Art Movements A–Z

In the late nineteenth century, modern art styles and movements were classified into labels suffixed with -ism, coined and characterised by art critics. Throughout the twentieth century, further isms sprang from manifestos written by the artists themselves. Hans Arp and El Lissitzky described sixteen isms of the European avant-garde in their book The Isms of Art (Die Kunstismen) in 1925.

In the fragmented landscape of early twenty-first century art, numerous faux isms were coined, either ironically or simply to conform to an ‘ismatic’ framework. Other isms were applied retrospectively, redefining previous artistic periods, interpreting genres as isms, and assigning new labels to existing artistic trends.

Some isms — Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism — are among the most influential movements in modern art. These are described below, alongside more than 200 other isms, many of which are obscure or largely undocumented. Styles and movements of painting, cinema, architecture, and photography are all included, making this the most comprehensive guide to the isms of the visual arts.

Adhocism

Architect Charles Jencks coined the term Adhocism in 1968, and co-wrote Adhocism: The Case for Improvisation (1972) with Nathan Silver. Jencks and Silver viewed Adhocism as the democratisation of design: “Meaningful articulation is the goal of adhocism. Opposed to purism and exclusivist design theories, it accepts everyone as an architect and all modes of communication, whether based on nature or culture.” Inspired by Jencks, Tim Parsons and Jessica Charlesworth organised an exhibition titled Adhocism in Chicago, Illinois in 2011.

Aestheticism

Aestheticism was a late nineteenth century cultural movement dedicated to the production of l’art pour l’art (Theophile Gautier’s motto, ‘art for art’s sake’). The British equivalent of French Symbolism, its influence ranged from literature and painting to the decorative arts and interior design. Leading aesthetes included playwright Oscar Wilde, illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, and painter James McNeil Whistler. Whistler’s portrait Arrangement in Gray and Black: The Artist’s Mother (1871) is arguably the most famous painting in American art.

American Indieism

American Indieism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the movement more conventionally known as American independent cinema.

Anti-Militarism

Anti-Militarism is one of several isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the genre more conventionally known as anti-war films.

Apocalypticism

Apocalypticism is Alan Kirby’s derisive term for the ease with which Hollywood directors use computer-generated imagery to create apocalyptic films. He discussed this in his book Digimodernism (2009).

Asian Minimalism

Asian Minimalism is one of several isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes a trend more conventionally known as Slow Cinema.

Avant-Gardism

Avant-Gardism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes films made by artists, and those released on the arthouse circuit.

Biographism

Biographism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the film genre more conventionally known as biopics.

Caligarism

Caligarism (Caligarisme) describes the impact of the German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari), directed by Robert Wiene in 1919. Caligari was extremely stylised, with painted, distorted sets reminiscent of avant-garde theatre. Subsequent Expressionist films were less radical in their production design, though Expressionism dominated German cinema throughout the 1920s.

Carnivalism

The Carnivalism film presentation in Bangkok, part of Assumption University’s 2011 degree show, applied the term Carnivalism to new-media art. The name was derived from Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of the carnivalesque, his concept of subversive, chaotic, and grotesque literature.

Cartoonism

Cartoonism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the film genre more conventionally known as cartoons or animation.

Catalan Modernism

Catalan Modernism is an alternative term for Modernisme.

Chromoluminarism

Chromoluminarism is an alternative term for Pointillism.

Cloisonnism

Cloisonnism (Cloisonnisme) was a late nineteenth century style of painting developed by Émile Bernard and Louis Anquetin. Their works, influenced by Gothic stained glass and cloisonné enamels, contain saturated colours separated by bold outlines, and are also notable for their lack of perspective. The term — with an alternate spelling — was coined by Édouard Dujardin in his essay Le cloisonismé (1888), in which he noted that Antequin’s work “resembles painting by compartments, analogous to the cloisonné manner, and such a technique consists in a sort of cloisonnism.”

