essay for abstract art

Abstract Art Essay Example

When most people criticize abstract art they are usually criticizing non-representational abstraction. Or, in other words, abstract art that doesn’t represent something you could see in real life. One criticism of abstract art is that it's often seen as random. Abstract art's nonrepresentational nature and inherent lack of symbolism allow for a wider range of potential meaning.  If you take a painting with a cross in it, you are immediately associating that with religion or faith somehow. It’s hard to interpret it as, “oh this represents the taste of mint ice cream on a hot summer day.” This is related to another criticism of abstract art: you could apply any meaning to it; imagine a famous art critic approaching a non-objective abstract piece coming up with some grand, intricate meaning behind the artwork. Examining the colors, the brushstrokes, the thickness of the paint. Only for the artist to say, “Yes, that’s exactly it! I definitely meant that, so much meaning behind this purposeful piece of art.”

This is what it comes down to, purpose. The value of abstract art is equal to the intention and purpose of its creation. If it wasn’t then would’ve every artist’s pallet be valuable abstract art? If you didn’t clean your pallet through the process of a painting then that pallet is an abstract representation of your painting. 

But it’s not, is it? Because you didn’t intend it to be, sure your brushstrokes, the colors you used, and the relationships between them are all there. But the placement of each stroke is completely arbitrary. And so is the painting, because it’s a dirty pallet. 

A misconception is that abstract art is like the dirty artist’s pallet. Created through chance, without purpose, without intent. The superficiality of abstract art created by chance doesn’t go beyond the potential for aestheticism. Yet, abstraction is a spectrum, and you can use it as a tool to create interest in your paintings.

This portrait for instance is representational, but it has abstract elements for visual interest. In this way, the aestheticism of abstraction can play an important role in the allure of an artwork.

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RENEE PHILLIPS - MENTOR FOR ARTISTS

Helping Artists Achieve Their Fullest Potential

Writing About Your Abstract Art

By Renee Phillips 2 Comments

Most artists I know find writing artist’s statements very difficult. One might agree that for artists who work in the style of realism, it is an easier task to communicate their inspiration because they are dealing with tangible and natural references. However, if you’re an abstract artist the challenges are very different. How do you convey to others how you feel when choosing your colors, shapes, forms and techniques? The myriad of internal, intangible forces may be difficult to articulate.

For this article let’s take a look at several different abstract artists and what I have written about their art and their statements. I hope these examples offer some guidance when writing about your abstract art.

I love to write about art and artists. If you would like me to write an Art Review in which I write about the strengths and unique qualities about your art,  visit this page.

Debora Levy Uses Abstraction to Express Human Emotions

Debora Levy, deboralevyart.com, combines realism with abstraction. When she asked me to write about her art I offered this: “Debora’s artwork is characterized by an innovative and versatile use of imagery, textures, and mark-making. She has a superb sense of composition, design, and contrast and conveys a remarkable sense of balance and harmony. Spontaneity is a key factor that accompanies her creative vision.”

In her unique and compelling ‘Mark Making Collection’ she captures fragments from her observations in the natural world. The human face is often central to the composition in which symbols appear throughout to evoke universal feelings and aspirations. These narrative works have an immediate visceral impact on viewers and stimulate an inner dialogue. These attributes set her apart in the world of contemporary fine art.

She wrote, “Rather than depicting humanity as the way we see it in pure reality, I demonstrate its inner emotion, intricacy, and how that plays a role in everyday life. I use abstraction and imagery that allude to human emotions. In these works, I emphasize a time when we have felt an innate need to leave our individual mark in this world.”

Karen Johnston Writes About Soft Textures and Brilliant Tones

Karen Johnston, studiokarenjohnston.com, lives in Nashville, Tennessee and refers to herself as an intuitive, abstract painter. She won a Featured Artist Membership Award in the Healing Power of Art & ARTISTS “Art That Lifts Our Spirits” exhibition. We asked artists to submit, along with their JPEG images, a 60-word statement. This requirement poses the challenge for them is to be as clear and concise as possible. As you can imagine, some artists rise to the task with success and it separates the artists who have a clear vision of the kind of artist those who don’t.

