New Figuration
After the Second World War, many artists felt the need to abandon established ideas about figuration and expressionism. Initially, abstraction dominated. In response to this, various new movements emerged. In the 1960s and 1970s, several painters created one of these new visions and the New Figuration emerged, which included a combination of figurative and abstract elements, creating a tension between the flat surface and the illusion of space. Bright colours, sharp contours and pop art elements played a role in this.
An important figure in the New Figuration in the Low Countries is the Flemish Roger Raveel (1921-2013). An example of the innovations he applied in his paintings is the introduction of white areas in the painting, to manifest presence through absence as a creative element.
Other new aspects involved the introduction of trivial, non-poetic elements and representations. The integration of objects, even living beings, and the pictorial play-off of nature and culture against each other. For example, a lot of work was done with silhouettes.
The use of mirrors in the painting is another example: this not only created a spatial effect but also an assimilation of the viewer into the artistic work.
New Figuration in the Low Countries
Other important representatives are: Hans Ebeling Koning, Alphons Freymuth, Pjeroo Roobjee, Reinier Lucassen, Feiko Wiersma, Paul de Lussanet, Jacques van Alphen and Sipke Huismans, Etienne Elias, Raoul De Keyser, Ivan Theys, Reinier Lucassen, Pieter Holstein, Henri Dorchy and Aad Berlijn.
Neo-figuration internationally
Neo-figurative art is a collective term that refers to the revival of figurative art in America and Europe in the 1960s that took place during a critical period of social and political unrest.
This international movement includes Richard Lindner (United States); Stanco Skiczuk (Romania); H.A.P. Grieshaber (1909-1981) and Horst Antes, Dieter Krieg and Heinz Schanz (Germany); Franz Ringel and Peter Pongratz (Austria); R.B. Kitaj used the term ‘School of London’ in the 1970s for a number of figurative artists such as: Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud (United Kingdom) who are also associated with this direction in painting.
