In 1917, Duchamp established “Found Art” with his “Readymade” A urinal that he signed,
and titled “Fountain.”

Conceptual Art
Welcome to the modern art/contemporary art
movement of Conceptual Art. This article is
written to try and help you get an idea of how the
modern art/contemporary art movement of
Conceptual Art began and to outline what it was
about. Conceptual Art was just one of the modern
art movements to dominate the 20th centaury.
From reading these articles you will be able to
see how one contemporary art movement
effected another contemporary art movement.
You will be able to see how certain modern art
movements were particularly influential in the
creation and inspiration of another contemporary
art/modern art movement. We have seen De Stijl,
Expressionism, Fauvism, Futurism,
Impressionism, minimalist, Op Art, Pop Art, Post
impressionism, Surrealism and other Abstract art Conceptual art style painting
movements. Now it is time to look at the modern
art/contemporary art movement of Conceptual
Art. Please enjoy the article:
Conceptual art was all about free thinking. The belief was that the power of art is behind the
thinking not
necessarily the finished article. This evolved into a way of thinking that emphasized the free thinking
of art
and to look everywhere and anywhere for ideas. In conceptual art, any idea is a good idea.
Conceptual Art became a major modern art/contemporary art movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
Marcel Duchamp championed this way of artistic thinking way back in 1910. He was a great believer
in
understanding that art was about free and creative artistic thought and that the necessary motor
skills that
are needed to connect the brain to the hand and then to the paint brush are not needed in order to
create
master pieces. This idealism lead to creating master pieces that may not look pretty or experience
good
technical work but have a quality and creative thought process, meaning and philosophy behind the
finished
article that creates the masterpiece through idea and theory as opposed to visual splendor.
A great example of early conceptual art that conveys the ideas outlined above is Marcel Duchamp's
'Fountain'.
The idea that art could take any form shocked the art world and created divisions of highly insulted
art
spectators and highly inspired spectators and artists.
The term 'Conceptual art' wasn't coined until the 1950s. The term 'conceptual art' was first used by

Edward
Kienholz.
An example of conceptual art from the height of the modern art movement is Joseph Kosuth's 'One
and Three
Chairs' (1965). The exhibit includes a picture of a chair, an enlarged dictionary definition of the word
'chair' and
a real chair. The picture of the chair is the same size as the real chair. The concept behind the
exhibit is the
relationship between language, picture and referent.
Conceptual Art was one of the largest and quickly undertaken movements in the 20th century. Great
numbers
of exhibits exist as a consequence of the conceptual art movement.
Other conceptual artists that deserve recognition are Robert Barry, Joseph Kosuth, Chris Burden,
Mel Bochner,
Vito Acconci.
Below are the artists that invented and pioneered Conceptual Art. Please click on their names to find
out information about each artist:
To find out about the other major pioneering artists that contributed to the Conceptual art movement
please research below:
Billy Apple
Michael Asher
John Baldessari
Vanessa Beecroft
Joseph Beuys
Mel Bochner
Marcel Broodthaers
Marcel Duchamp
Tracey Emin
Yves Klein
Conceptual Art Movement
Modern Art Movements Homepage