Tachism tachisme

A French style of abstract painting, from the French word "tache", it means 'stain' in English. The movement, in the 1940s and 50s, is referred to as the French equivalent of Abstract Expressionism, and its exponents were related in style to Action Painting and Lyrical Abstraction. The term "Tachism" was first applied to art in 1951 by French critics and was widely circulated in the 1952 book "Un Art autre" by Michel Tapie. Artists associated with the movement include Karel Appel, Norman Bluhm, Jean Dubuffet, Sam Francis, Georges Mathieu, and Pierre Alechinsky. Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/tachisme