01 Style / 1920s–1930s
Art Deco
Sunbursts, stepped forms and chrome: modern life dressed up.
Open entry- Visual Library
- Visual Styles
Visual Styles
Movements and visual languages explained through context, structure, recognition and the words that describe them.
02 Movement / c. 1890–1910
Art Nouveau
Whiplash curves, plant forms and ornament that grows instead of being applied.
Open entry
03 School / 1919-1933
Bauhaus
Art, craft and industry brought into one functional visual system.
Open entry
04 Movement / c. 1907–1914
Cubism
Many viewpoints in one image, flattened into faceted planes.
Open entry
05 Movement / 1870s–1880s
Impressionism
Broken color, open air and the light of one particular hour.
Open entry
06 Movement / 1960s
Minimalism
Boxes, grids, light and silence: the thing itself, nothing more.
Open entry
07 Movement / 1950s–1960s
Pop Art
Mass culture, flat bright color and the look of printing.
Open entry
08 Period style / 1789–1925
Qajar Art
Jewel-like portraits, red and gold, and Persian painting meeting oil and the camera.
Open entry
09 Movement / 1920s onward
Surrealism
Dream logic, unexpected collisions and the unconscious made visible.
Open entry
10 Print tradition / Edo period
Ukiyo-e
Flat color, decisive contours and vivid pictures of the floating world.
Open entry