For her award-winning submission Karen wrote, “Lingering on interior moments and bringing them to life with soft gestures and brilliant tones is the essence of my work. My joy of nurturing emotion until it rises to the heights of hope and light radiates from my canvases. Touches of whimsy, intuitive marks, and passages of color lyrically combine in my abstract narratives to poetically inspire the spirit.”

Kari Bienert Discusses Combining Geometry With Intuition

Kari Bienert, karibienert.com, lives in Australia. As many artists do, she combines more than one abstract style. Her approach fuses the precision of geometry and the fluidity that arises from intuition and automatism. She also refers to herself as a Color Field painter.

When writing about her art I stated, “Kari Bienert excels in the use of color configurations and the art of transforming geometric forms. She explores the unlimited potentiality of chromatic and tonal scales, visual planes and volume within a two-dimensional framework. Viewing her dynamic and exuberant works of art is an exciting kinetic experience.”

Kari wrote, “My practice is inspired by both the magic of the organic world from the macro and micro levels as well as the influence of technology on the way we visualize and understand reality. Sourcing inspiration from within, I dive into an abstract world, articulating adventures with undulating colors, shapes and patterns. The process is a balance between physical motor skills and mental power.”

Linda S. Watson Enjoys the Freedom of Throwing Away Rules

Linda S. Watson, lindaswatsonartist.com, is an award-winning artist who lives in Hawaii. Her paintings are inspired by the cosmos, the volcanoes of Hawaii, and minerals. Her abstract paintings glow with the iridescence that is found in nature’s colors and light. Translucent turquoise seas, fiery volcanic landscapes and starry nights serve as some of the sources for her to create her awe-inspiring works. She combines oils, acrylics and mixed media to create vivid and highly textured surfaces.

She states, “Painting abstract art gives me the freedom to throw out all the rules. Abstraction allows me to tap into my feelings, intuition and inventiveness, and work in a more spontaneous manner. I enjoy a creative process in which nothing is ‘wrong’ and the joy comes from playing with materials, colors and shapes.”

Eva Breitfuß Transports Us and Raises Consciousness

Eva Breitfuss, known as Eva Breitfuß, evabreitfuss.space, is a contemporary artist whose paintings transport us on an enthralling, multi-dimensional, visceral journey of transcendent self-discovery.

A profusion of abstract styles culminates in her versatile artistic vocabulary. She orchestrates minimal and reductive imagery and open spaces as well as geometric shapes, detailed designs, and intricate compositions. Every line, color and shape she chooses reflects a purposeful intention to communicate conceptual breadth and depth.

With unerring prowess, Eva lures us into spacious orbits, curvilinear forms, concentric circles, undulating waves and crossing directional lines. Her images release an exalted crescendo and emanate a profound vibrational energy.

You can read a complete Art Review I  wrote on The Healing Power of ART &  ARTISTS website

Francesca Marta Volchitza’s Paintings Are Poetry in Visual Form

Francesca’s beautifully orchestrated compositions are enhanced in breadth and depth by her versatile use of colors, a mélange of contrasting tactile surfaces, and acute spatial perception. Stimulating elements of fantasy and reality are wedded in perfect harmony and balance.

Although at first glance Francesca’s effortless lyrical style may recall that of Symbolism, she expresses her own contemporary artistic vocabulary filled with life-affirming and memorable imagery.

Would You Like Me to Write An Art Review About Your Art?

I love to write about art and artists. if you would like me to write an art review in which i write about the strengths and unique qualities about your art, visit this page., more articles to help you write your artist’s statement.

How to Write Your Artist’s Statement Art and Artist’s Statements – Quotes by Famous Artists Quick Tips For Writing Your Artist’s Statement Write Your Artist’s Statement in 60 Words or Less Follow The 5 P’s When Writing Your Artist’s Statement Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Your Artist’s Statement Fun Techniques to Help You Write Your Artist’s Statement

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About Renee Phillips

Renée Phillips is a mentor and advocate for artists helping them achieve their fullest potential. She provides career advice, writing services, and promotion for artists from beginners to advanced. She organizes online exhibitions open to all artists as Director/Curator of Manhattan Arts International www.ManhattanArts.com and Founder of The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS www.healing-power-of-art.org. As an arts' advocate she has served on the advisory boards of several non-profit arts organizations. She lives in New York, NY.

