Abstract Illusionism

Abstract illusionism, a name coined by Louis K. Meisel, is an artistic movement that came into prominence in the United States during the mid 1970s. Works consisted of both hard-edge and expressionistic abstract painting styles that employed the use of perspective, artificial light sources, and cast shadows to achieve the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. Abstract Illusionism differed from traditional Trompe L’oeil (fool the eye) art in that the pictorial space seemed to project in front of, or away from, the canvas surface, as opposed to receding into the picture plane as in traditional painting. Primarily, though, these were abstract paintings, as opposed to the realism of Trompe L'oeil.

Pre-1970 forerunners and practitioners of the style include Ronald Davis, Alan D'arcangelo, and Al Held. Documented artists associated with the 1970s Abstract Illusionism movement include James Havard, Jack Lembeck, Tony King, George D. Green, Michael Gallagher, and Jack Reilly.

The first major museum exhibitions to survey Abstract Illusionism were "Abstract Illusionism," Paul Mellon Arts Center, Wallingford, CT, 1977; "Seven New York Artists (Abstract Illusionism)", Sewall Art Gallery, Rice University, Houston, TX, 1977; "Breaking the Picture Plane," Tomasulo Gallery, Union College, Cranford, NJ; and "The Reality of Illusion", which originated in 1979 at the Denver Art Museum and traveled to the Oakland Museum, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University, the University of Southern California, and the Honolulu Academy of Art.

References

*Barbara Rose. "Abstract Illusionism". Artforum, October 1967, pp. 33-37.
*Brewer, Donald. "Reality of Illusion", American Art Review Press, 1979, ISBN 0-9602974-0-5
*Blaine, Michael. "Complexities of Illusion", "Artweek", May, 1980