Correctionism

Chris Seddon published a magazine titled Correctionism in 2010. According to Seddon’s definition, “Correctionism is the term given to any form of mark-making produced with the sole intention of blocking-out of covering up illicit urban art.” He photographed public spaces in which graffiti had been whitewashed or otherwise removed, thus Correctionism was a response to street artists such as Banksy (Existencillism) and Invader (Rubikcubism).

Costume Romanticism

Costume Romanticism is one of several isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the film genre more conventionally known as period drama.

Cu(te)bism

Kant Kantawat, known as Mr Halfman, showed paintings in a style he called Cu(te)bism at his Another Side by Another Side exhibition in Bangkok in 2025. Cu(te)bism is a portmanteau of Cubism and ‘cute’.

Cultism

Cultism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes films more conventionally known as cult classics.

Dataism

Dataism, like Neroism, was proposed by Icon magazine (no. 50) in August 2007 as a successor to Modernism. Both proposals are rather dystopian, though they were also intended to be ironic. Dataism described the automatic generation of ergonomic designs by computers, after data is entered via design software. It represented “the final victory of the numerate over the literate.”

Defastenism

Defastenism was inaugurated in 2004 with a Defastenist Party Manifesto written by Gary Farrelly, Pádraic E. Moore, and Alexander Reilly. Farrelly produced a series of works featuring clocks displaying different time zones, including International Clocks (2007). The Defastenists were certainly dedicated to their cause, with their manifesto emphasising their “complete fanaticism” and pledging their “fundamental faith in the Utopian functions of art.”

Digimodernism

Alan Kirby introduced the term Pseudo-Modernism in a 2006 journal paper, The Death of Postmodernism and Beyond, in which he argued that increased audience participation and online interactivity resulted in a banal and sensationalist entertainment culture. In 2009, he replaced it with a new term, Digimodernism.

His book Digimodernism expanded his analysis of culture after Post-Modernism. Digimodernism, or ‘digital modernism’, is a pun on the dual meaning of ‘digital’: “it’s where digital technology meets textuality and text is (re)formulated by the fingers and thumbs (the digits) clicking and keying and pressing in the positive act of partial or obscurely collective textual elaboration.”

Kirby cited “infantilism, earnestness, endlessness, and apparent reality” as the central traits of Digimodernist culture. He was especially critical of computer-generated imagery in Hollywood cinema, arguing that CGI has produced a cinematic Apocalypticism: disaster movies utilising computer graphics to depict the destruction of civilisation.

Divisionism

Divisionism is an alternative term for Pointillism.

Documentarism

Documentarism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the genre more conventionally known as documentary films.

Dogmetism

Dogmetism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the Danish film movement more conventionally known as dogme ’95.

Disasterism

Disasterism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the genre more conventionally known as disaster movies.

Emotionalism

Emotionalism is one of several isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes films that elicit strong emotions from their viewers.

Existencilism

Existencilism is a pun on ‘existentialism’ and ‘stencil’. Existencilism was also the title of an exhibition by Banksy held in Los Angeles, California, in 2002. Like Invader, who created Rubikcubism, Banksy helped to legitimise grafitti as an art form.

Film Noirism

Film Noirism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the genre more conventionally known as film noir.

FXism

FXism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes films that rely on special effects to impress their audiences.

Gagasmicism

Gagasmicism, a portmanteau of Lady Gaga and ‘orgasmic’, was a neologism coined by Pan-Pan Narkprasert for his Gagasmicism exhibition held in Bangkok in 2011. The artist was inspired by a Lady Gaga concert he had attended in New York, and he created a collection of intricate sculptures depicting Gaga as a deity.

The objects resembled Buddhist statuettes, with Gaga posed in a meditative position, a camp and kitsch celebration of modern celebrity-worship. Pan-Pan also gave a performance, dressed in a bodysuit, in which he portrayed a Gaga-esque character.