04/02 at 8:39 am

Was happy to see Michael Amrose’s input. I love his work. Bought one several years ago and still ‘am in love’. Brings out a lot of meditative and spiritual feelings.

08/16 at 7:51 pm

Great article, so sorry I did not know about it.

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My specialty is writing Art Reviews and Art Statements / "Praise Quotes" for artists to use for promotion... on their websites, social media profiles, exhibition catalogues, grant submissions, blog posts, press releases, artists’ books and more. My writing for artists has led to increasing their art sales, attracting publicity, gaining … More...

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Abstract art

Abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead uses shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect

Wassily Kandinsky Cossacks (1910–1) Tate

Strictly speaking, the word abstract means to separate or withdraw something from something else.

The term can be applied to art that is based on an object, figure or landscape, where forms have been simplified or schematised.

It is also applied to art that uses forms, such as geometric shapes or gestural marks, which have no source at all in an external visual reality. Some artists of this ‘pure’ abstraction have preferred terms such as concrete art or non-objective art , but in practice the word abstract is used across the board and the distinction between the two is not always obvious.

Abstract art is often seen as carrying a moral dimension, in that it can be seen to stand for virtues such as order, purity, simplicity and spirituality.

Since the early 1900s, abstract art has formed a central stream of modern art .

Abstraction across a century

Juan Gris Bottle of Rum and Newspaper (1913–14) Tate

Sonia Delaunay Electric Prisms 1913

Orphism (1912–13): Coined by the French poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire. The name comes from the musician Orpheus in ancient Greek myths, as Apollinaire thought that painting should be like music. Main artists Robert Delaunay and Sonia Delaunay also used the term simultanism to describe their work of this period.

Kazimir Malevich Dynamic Suprematism (1915 or 1916) Tate

Naum Gabo Model for ‘Construction in Space ‘Two Cones’’ (1927) Tate

The Work of Naum Gabo © Nina & Graham Williams / Tate, London 2023

Theo van Doesburg Counter-Composition VI (1925) Tate

Joan Miró Painting (1927) Tate

© Successió Miro/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2002

Morris Louis Alpha-Phi (1961) Tate

© The estate of Morris Louis

Cubist and fauvist artists depended on the visual world for their subject matter but opened the door for more extreme approaches to abstraction. Pioneers of ‘pure’ abstract painting were Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian from about 1910–20. A pioneer of abstract sculpture, which took reference from the modern world was the Russian constructivist Naum Gabo .

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Selected artists working with abstraction

Piet mondrian, the first abstract artist (and it's not kandinsky).

Wassily Kandinsky is generally regarded as the pioneer of abstract art. However, a Swedish woman called Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) might claim that title

Fahrelnissa Zeid

Wassily kandinsky, lászló moholy-nagy, bottle and fishes, pablo picasso, dame barbara hepworth, david bomberg, ben nicholson om, mark rothko, howard hodgkin.

There are many theoretical ideas behind abstract art. While some have taken the idea of 'art for art’s sake' (that art should be purely about the creation of beautiful effects), others have proposed art can or should be like music, in that just as music is patterns of sound, art’s effects should be created by pure patterns of form, colour and line. The idea, derived from the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, that the highest form of beauty lies not in the forms of the real world but in geometry, is also used in discussion of abstract art, as is the idea that abstract art, since it does not represent the material world, can be seen to represent the spiritual.

Explore this term

Abstraction sans frontières.

Éric de Chassey

The show at Tate St Ives this summer explores the international context which shaped the work of artists in the Cornish town from the 1940s to 1960s. As Éric de Chassey writes, the broad exchange of ideas was not limited to American artists such as Rothko and de Kooning, but extended to French painters such as Nicolas de Staël, which would also reflect a shared interest in nature and landscape

Optimistic abstraction

Gavin Delahunty

The curator of the forthcoming exhibition by the German abstract painter introduces her work, and a fellow artist pays homage

Chance and Intention: Gerhard Richter’s Abstractions

In this talk art historian Benjamin H. D. Buchloh looks in great detail at Richter’s responses to painters like Lucio Fontana, Jean Fautrier, and Robert Rauschenberg in 1962

Abstract Connections conference audio recordings

Audio recordings of Abstract Connections conference, held in conjunction with two major exhibitions, Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde: Constructing a New World and Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective at Tate Modern.

