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Tachism (from French tache, ‘blot’ or ‘spot’) was a name given in the late 19th and 20th centuries to European, particularly French, non-geometric abstract painting. (Tachism is used interchangeably with a series of other terms: Art informel (‘Art without Form’), Art autre (‘Other Art’) and Abstraction lyrique. While the adjective ‘tachist’ had been used, pejoratively, as early as 1889 by Félix Fénéon with reference to Impressionism. Art informal and Art autre were coined by Michel Tapi for an exhibition and book, Un art autre, in 1952. The aims of the artists working under these appellations paralleled those of the American Abstract Expressionists. They laid emphasis on the value of the spontaneous expression of the artist\'s emotions, which they saw best communicated through the use of the unpremeditated, gestural stroke. Principal practitioners of the movement were Jean Dubuffet, Jean Fautrier, Hans Hartung, Georges Mathieu, Henri Michaux, Antoni Tapiss and Wols. MG PD |
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