computing minimalism - Transformational grammar

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Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. In other fields of art, it has been used to describe the novels of Ernest Hemingway, the plays of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stories of Raymond Carver, and even the automobile designs of Colin Chapman.

Related Topics:
Art - Visual art - Music - Novel - Ernest Hemingway - Play - Samuel Beckett - Film - Robert Bresson - Raymond Carver - Colin Chapman

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As a specific movement in the arts it is identified with developments in post-World War II Western Art, most strongly with the visual arts, for example the paintings of Mark Rothko. The term has expanded to encompass a movement in music which features repetition and iteration, for example the music of Philip Glass and Terry Riley. (See also Post-Minimalist). It is rooted in the spare aspects of Modernism, and is often associated with Postmodernism and reaction against Expressionism in both painting and composition.

Related Topics:
Mark Rothko - Philip Glass - Terry Riley - Post-Minimalist - Modernism - Postmodernism - Expressionism

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The term "minimalist" can also refer to anything which is spare, stripped to its essentials, or providing only the outline of structure, independent of the particular art movement, and "minimalism" the tendency to reduce to fundamentals. It is sometimes applied to groups or individuals practicing aceticism and the reduction of physical possessions and needs to a minimum.

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