Coral and Lichen, Brains and Bowels: Jay DeFeo’s Hybrid Abstraction

Catherine Spencer

Situating the US artist Jay DeFeo within a network of West Coast practitioners during the 1950s and 1960s, this essay shows how her relief paintings – layered with organic, geological and bodily referents – constitute what can be understood as ‘hybrid abstraction’. This has affinities with ‘eccentric abstraction’ and ‘funk art’, but also resonates with the socio-political context of Cold War America.

Abstraction Across Media: David Smith conference audio recordings

Audio recording from the conference Abstraction Across Media: David Smith, with Anne Wagner (University of California, Berkeley), David Anfam (Phaidon Press), Alex Potts (University of Michigan), Jeremy Lewison and Rebecca Smith, daughter of the artist

Related Movements

Cubism was a revolutionary new approach to representing reality invented in around 1907–08 by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They brought different views of subjects (usually objects or figures) together in the same picture, resulting in paintings that appear fragmented and abstracted

Fauvism is the name applied to the work produced by a group of artists (which included Henri Matisse and André Derain) from around 1905 to 1910, which is characterised by strong colours and fierce brushwork

Suprematism

Name given by the artist Kazimir Malevich to the abstract art he developed from 1913 characterised by basic geometric forms, such as circles, squares, lines and rectangles, painted in a limited range of colours

Constructivism

Constructivism was a particularly austere branch of abstract art founded by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko in Russia around 1915

An early form of abstract art characterised by interacting linear forms derived from rays of light

Simultanism

Term invented by artist Robert Delaunay to describe the abstract painting developed by him and his wife Sonia Delaunay from about 1910

Term used to describe the non-geometric abstract art that developed in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s characterized by spontaneous brushwork, drips and scribble-like marks

Neo-plasticism

Neo-plasticism is a term adopted by the Dutch pioneer of abstract art, Piet Mondrian, for his own type of abstract painting which used only horizontal and vertical lines and primary colours

Concrete art

Concrete art is abstract art that is entirely free of any basis in observed reality and that has no symbolic meaning

Objective abstraction

The term objective abstraction refers to a non-geometric style of abstract art developed by a group of British artists in 1933

Abstract expressionism

Abstract expressionism is the term applied to new forms of abstract art developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often characterised by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity

Minimalism is an extreme form of abstract art developed in the USA in the 1960s and typified by artworks composed of simple geometric shapes based on the square and the rectangle

Post-painterly abstraction

Post-painterly abstraction is a blanket term covering a range of new developments in abstract painting in the late 1950s and early 1960s, characterised by a more rigorous approach to abstraction

Op art was a major development of painting in the 1960s that used geometric forms to create optical effects

Related Techniques & approaches

Non-objective art.

Non-objective art defines a type of abstract art that is usually, but not always, geometric and aims to convey a sense of simplicity and purity

Art informel

Art informel is a French term describing a swathe of approaches to abstract painting in the 1940s and 1950s which had in common an improvisatory methodology and highly gestural technique

Also known as art informel, art autre translates as 'art of another kind' and was used to describe the dominant trend of abstract art in the 1940s and 1950s characterised by an improvisatory approach and highly gestural technique

Gestural is a term used to describe the application of paint in free sweeping gestures with a brush

In art, automatism refers to creating art without conscious thought, accessing material from the unconscious mind as part of the creative process

Related Groups

Abstraction-création.

Abstraction-Création was an association of abstract artists set up in Paris in 1931 with the aim of promoting abstract art through group exhibitions

American Abstract Artists (AAA)

American Abstract Artists (AAA) is an organisation founded in 1936 to promote the appreciation of abstract art in the United States

De Stijl was a circle of Dutch abstract artists who promoted a style of art based on a strict geometry of horizontals and verticals

Penwith Society of Arts

Penwith Society of Arts is an artists' society formed in 1948 at St Ives, Cornwall, Britain by artists working in an abstract style

Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square)

Cercle et Carré was an artist group formed in Paris in 1929 which strongly supported new developments in abstract art and in particular promoted mystical tendencies within it

Réalités nouvelles

The Salon des Réalités nouvelles (new realities) was an exhibiting society devoted to pure abstract art founded in Paris in 1939

The Seven and Five Society

Formed in London in 1919 The Seven and Five Society was initially a traditional group and can be seen as a British manifestation of the return to order that followed the First World War

Bauhaus was a revolutionary school of art, architecture and design established by Walter Gropius at Weimar in Germany in 1919

Abstract Art at Tate

A view from são paulo: abstraction and society.