Gangsterism

Gangsterism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the genre more conventionally known as gangster films.

Hollywood Studioism

Hollywood Studioism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes films made under the Hollywood studio system mode of production.

Horrorism

Horrorism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the genre more conventionally known as horror films.

Impressionism

Impressionism (Impressionnisme) takes its name from Claude Monet’s painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant, 1872). The painting was first shown in 1874, when Monet and a small group of his contemporaries held an independent exhibition to compete with the conservative Salon de Paris.

Reviews of this first independent exhibition were largely hostile. In his satirical review, headlined L’Exposition des impressionnistes (‘the Impressionists exhibition’, 1874), Louis Leroy comments on Monet’s painting: “Impression — I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it.”

Impression, Sunrise, in its form and content, epitomises several key components of Impressionism. It is a landscape painted en plein air (in the open air), rather than a studio portrait. It was painted with short, thick strokes, resulting in visible brush strokes and patches of unmixed colour, and there is an emphasis on the shadows and reflections cast by natural light.

Isanism

Bwild Isan, a group of designers in northeast Thailand, organised a photography workshop titled Isanism: From Isan Roots to Global Views that took place on 26th June 2026. The event was a launchpad for the group’s concept of Isanism (อีสานนิยม), promoting the contemporary culture of Thailand’s Isan region to a wider audience.

Japanism

The availability of Japanese woodcut prints in Europe in the mid nineteenth century led to a Japanese influence on Impressionist artists and their contemporaries. The term Japanism (sometimes spelt Japonism), describing this trend, was first used by Philippe Burty as the title of an 1872 journal article (Japonisme). Internationally, the most famous Japanese woodcut is Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave (神奈川沖浪裏, 1831).

Japonism

Japonism is an alternative spelling of Japanism.

Late Modernism

Late Modernism is an alternative term for Structural Expressionism.

Luminism

The label Luminism was applied retrospectively to a style of American painting from the mid nineteenth century, which was concerned with the representation of light in natural landscapes. Artists associated with this movement include John Frederick Kensett, Martin Johnson Heade, and Fitz Hugh Lane. Their work anticipated the later Impressionist fascination with light and nature, though unlike the Impressionists the Luminists painted with meticulous detail.

Luminism (Luminisme) was also the name given to a group of Post-Impressionist Belgian painters, most notably Emile Claus. His 1891 painting De ijsvogels (‘the kingfishers’) captures sunlight reflected on ice.

Finally, Piet Mondrian and other Dutch artists who experimented with Post-Impressionist and Pointillist techniques were also labelled Luminists. (In the twentieth century, Mondrian developed his own Post-Impressionist style, Neo-Plasticism.)

Meta-Modernism

Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker introduced their notion of Meta-Modernism in the journal paper Notes on Metamodernism in 2010. They discussed art that alternates between Modernist sincerity and Post-Modernist detachment: “metamodernism oscillates between the modern and the postmodern. It oscillates between a modern enthusiasm and a postmodern irony, between hope and melancholy, between naiveté and knowingness, empathy and apathy, unity and plurality, totality and fragmentation, purity and ambiguity.”

Meta-Modernism was also allied with the nineteenth century Neo-Romanticism movement and its revival, Romantic Conceptualism: “metamodernism appears to find its clearest expression in an emergent neoromantic sensibility.” The authors identified Meta-Modernist tendencies in art, architecture, and cinema.

Modernisme

Modernisme (also known as Catalan Modernism) emerged as an architectural and literary movement in Catalonia in the 1880s. It was influenced by Symbolism and the widespread Art Nouveau style, though it also had a political agenda: the promotion of Catalan cultural heritage, as distinct from the national Spanish culture.

Antoni Gaudí is the most notable architect associated with Modernisme. His buildings, especially the Sagrada Família (‘holy family’) church in Barcelona (1883 onwards; uncompleted), feature Gothic and Art Nouveau ornamentation, though they are also celebrated for their curvaceous, organic forms.

