Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A school of abstract painting and sculpture that emphasizes extreme simplification of form, as by the use of basic shapes and monochromatic palettes of primary colors, objectivity, and anonymity of style.
- noun Use of the fewest and barest essentials or elements, as in the arts, literature, or design.
- noun Music A style of music marked by extreme simplification of rhythms, patterns, and harmonies, prolonged chordal or melodic repetitions, and often a trancelike effect.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun art A
style ofart that emphasisesextreme simplicity ofform . - noun music A style of
music that emphasises extreme simplicity ofrhythms andmelodic forms to achieve atrancelike effect.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an art movement in sculpture and painting that began in the 1950s and emphasized extreme simplification of form and color
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word minimalism.
Examples
-
None of them, it is worth pointing out, has ever fully embraced the term "minimalism", and the seeds of how differently the minimalist impulse would be taken up by later composers are already there in the huge aesthetic and temperamental gulfs that separate Riley's music from Reich's, or Glass's from Young's.
-
A Thing Is A Hole In A Thing It Is Not (until 3 May) the work examines the history of minimalist art and includes the re-enactment of a 1964 interview with Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Frank Stella who came together to explain their ideas before the term minimalism had come to define a movement.
-
I'm sure you've heard the word "minimalism" in terms of music.
Mike Ragogna: Chatting With Stanley Jordan, Plus Lindsay Buckingham's ...Small Machine, "Pray For Sleep" With The Box Story, and Seven From Stevie Mike Ragogna 2011
-
This week's festival with the piano-playing Labèque sisters at London's Kings Place invites us to listen to music from John Cage to Steve Reich, Glenn Branca to Brian Eno, Michael Nyman who first coined the term "minimalism" in 1968 to the Who, and hear the cross-cultural connections.
-
I'm sure you've heard the word "minimalism" in terms of music.
Mike Ragogna: Chatting With Stanley Jordan, Plus Lindsay Buckingham's ...Small Machine, "Pray For Sleep" With The Box Story, and Seven From Stevie Mike Ragogna 2011
-
Celebrating Trisha Brown, LondonIts 40 years since Brown formed her own company, developing a repertory that elaborated her early experiments in minimalism to dance structures of scrupulous intricacy and beauty.
This week's new dance Judith Mackrell 2010
-
The first record was an exercise in minimalism (it got me out of my evil, trippy electro phase), and the second was total maximalism, like me trying to out-Queen Queen.
LNN interviews Casey Rae-Hunter on his new album : The Lovecraft News Network 2010
-
The minimalism is intense, but the house does avail itself of one of the chief benefits of underground construction — insulation — and the rooms are, visitors say, quite cozy.
Seoul Gains An Underground House by Byoung Soo Cho | Inhabitat 2010
-
I've always been interested in minimalism -- visual or sonic.
Sound artist Richard Chartier to perform at the Hirshhorn tonight Chris Richards 2010
-
I've always been interested in minimalism -- visual or sonic.
Be specific: Sound artist Richard Chartier and the Grand Tonometer Chris Richards 2010
jmjarmstrong commented on the word minimalism
JM just can’t get enough minimalism.
July 13, 2011