Découpage, any process of decorating surfaces in which paper cutouts made of new materials completely cover the surface. These cutouts are attached to the work by pasting or gluing. The simple...

Schwitters, Kurt, 1887–1948, German artist. Influenced by Kandinsky, by Picasso's reliefs, and by Dada constructions, he invented Merz [trash] constructions—arrangements of diverse materials a...

Ernst, Max 1891–1976, German painter. After World War I, Ernst joined the Dada movement in Paris and then became a founder of surrealism. Apart from the medium of collage, for which he is well...

Arp, Jean or Hans, 1887–1966, French sculptor and painter. Arp was connected with the Blaue Reiter in Munich, various avant-garde groups in Paris, including the surrealists, and the Dadaists i...

Krasner, Lee, 1911–84, American artist, b. Brooklyn. She studied with Hans Hofmann and became a leading figure in abstract expressionism along with her husband, Jackson Pollock. Her compositio...

Gris, Juan, 1887–1927, Spanish cubist painter, whose original name was José Victoriano González. After studying in Madrid he settled in Paris in 1906, where he held his first exhibition at the...

Salle, David, 1952–, American painter, b. Norman, Okla. One of the artists whose reputation reached its peak during the 1980s, he studied at the California Institute of the Arts (1970–75) and ...

Cubism, art movement, primarily in painting, originating in Paris c.1907. Cubism began as an intellectual revolt against the artistic expression of previous eras. Among the specific elements a...

Basquiat, Jean-Michel, 1960–88, American painter, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Born into a middle-class Haitian and Puerto Rican family, he was a 1980s art star whose rise and fall were rapid, dramatic, ...

Barthelme, Donald, 1931–89, American writer, b. Philadelphia. The son of an architect, he grew up in Texas, moved (1962) to New York City, worked as a curator and an editor, and taught creativ...