Musicalism

Musicalism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the film genre more conventionally known as musicals.

Neo Thaiism

Neo Thaiism was the title of a 2020 exhibition in Bangkok of work by three young Thai artists — Subannakrit Krikum, Terdtanwa Kanama, and Teerapon Sisung — positioning them as the vanguard of a new artistic wave. Subannakrit’s exquisite paintings resembled miniature temple murals, though on closer inspection they revealed unexpected elements: Siam 2020, for example, featured modern artworks placed incongruously among traditional décor. Terdtanwa’s large canvases depicted apocalyptic imagery with a dystopian environmental message. Teerapon created delicate sculptures from woven copper thread.

Neo-Traditionalism

Maurice Denis published his Definition du neo-traditionalisme pseudonymously as Pierre-Louis, in 1890. Denis was originally a Symbolist, and Neo-Traditionalism (Neo-Traditionalisme) was his reaction against the mid nineteenth century Realist movement: “Everywhere those with aesthetic imagination triumph over those who attempt crude imitation, the emotions of Beauty triumph over the lies of Naturalism.”

The first principle of Neo-Traditionalism seemed to anticipate early twentieth century Cubist and abstract art, and the Formalist emphasis on compositional elements: “We should remember that a picture — before being a war horse, a nude woman, or telling some other story — is essentially a flat surface covered with colours arranged in a particular pattern.” Denis is most associated with purely representational religious imagery. His bright, semi-abstract Tache de soleil sur la terrasse (‘sunspot on the terrace’, 1890), painted at the same time that he conceived Neo-Traditionalism, is a notable exception.

Neroism

Neroism, like Dataism, was proposed by Icon magazine (no. 50) in August 2007 as a successor to Modernism. Both movements are rather dystopian, though they were also intended to be ironic. Neroism advocated hedonistic, selfish consumer behaviour, an acceptance of the failure of sustainability as a design concept. It surrendered to “the inferno of human consumption that is overwhelming the planet’s life-support systems.”

New Wavism

New Wavism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the national ‘new wave’ film movements that began in the 1950s.

Parallelism

Parallelism was coined by Ferdinand Hodler in Switzerland. Influenced by Symbolism, Hodler formulated his theory of Parallelism in an essay (Parallelitat) published in 1895: “Parallelism can be pointed out in different parts of a single object, looked at alone; it is even more obvious when one puts several objects of the same kind next to each other.”

Hodler felt that Parallelism could heighten the viewer’s response to a painting: “If an object is pleasant, repetition will increase its charm; if it expresses sorrow or pain, then repetition will intensify its melancholy.” More than a hundred years after Hodler, Thai artist Nitaya Ueareeworakul used Parallelism as the title of an exhibition in 2000.

Parametricism

Parametricism is an alternative term for Tectonism.

Performatism

Performatism, or the End of Postmodernism was published as a journal paper in 2000 and expanded, with the same title, as a book in 2008. According to author Raoul Eshelman, Performatism rejects the irony and intertextuality of Post-Modernism in favour of art that invites emotional responses and remains self-contained.

Eshelman cited American Beauty (directed by Sam Mendes in 1999) as the archetypal Performatist film, and also applied the concept to literature, architecture, and art. He defined Performatism as “an epoch in which a unified concept of sign and strategies of closure have begun to compete directly with — and displace — the split concept of sign and the strategies of boundary transgression typical of postmodernism.”

Pictorialism

Pictorialism was an attempt to combine the traditional aesthetics of painting with the medium of photography, using soft-focus to create a painterly effect. The style was promoted by Henry Peach Robinson, in his 1869 book Pictorial Effect in Photography: Being Hints on Composition and Chiaroscuro for Photographers.

