Styles ART RESEARCH

A mid 20th century style, emphasis is on lines, shapes, and sometimes colors with the goal of countering with bare essentials elaborate lines and colors of geometric abstraction. Minimalist works characteristically look and feel sparse, spare, restricted or empty. Art historian Barbara Rose is credited with first using the term in an article titled 'ABC Art' in the October 1965 issue of "Art in America." She described "art pared down to a minimum." Among Minimalist artists are Agnes Martin, Robert Ryman, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, and Frank Stella. Although the general public seems never to have warmed to Minimalism, corporate collection managers did because the artworks accented many International Style office buildings, which were built in the mid 20th Century. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"