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The Minimalist art movement emerged and gained popularity in the 1960s as a reaction against the Abstract Expressionist movement. With its emotionally charged and gestural features, Abstract Expressionism had dominated the art scene post WWII. But younger artists during this time considered the subjectivity and complexity of the Abstract Expressionists to be too extreme, instead favoring a "sleek, geometric aesthetic" that embodies simplicity and objectivity. Unlike nearly all other art forms, Minimalist art is not intended to refer to or depict some other thing, like a place, object, idea or emotion. Rather, it focuses on stripping away personal elements and outside references, reducing artwork to its simplest components, epitomizing "less is more". In Minimalist art, line, color, and form reign supreme. This allows for an immediate and personal visual response from the viewer. This was a revolutionary idea in art, and the influence of the Minimalist movement still extends through today.

https://artincontext.org/minimalist-art/

https://magazine.artland.com/minimalism/

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The Bahaus Influence on the Minimalist Movement

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The Bahaus Influence on the Minimalist Movement

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Minimalism had heavy influence from a number of different sources. Abstract Expressionism was of course a more antithetical influence, inspiring artists to intentionally reduce their art to a more basic form as a response. We can attribute the Bauhaus movement in the late 1910s as a significant influence of Minimalism as well. Bauhaus was an art school in Germany, and explored minimalist ideas early on, emphasizing functionality and clean lines. Its influence was mainly architectural as well, featuring angular and abstract designs with little to no ornamentation. The Bauhaus school's purpose was this: "to reimagine the material world to reflect the unity of all the arts."

https://artincontext.org/minimalist-art/

https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-bauhaus-1919-1933

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Another notable influential movement for Minimalism was the De Stijl movement in 1917. "De Stijl" is Dutch for "The Style", and the movement arose from the Netherlands. Similarly to how abstract expressionism cropped up in the aftermath of WWII, the De Stijl style came about in response to the horrors of WWI, attempting to express the desire to change society in its wake. The De Stijl style of art features plentiful horizontal and vertical lines, and much like the art form taught at the Bauhaus, De Stijl artists mostly used the primary colors along with blacks and whites, characteristic of much of the paintings we see from the Minimalists.

https://www.theartstory.org/movement/de-stijl/

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Frank Stella was among the more well known and earlier minimalist painters. He was born in Massachusetts in 1936, and his big breakthrough happened in 1959 when his Black Paintings were displayed at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Stella famously said of his works: "What you see is what you see." True to the Minimalist form, Stella did not intend for his art to represent anything but itself. This work of his is titled "Black Study I (1968). It features thick, dark lines traversing the canvas, taking 90 degree turns in an aesthetically pleasing geometric pattern. The painting is almost mesmerizing, as though it starts changing form the longer you look at it, like an optical illusion of sorts.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/minimalism

https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artwork/17319/Frank-Stella-Black-Study-I

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Born in 1928, Donald Judd was a renowned Minimalist sculptor. He had a firm belief that art should be independent from the artist; a belief that directly contrasts the abstract expressionist movement. Judd liked to use industrial materials when creating his sculptures, such as steel, plastic, and plexiglass. These types of materials provide a more impersonal and objective feeling, and this can be seen clearly in his "Stacks". These art pieces are columns of steel boxes spaced out in regular intervals, and often colored on specific faces with a single color. The columns of boxes evoke no real emotion, and represent no real idea or object, making them the perfect Minimalist pieces.

https://artincontext.org/minimalist-art/

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Steve Reich is an interesting member of the Minimalist movement, as he is a Minimalist composer. His compositions are absolutely fascinating and utterly unique. They present the ideals of Minimalism in perhaps a better way than painting or sculpture ever could. One of his most acclaimed works, "Music for 18 Musicians", features few discernibly traditional instruments, and no percussion. Clocking in at 56 minutes and 31 seconds, the song cycles through a sequence of 11 chords, interspersed with "pulses" of different instrumental sounds providing a variety of harmonies. The comments under the YouTube video describe the song as "hypnotic", "holy", and "the musical embodiment of life". These features make the composition truly feel impersonal.

https://www.andres.com/2018/02/02/about-pulse-quartet-by-steve-reich/

https://stevereich.com/

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Agnes Martin is another Minimalist who was incredibly influential in the movement, creating over 400 paintings in her time. She was born in Saskatchewan, Canada and immigrated to the U.S. in 1932. Of art, Martin said, “Art work is a representation of our devotion to life.” Her style often incorporates a grid on canvas, with one dominant color. In this piece, titled "Friendship", Martin painted a first layer with oil paint, then covered it with a thin second layer of goldleaf. She then scored the canvas by hand to reveal the ground beneath. Gold was apparently not a typical choice for Martin, as the color itself can be representative of religious themes, but the composition of the painting still holds to the principles of Minimalism, using straight lines and a single color.

https://www.moma.org/artists/3787-agnes-martin

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79842

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Another unique Minimalist was Dan Flavin. Flavin grew up in New York and studied art in college. His art installations primarily feature light as a source of art. Of light, Flavin said this: "One might not think of light as a matter of fact, but I do. And it is, as I said, as plain and open and direct an art as you will ever find." This art piece is called untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim), and it features criss crossed light bars in a grid pattern, with yellows, blues, pinks, and greens. It's an intriguing take on the ideas of Minimalism. Light itself, especially presented in this manner, is not necessarily representing anything else, and is a very pure form of art, which is the heart of Minimalism.

https://www.nga.gov/features/slideshows/dan-flavin-a-retrospective.html

https://artincontext.org/minimalist-art/