Robinson discussed the “guiding laws in composition and chiaroscuro, which must, in all forms of art, be the basis of pictorial effect.” He later wrote The Elements of a Pictorial Photograph, in 1896. His most famous photograph is the idealised group portrait Fading Away, from 1858, produced from a composite of multiple negatives in a process known as combination printing.

Pointillism

Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed their theory of Chromoluminarism (Chromoluminarisme) in 1884, after discovering that individual dots of colour, when juxtaposed, were optically combined by the eyes of the viewer. Seurat, who was also associated with Symbolism, employed the technique for his vast canvas A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (Un dimanche après-midi à l'île de la Grande Jatte, 1886). Signac later defined the theory, which he called Divisionism (Divisionnisme), as the “optical mixture of solely pure pigments” in his 1899 book D'Eugène Delacroix au néo-impressionnisme (‘from Eugène Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism’).

Today, the technique is better known as Pointillism (Pointillisme), a term coined by Felix Feneon, which he described in Neo-Impressionnisme (1887) as “the scientific division of tones: Thus, instead of stirring his mixture on the palette to achieve the more or less finished hues required to represent the surface, the painter will place directly on the canvas brushstrokes depicting the local color.” Feneon’s essay also introduced Neo-Impressionism as a label to distinguish Seurat and Signac from the earlier Impressionists.

Primitivism

Between 1891 and 1893, French artist Paul Gauguin lived in Tahiti, and his exoticised paintings of the local culture, notably the large-scale Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (D’où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous?, 1897), were later described as Primitivist.

Propagandism

Propagandism is one of several isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the genre more conventionally known as propaganda films.

Proto-Modernism

The architects and designers whose work prefigured the twentieth century Modernist movement were retrospectively labelled Proto-Modernists. The Wiener Werkstatte group, for example, produced Proto-Modernist decorative arts in Vienna at the start of the twentieth century.

Architect Louis Sullivan’s maxim ‘form follows function’ was a philosophy integral to Modernism, and Sullivan was one of the pioneers of skyscraper design. His Wainwright Building, in St Louis, Missouri, constructed in 1891, was one of the world’s first steel-framed buildings, and paved the way for the Modernist skyscrapers of the early twentieth century.

Pseudo-Modernism

Pseudo-Modernism is an alternative term for Digimodernism.

Racialism

Racialism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes films in which race relations are a central theme, though the term was used inappropriately.

Re-Modernism

In 2000, Billy Childish — who had founded Stuckism the year before — launched Re-Modernism with Charles Thomson. Re-Modernism called for a return to Modernist notions of traditional craftsmanship and authenticity, in contrast to the perceived artifice of Post-Modernism. This reactionary movement was initiated with an exhibition in London titled The Stuckists, labelling Childish’s Stuckist movement as The First Remodernist Art Group. Joe Machine’s painting Diana Dors with an Axe (2000) was featured on the cover of the exhibition catalogue.

The Re-Modernist manifesto began with a condemnation of both Modernism and Post-Modernism: “Through the course of the twentieth century Modernism has progressively lost its way, until finally toppling into the pit of Postmodern balderdash.” The manifesto’s main emphasis was a return to spirituality, and the writers even seek to “bring God back into art”.

Despite acknowledging a “wariness of manifestos”, Jesse Richards issued a Remodernist Film Manifesto in 1998. Like Childish and Thomson, Richards also called for a return to spirituality, though for him this was distinct from religion. Richards co-directed a Re-Modernist film, Shooting at the Moon, with Nicholas Watson in 2003.

Roboticlism

Roboticlism was a concept devised by Thai painter Noshpash Chaturongkagul, showcased at his exhibition Roboticlism from Unconscious Mind (จักรกลศิลป์จากจิตไร้สำนึก) in Bangkok in 2016. According to the exhibition catalogue, “Roboticlism is represented by robotic machines, mechanical armor, monsters and various creatures.”