Explore how geometric abstraction fabricated dreams of a new society in the twentieth century 

Be mesmerised by the kaleidoscopic paintings of the international female artist, Fahrelnissa Zeid

Albers and Moholy-Nagy: from the Bauhaus to the New World

Albers and Moholy-Nagy: from the Bauhaus to the New World pas exhibition at Tate Modern

Malevich exhibition at Tate Modern, opens 16 July 2014

Mondrian and his Studios

Mondrian and his Studios, is a new exhibition opening 6 June at Tate Liverpool exploring the artist's relationship with architecture and urbanism

Rothko at Tate Modern 26 September 2008 – 1 February 2009

Essays on Abstract Art

Abstract Art In The Early 20th Century Essay

Abstract art emerged in the early 20 th century when artists started creating simplified objections characterized by no or little orientation to the real world. However, traditional cave paintings during ancient times also depicted some elements of abstraction. In this regard, abstract art refers to visual expressions, which do not portray the representation of the visible world’s aspects. It is also known as nonrepresentational or nonobjective art and often comprises largely abstract elements of color, texture, line, form, and tone. Fundamentally, abstract art flourished after World War II as artists tried graphical or sculpture paintings to express their inner feelings or emotions without connecting them to noticeable realities.

The abstract art’s primary aim is to use gestural marks, shapes, forms, and colors to achieve the effects of a visual reality rather than representing its actual depiction. I think artists had the desire to expand the artistic works through creativity, and thus, they had to think of an intellectual way of portraying emotional and sensitive expressionism. As a result, they chose to express themselves using abstract art to share their unique inner feelings with the communities. Arguably, with this imaginative evolution, artists pursued freedom to explore new artworks and assign them unique meanings, which excite their audience. For instance, Wassily Kandinsky is an excellent example of an artist who used abstract art to express his inner emotions. He utilized non-naturistic brushwork and intense colors to exhibit his imagination and internal feelings. I believe Wassily Kandinsky preferred this type of art as an alternative pathway to divine reality.

Abstract art represents a significant transformation of the art industry in the modern world. Instead of depending on visible realities, this kind of art encourages creative imagination to harmonize and unify different forms, colors, tones, and textures to express inner feelings. For example, Wassily Kandinsky used his non-naturistic brushwork and coloring to inspire alternative views on spiritual reality. Therefore, there is a dire need to promote abstract arts because they give artists the freedom to create new artworks and assign them different meanings.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, July 12). Abstract Art In The Early 20th Century. https://ivypanda.com/essays/abstract-art-in-the-early-20th-century/

"Abstract Art In The Early 20th Century." IvyPanda , 12 July 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/abstract-art-in-the-early-20th-century/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Abstract Art In The Early 20th Century'. 12 July.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Abstract Art In The Early 20th Century." July 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/abstract-art-in-the-early-20th-century/.

1. IvyPanda . "Abstract Art In The Early 20th Century." July 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/abstract-art-in-the-early-20th-century/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Abstract Art In The Early 20th Century." July 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/abstract-art-in-the-early-20th-century/.

• Wassily Kandinsky: the abstract expressionist
• Wassily Kandinsky's "Yellow, Red, Blue"
• Wassily Kandinsky: The World as an Abstract Painting
• Gestural Theory of Language Origin
• Kandinsky's and Mondrian's Abstraction Works
• Artwork Culture and Values
• Kandinsky's Improvisation 28: What Lurks Beyond the Abstract
• Spirituality in Art: Kandinsky’s "Improvisation 7"
• Gallery of Joy: Chagall, Kandinsky, and Miro
• Mark Rothko and Abstract Expressionism
• “Berlin Street Scene” Painting by E. Kirchner
• "Sea Change" by Jackson Pollock at the Seattle Art Museum
• Da Vinci’s Last Supper: Artwork Analysis
• Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos by Titian: Formal Analysis
• Jacob Lawrence’s “New Jersey From the United States” Painting

