User:Jvue07/Minimalism

Curts Notes

MINIMALISM

Your re-write of the lead paragraph is not bad, but the very first words are "In visual arts, music and other media,..." and the rest is strictly about visual arts, no reference to music or other media.

I see in the existing lead, music is addressed separately later on. So if you do want to focus on visual arts, then maybe separate your paragraph from the lead paragraph -- the lead can say visual arts, music, and other media -- and then as a separate paragraph, start explaining visual art separately, then in later paragraphs they address music and other mediums.

-- Your source for that new lead paragraph might be fine, I can't tell yet -- I can't access the link you added to the citation, it just prompts me to log into something called Choice Reviews. What is that? Find a way to cite the actual source (not a review of it) without requiring a paywall or for readers to have to create some sort of account... if that one can't be done, there are lots and lots of possible sources on general art and/or specifically on minimalism at the library (whole shelves full of books)

-- De Stijl is already featured in the "Design, architecture, and spaces" section of the article, so you do not need to add it -- however, that section is tagged as needing help: "This section contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject's importance, use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance. (October 2020)"

So that plea for help could be a great place to start for a contribution to that section.

Lead-in

In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in Western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-minimal art practices, which extend or reflect on minimalism's original objectives. Minimalism's key objectives were to strip away conventional characterizations of art through bringing the importance of the object or the experience a viewer has for the object with minimal mediation from the artist. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt and Frank Stella.

Minimalism in music often features repetition and gradual variation, such as the works of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Julius Eastman and John Adams. The term has also been used to describe the plays and novels of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stories of Raymond Carver, and the automobile designs of Colin Chapman.

In recent years, Minimalism has come to refer to anything or anyone that is spare or stripped to its essentials.

Design, Architecture, and Space

The term minimalism is also used to describe a trend in design and architecture, wherein the subject is reduced to its necessary elements. Minimalist architectural designers focus on the connection between two perfect planes, elegant lighting, and the void spaces left by the removal of three-dimensional shapes in an architectural design. Minimalist architectural designers focus on effectively using vacant space, neutral colors and eliminating decoration. Emphasizing materiality, tactility, texture, weight and density. Minimalist architecture became popular in the late 1980s in London and New York, whereby architects and fashion designers worked together in the boutiques to achieve simplicity, using white elements, cold lighting, and large spaces with minimal furniture and few decorative elements.

The works of De Stijl artists are a major reference: De Stijl expanded the ideas of expression by meticulously organizing basic elements such as lines and planes. In 1924, The Rietveld Schroder House was commissioned by Truss Schroder-Schrader, a precursor to minimalism. The house emphasizes its slabs, beams and posts reflecting De Stijls philosophy on the relationship between form and function. With regard to home design, more attractive "minimalistic" designs are not truly minimalistic because they are larger, and use more expensive building materials and finishes.^{[citation needed]}

Minimalistic design has been highly influenced by Japanese traditional design and architecture. There are observers^[who?] who describe the emergence of minimalism as a response to the brashness and chaos of urban life. In Japan, for example, minimalist architecture began to gain traction in the 1980s when its cities experienced rapid expansion and booming population. The design was considered an antidote to the "overpowering presence of traffic, advertising, jumbled building scales, and imposing roadways." The chaotic environment was not only driven by urbanization, industrialization, and technology but also the Japanese experience of constantly having to demolish structures on account of the destruction wrought by World War II and the earthquakes, including the calamities it entails such as fire. The minimalist design philosophy did not arrive in Japan by way of another country, as it was already part of the Japanese culture rooted on the Zen philosophy. There are those who specifically attribute the design movement to Japan's spirituality and view of nature.

Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) adopted the motto "Less is more" to describe his aesthetic. His tactic was one of arranging the necessary components of a building to create an impression of extreme simplicity—he enlisted every element and detail to serve multiple visual and functional purposes; for example, designing a floor to also serve as the radiator, or a massive fireplace to also house the bathroom. Designer Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) adopted the engineer's goal of "Doing more with less", but his concerns were oriented toward technology and engineering rather than aesthetics.

references

Universal Principles of Art : 100 Key Concepts for Understanding, Analyzing, and Practicing Art

by John A. Parks

Twentieth-Century American Art

by Erika Doss