Noshpash's oil paintings did indeed depict robots and monsters, though they were inspired by creatures from Thai mythology such as garudas and dragons. Roboticlism also encompassed performance (Noshpash sat on a painted throne throughout the exhibition), comic art (a comic was included in the exhibition catalogue), and graphics (the Roboticlism logo and the theory behind its design).

Romantic Conceptualism

Romantic Conceptualism (Romantischer Konzeptualismus) was influenced by nineteenth century Neo-Romanticism and twentieth century Neo-Conceptualism. Jorg Heiser organised a Romantischer Konzeptualismus group exhibition in Nuremberg in 2007, though the movement’s roots can be traced back to the 1960s. Heiser emphasised art’s emotional content, in contrast to the perceived sterility of Conceptualism.

Rubikcubism

Rubikcubism utilises Rubik’s Cubes in reproducing iconic art works, resulting in a mosaic effect. The technique, and the name (a pun on Cubism, arguably the twentieth century’s most significant ism), were created by Invader for his Rubikcubism exhibition in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. Invader constructed sculptures of Space Invaders characters from Rubik’s Cubes, and also created Rubik’s versions of album covers and famous paintings.

Invader — who has also collaborated with Banksy, creator of Existencilism — is one of the world’s most famous street artists. In 2008, another artist, CIX, also described his art as RubikCubism. Then, in 2010, the art collective Cubeworks exhibited Rubik’s Cube artworks created in a similar way.

Screwballism

Screwballism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the film genre more conventionally known as screwball comedy.

Seriousism

Expressionist architect Bruno Taut founded the small magazine Frühlicht (‘early light’) in 1920, and, in its first issue, he wrote an article titled Nieder der Seriosismus! (‘down with seriousism!’). Taut criticised the earnestness (which he mockingly called Seriosismus, or Seriousism) of early twentieth century architecture: “Death to everything stuffy! Death to everything called title, dignity, authority! Down with everything serious!” In 2010, graphic designer Alvaro Velosa created a series of posters inspired by Taut’s article.

Simultanism

Robert Delaunay’s art was classified by Guillaume Apollinaire as Orphism, though Delaunay himself developed the theory of Simultanism (Simultanéisme) as a progression from Orphism towards abstraction. Delaunay wrote several essays on Simultanism, including Simultanism: An Ism of Art (1925) in El Lissitzky and Hans Arp’s book The Isms of Art.

According to Delaunay: “simultaneous contrasts and every uneven proportion that results from color, as they are expressed in their representative movement: this is the only reality with which to construct a picture.” His theory of abstract colour simultaneity is demonstrated in his painting Simultaneous Contrasts: Sun and Moon (Contrastes Simultanés: Soleil et Lune, 1912).

Slapstickism

Slapstickism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the film genre more conventionally known as slapstick comedy.

Structural Expressionism

Structural Expressionism and Late Modernism both describe the architectural style known more commonly as High-Tech. Architects such as Norman Foster and Richard Rogers created buidlings that resemble industrial edifices, with exposed steel frames and other symbols of technological innovation. The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, designed by Rogers with Renzo Piano, is one of the first and most famous examples of this style, featuring an exoskeleton of industrial pipes, ducts, and girders.

Suggestivism

Suggestivism, coined by Nathan Spoor, emphasises the viewer’s sensory response to art. Spoor, who curated the Suggestivism group exhibition in Santa Ana, California, in 2011, was influenced by writer Irving Babbitt. In his essay The New Laokoon (1910), Babbitt derided “suggestive” art, just as French critics had dennounced Impressionism in the nineteenth century. Spoor embraced the criticisms identified by Babbitt and reappropriated them a hundred years later.

Sustainism

Sustainism was a cultural philosophy coined by Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers. In their manifesto, Sustainism Is the New Modernism, published in 2010, they argued for a return to sustainability in design, technology, and economics. The book was essentially an exercise in graphic design, with striking logos and typefaces illustrating utopian slogans.

