contemporary artists

Today's creative practitioners

Contemporary artists are those creating work in the present era, roughly from the mid-20th century onward.

The term distinguishes living or recent artists from historical movements like Impressionism or Renaissance art.

Contemporary art encompasses diverse media and approaches—installation, performance, digital work, traditional painting—united mainly by when it was made rather than style: The museum's collection features contemporary artists working in video and sculpture.

Opposites
temporal period

contemporary artistsold masters

Historic European artists

Renaissance masters · past masters

aesthetic approach

contemporary artiststraditionalists

Upholders of established customs

classicists

artistic tradition

contemporary artistsacademicians

Members of learned professions

court painters

Family

artistry, artists, contemporary, contemporaneous

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