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

• Geometric Abstraction

Mechanical Elements

Fernand Léger

Standing Figure

Jean Hélion

Second Theme

Burgoyne Diller

Relational Painting Number 64

Fritz Glarner

Homage to the Square: With Rays

Josef Albers

Homage to the Square: Soft Spoken

Large Blue Horizontal

Ilya Bolotowsky

Magdalena Dabrowski Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2004

The pictorial language of geometric abstraction, based on the use of simple geometric forms placed in nonillusionistic space and combined into nonobjective compositions, evolved as the logical conclusion of the Cubist destruction and reformulation of the established conventions of form and space. Initiated by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in 1907–8, Cubism subverted the traditional depiction relying upon the imitation of forms of the surrounding visual world in the illusionistic—post-Renaissance—perspectival space. The Analytic Cubist phase, which reached its peak in mid-1910, made available to artists the planarity of overlapping frontal surfaces held together by a linear grid. The next phase—Synthetic Cubism, 1912–14—introduced the flatly painted synthesized shapes, abstract space, and “constructional” elements of the composition. These three aspects became the fundamental characteristics of abstract geometric art. The freedom of experimentation with different materials and spatial relationships between various compositional parts, which evolved from the Cubist practice of collage and papiers collés (1912), also emphasized the flatness of the picture surface—as the carrier of applied elements—as well as the physical “reality” of the explored forms and materials. Geometric abstraction, through the Cubist process of purifying art of the vestiges of visual reality, focused on the inherent two-dimensional features of painting.

This process of evolving a purely pictorial reality built of elemental geometric forms assumed different stylistic expressions in various European countries and in Russia. In Holland, the main creator and the most important proponent of geometric abstract language was Piet Mondrian (1872–1944). Along with other members of the De Stijl group—Theo van Doesburg (1883–1931), Bart van der Leck (1876–1958), and Vilmos Huszár (1884–1960)—Mondrian’s work was intended to convey “absolute reality,” construed as the world of pure geometric forms underlying all existence and related according to the vertical-horizontal principle of straight lines and pure spectral colors. Mondrian’s geometric style, which he termed “Neoplasticism,” developed between 1915 and 1920. In that year, he published his manifesto “Le Néoplasticisme” and for the next two-and-a-half decades continued to work in his characteristic geometric style, expunged of all references to the real world, and posited on the geometric division of the canvas through black vertical and horizontal lines of varied thickness, complemented by blocks of primary colors, particularly blue, red, and yellow. Similar compositional principles underlie the work of the De Stijl artists, who applied them with slight formal modifications to achieve their independent, personal expression.

In Russia, the language of geometric abstraction first appeared in 1915 in the work of the avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich (1879–1935) ( Museum of Modern Art , New York), in the style he termed Suprematism. Creating nonobjective compositions of elemental forms floating in white unstructured space, Malevich strove to achieve “the absolute,” the higher spiritual reality that he called the “fourth dimension.” Simultaneously, his compatriot Vladimir Tatlin (1885–1953) originated a new geometric abstract idiom in an innovative three-dimensional form, which he first dubbed “painterly reliefs” and subsequently “counter-reliefs” (1915–17). These were assemblages of randomly found industrial materials whose geometric form was dictated by their inherent properties, such as wood, metal, or glass. That principle, which Tatlin called “the culture of materials,” spurred the rise of the Russian avant-garde movement Constructivism (1918–21), which explored geometric form in two and three dimensions. The main practitioners of Constructivism included Liubov Popova (1889–1924), Aleksandr Rodchenko (1891–1956) ( Museum of Modern Art , New York), Varvara Stepanova (1894–1958), and El Lissitzky (1890–1941). It was Lissitzky who became the transmitter of Constructivism to Germany, where its principles were later embodied in the teachings of the Bauhaus . Founded by the architect Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919, it became during the 1920s (and until its dismantling by the Nazis in 1933) the vital proponent of geometric abstraction and experimental modern architecture. As a teaching institution, the Bauhaus encompassed different disciplines: painting, graphic arts, stage design, theater, and architecture. The art faculty was recruited from among the most distinguished painters of the time: Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee , Johannes Itten, Oskar Schlemmer, László Moholy-Nagy, Josef Albers, all of whom were devoted to the ideal of the purity of geometric form as the most appropriate expression of the modernist canon.