Ambitiously, the writers positioned Sustainism as a new paradigm to replace Modernism’s emphasis on industrialised mass-production, defining it as “a movement oriented toward more sustainable and durable strategies for the future, acknowledging the power of networks” and “a collective worldview that stresses interdependence along cultural and natural environments, local and global realities, and material and immaterial bases.”

Sustainism advocated socially-responsible and environmentally-friendly design, participatory media via social networks, and a localised yet interconnected culture. Sustainism’s founders envisioned a future in which their philosophy was applied to every aspect of our lives, including food, religion, health, and education. In that sense, their book resembled a policy document. Like a political manifesto, Sustainism had plenty of optimistic soundbites, though it lacked a detailed implementation strategy.

Symbolism

Symbolism (Symbolisme) emphasised imagination and spirituality as opposed to Realism. Symbolist art and literature depicted dream imagery and mythical figures, in contrast to Impressionism’s focus on natural scenes. Jean Moréas wrote a Symbolist manifesto, Le Symbolisme (1886), in which he emphasised the symbolic meaning of art: “scenes from nature, human activities, and all other real world phenomena will not be described for their own sake; here, they are perceptible surfaces created to represent their esoteric affinities with the primordial Ideals.”

Synchromism

Synchromism, one of the first avant-garde American art movements, was founded in 1912 by Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Morgan Russell. The artists believed that colours could be arranged harmoniously, like music, creating a synesthetic effect. The term was coined by Russell, who produced the first Synchromist painting, Synchromy in Green, in 1913.

Synthetism

Synthetism (Synthétisme) dates from an 1889 group exhibition organised by Paul Gauguin, featuring work by Gaugin and his fellow painters in Paris. The exhibition was titled L’Exposition de Peintures du Groupe Impressionniste et Synthétiste, to highlight the distinction between Synthetism and Impressionism.

Tectonism

In a 2009 issue of Architectural Digest, Patrik Schumacher grandly announced “the enunciation of a new style: Parametricism.” His article, Parametricism: A New Global Style for Architecture and Urban Design, even argued that this new architectural style was the successor to the Modernist movement: “Parametricism is the great new style after modernism.”

Schumacher’s book Tectonism: Architecture for the Twenty-First Century, published in 2023, introduced another new ism — Tectonism — which was a revised version of Parametricism: “tectonism is classified here as a subsidiary style within the overarching epochal style of parametricism. Tectonism is a logical continuation and refinement of earlier stages of parametricism, such as foldism, blobism, and swarmism.”

Schumacher and his self-proclaimed epochal movements were hard to take seriously. In his book, he made sweeping, grandiose claims — “Tectonism is the most advanced and most sophisticated contemporary architectural style” — that have no real foundation, and argued that Parametricism/Tectonism should become a global architectural hegemony: “The plurality of styles must make way for a sweeping parametricism”.

Teenagism

Teenagism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes exploitation films aimed at teenaged audiences.

Thainism

For his month-long Everyday I Solo project in Bangkok in 2025, Anuwat Apimukmongkon staged a completely new exhibition every day. One of his daily exhibitions was Thainism (ไทยนิยม), inspired by Mauricio Cattelan’s infamous 2019 work Comedian. (Cattelan taped a real banana to a gallery wall, provoking a debate about the limits of conceptual art.) Anuwat modified Cattelan’s banana tape to comment on the corrosive effects of nationalism.

Tubism

Tubism (Tubisme), coined by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles in 1911, describes the work of Cubist artist Fernand Léger. Vauxcelles used the term derisively, just as Louis Leroy had done when he defined Impressionism in the nineteenth century. Léger’s paintings often contained cylindrical forms, leading to the pun on ‘Cubism’ and ‘tube’.

Westernism

Westernism is one of several ersatz isms coined by Ronald Bergan in his book Film Isms... Understanding Cinema (2011). It describes the film genre more conventionally known as westerns.

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