British Tachisme in the post-war period, 1946–1957

This chapter explores aesthetic and intellectual reasons for the appeal of the tache to British artists in the post-war period up to the exhibition 'Metavisual, Tachiste, Abstract' at the Redfern Gallery in April-May 1957. Tachisme is a chameleon word, which was used by artists and critics to describe a number of idioms. Arguably, it signified an attitude and a process of fabrication rather than a particular 'look'. Tachisme was merely a reflection of a wider revulsion against the so-called rational systems of thought that had contributed to or, at least, not resisted the recent global cataclysms. Into the vacuum left by the war were mobilized new ideas from the realms of philosophy, psychology and anthropology to make sense of the human condition. The chapter considers the relevance of three: French Existentialism, Zen Buddhism and Jungian psychoanalysis. It also discusses other reasons, socially-determined and aesthetic, for the appeal of Tachisme.