In France, during the 1920s, geometric abstraction manifested itself as the underlying principle of the Art Deco style, which propagated broad use of geometric form for ornamental purposes in the decorative and applied arts as well as in architecture. In the 1930s, Paris became the center of a geometric abstraction that arose out of its Synthetic Cubist sources and focused around the group Cercle et Carré (1930), and later Abstraction-Création (1932). With the outbreak of World War II, the focus of geometric abstraction shifted to New York, where the tradition was continued by the American Abstract Artists group (formed in 1937), including Burgoyne Diller and Ilya Bolotowsky. With the arrival of the Europeans Josef Albers (1933) and Piet Mondrian (1940), and such major events as the exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art (1936), organized by the Museum of Modern Art, and the creation of the Museum of Non-Objective Art (1939, now the Guggenheim), the geometric tradition acquired a new resonance, but it was essentially past its creative phase. Its influences, however, reached younger generations of artists, most directly affecting the Minimalist art of the 1960s, which used pure geometric form, stripped to its austere essentials, as the primary language of expression. Artists such as Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and Dorothea Rockburne studied the geometric tradition and transformed it into their own artistic vocabulary.

Dabrowski, Magdalena. “Geometric Abstraction.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/geab/hd_geab.htm (October 2004)

Additional Essays by Magdalena Dabrowski

• Dabrowski, Magdalena. “ Henri Matisse (1869–1954) .” (October 2004)

Related Essays

• Abstract Expressionism
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• Fernand Léger (1881–1955)
• Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
• Paul Klee (1879–1940)
• Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) and American Photography
• Anselm Kiefer (born 1945)
• Art and Nationalism in Twentieth-Century Turkey
• The Bauhaus, 1919–1933
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List of Rulers

• Presidents of the United States of America
• Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, 1900 A.D.–present
• France, 1900 A.D.–present
• Low Countries, 1900 A.D.–present
• The United States and Canada, 1900 A.D.–present
• 20th Century A.D.
• Abstract Art
• American Art
• Central Europe
• Color Field
• Concrete Art
• Eastern Europe
• Modern and Contemporary Art
• Oil on Canvas
• Russian Avant-Garde
• Scandinavia
• United States

Artist or Maker

• Albers, Josef
• Atget, Eugène
• Bolotowsky, Ilya
• Booth, Peter
• Braque, Georges
• Diller, Burgoyne
• Glarner, Fritz
• Gropius, Walter
• Hélion, Jean
• Kandinsky, Vasily
• Léger, Fernand
• Moholy-Nagy, László
• Mondrian, Piet
• Picasso, Pablo
• Rodchenko, Alexander

Home — Essay Samples — Arts & Culture — Abstract Art — Representational Abstract art

Representational Abstract Art

• Categories: Abstract Art

About this sample

Words: 472 |

Published: Sep 18, 2018

Words: 472 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Works Cited

• Arnason, H. H., & Mansfield, E. (2012). History of modern art: Painting, sculpture, architecture, photography (7th ed.). Pearson.
• Chilvers, I., Glaves-Smith, J., & Zijlmans, K. (Eds.). (2009). A dictionary of modern and contemporary art (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
• Cohn, M. (2016). The visual language of abstract art: A visual reference for composition and design. Rockport Publishers.
• Dempsey, A. (2002). Styles, schools, and movements: An encyclopedia of 20th-century art. Thames & Hudson.
• Gablik, S. (1984). Has modernism failed? Thames & Hudson.
• Hess, B. (1961). Abstract painting: Background and American phase. Viking Press.
• Hodge, S., & Seuphor, M. (1977). Theories of modern art: A sourcebook by artists and critics. University of California Press.
• Pioch, N. (2002). Abstract art. In WebMuseum. Retrieved from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/abstract/
• Rosenblum, R. (1989). Transformations in late eighteenth century art. Princeton University Press.
• Stangos, N. (Ed.). (2005). Concepts of modern art: From Fauvism to postmodernism (3rd ed.). Thames & Hudson.

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