Orphists.—Orphism, or abstract painting, in which the painters sought to paint without subject, expired for lack of interest.
Purists.—Purism derived from Cubism or was, perhaps, a pro test against the later abuse of it. The leaders were Ozenfant and Jeannert; they were followed by Peri, Servranck and Bauer meister. Their principles were the purification of the plastic language and the selection of forms and colours for the creation of a key-board of expression, which should be necessary and suffi cient, combining economy with intensity. They sought to deter mine the ideas and sentiments naturally associated with forms and colours. They produced arabesques which expressed, in simple terms, the natural forms of objects without denaturalising them. In this respect, Purism departed from Cubism which held it self free to distort or to discard nature if and when it suited its purpose to do so. Purism created an object within a picture, while Cubism created a picture which was a complete object in itself. It sought to make a distinction between painting that pleases and painting that moves and certainly the paintings pro duced in its name, lack any kind of charm.
The lyricism which may be produced by an association of mere shapes, with limited attraction of colour, such as the "purists" produced is inevitably limited in its appeal. The attempt to find a close analogy in expression between painting and music, is really an unnecessary confusion. In Purism the colours were rigorously designed—a certain form of red, for example, was held to cor respond exactly in its use with the la in the diapason in music.
Certain colours were considered to be exciting and dynamic— such as the pure colours of the spectrum; others were constructive and human (natural earth colours, for example), etc. But a pic ture composed of colours having their special properties was inef fective unless the spectator was already enlightened as to their purposes. It became a mere code which was meaningless except, perhaps, to those who possessed the key.
Dadaism.—In time of such artistic unrest, one movement followed another, without producing any enduring satisfaction.
Dadaism was born in 1920. A certain Spanish painter Joan Miro, who later became the head of the Surrealist school, was the in ventor of this diversion. It was a noisy and amusing demonstra tion which had a momentary success owing to the fact that it was well organised and extensively advertised. It produced a lively revue "391" and a ballet by Picabia, called "Relache," which was produced by Rolf de Mare and danced by Jean Borlin. It had no definite technique and no principles and left nothing but the memory of a few charming and spirited compositions. With Miro and Picabia were associated Marcel Duchamp, Jean Crotti and Ribemont-Dessaignes.
Surrealists.—The next movement, if it may be dignified by such a name, originated among certain writers, who had been affected by the picturesque confusion of the Dadaists. They in dulged in all sorts of romantic and ridiculous extravagance. They called themselves the Surrealists. They were a product of the time of unrest following the World War and it had been predicted that the movement would come to an end with the settlement of affairs. They were reinforced by a section of painters who were influenced by the romantic movement, having its origin in Germany, known as Expressionism. Technically they imitated Braque, Picabia and Picasso, although they were opposed to Cubism and attempted to substitute for its objective conception one which was entirely subjective.
In their productions, technique counted for very little. The Surrealist doctrine, derived from Freudism, believed in the ex pression of thought without the control of reason and sought to paint dreams and states of mind by any means whatsoever. Its followers sought to suggest the mystery of the subconsciousness by translating ordinary objects into strange, horrible or senti mental forms.
A number of painters, Pierre Roy, Viollier, Masson, Malkine, etc., of varied abilities, combined under the leadership of Joan Miro, who declared Je veux assassiner la peinture, an elegant ambition which he may or may not have achieved, and at one time Giorgio de Chirico, a painter of rather more ability, came under their influence.