In the last century, the abstract direction became a real breakthrough in the history of art, but quite natural - a person has always been in search of new forms, properties and ideas. But even in our century, this style of art raises many questions. What is abstractionism? Let's talk about this further.
In style abstractionism the artist uses the visual language of shapes, contours, lines and colors to interpret the subject. This is in contrast to traditional art forms, which take on a more literary interpretation of the subject - conveying "reality". Abstractionism, on the other hand, goes as far from classical fine art as possible; represents the objective world in a completely different way than in real life.
Abstractionism in art challenges the observer's mind, just as it challenges his emotions - in order to fully appreciate a work of art, the observer must get rid of the need to understand what the artist is trying to say, but must himself feel the response emotion. All aspects of life are interpretable through abstractionism - faith, fears, passions, reactions to music or nature, scientific and mathematical calculations, etc.
This trend in art arose in the 20th century, along with cubism, surrealism, Dadaism and others, although the exact time is not known. The main representatives of the abstract art style in painting are considered to be such artists as Wassily Kandinsky, Robert Delaunay, Kazimir Malevich, Frantisek Kupka and Piet Mondrian. Their work and important paintings will be discussed further.
Kandinsky was one of the pioneers of abstract art. He began his search in impressionism, and only then came to the style of abstractionism. In his work, he exploited the relationship between color and form to create an aesthetic experience that embraced both the vision and the emotions of the audience. He believed that complete abstraction gives room for deep, transcendent expression, and copying reality only interferes with this process.
Painting was deeply spiritual for Kandinsky. He sought to convey the depth of human emotion through a universal visual language of abstract shapes and colors that would transcend physical and cultural boundaries. He saw abstractionism as an ideal visual mode that can express the artist's "inner need" and convey human ideas and emotions. He considered himself a prophet whose mission is to share these ideals with the world, for the benefit of society.
Hidden in bright colors and clear black lines depict several Cossacks with spears, as well as boats, figures and a castle on a hilltop. As in many paintings from this period, it represents an apocalyptic battle that will lead to eternal peace.
In order to facilitate the development of a non-objective style of painting, as described in his On the Spiritual in Art (1912), Kandinsky reduces objects to pictographic symbols. By removing most of the references to the outside world, Kandinsky expressed his vision in a more universal way, translating the spiritual essence of the subject through all these forms into a visual language. Many of these symbolic figures were repeated and refined in his later work, becoming even more abstract.
Malevich's ideas about form and meaning in art somehow lead to a concentration on the theory of style abstractionism. Malevich worked with different styles in painting, but most of all he was focused on the study of pure geometric shapes (squares, triangles, circles) and their relationship to each other in the pictorial space.
Through his contacts in the West, Malevich was able to convey his ideas about painting to artist friends in Europe and the United States, and thus profoundly influence the evolution of contemporary art.
The iconic painting "Black Square" was first shown by Malevich at an exhibition in Petrograd in 1915. This work embodies the theoretical principles of Suprematism developed by Malevich in his essay "From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: New Realism in Painting".
On the canvas in front of the viewer is an abstract form drawn on a white background in the form of a black square - it is the only element of the composition. Even though the painting seems simple, there are elements such as fingerprints, brush strokes showing through the black layers of paint.
For Malevich, the square means feelings, and the white one means emptiness, nothing. He saw the black square as a godlike presence, an icon, as if it could become a new sacred image for non-objective art. Even at the exhibition, this picture was placed in the place where an icon is usually placed in a Russian house.
Piet Mondrian, one of the founders of the Dutch De Stijl movement, is recognized for the purity of his abstractions and methodical practice. He rather radically simplified the elements of his paintings in order to display what he saw not directly, but figuratively, and to create a clear and universal aesthetic language in his canvases.
In his most famous paintings from the 1920s, Mondrian reduces forms to lines and rectangles, and palette to the simplest. The use of asymmetric balance became fundamental to the development of contemporary art, and his iconic abstract works continue to be influential in design and are familiar to popular culture to this day.
The "gray tree" is an example of Mondrian's early transition to the style abstractionism. The 3D tree is reduced to the simplest lines and planes, using only grays and blacks.
This painting is one of a series of works by Mondrian that took a more realistic approach, where, for example, trees are presented in a naturalistic way. While later pieces became increasingly abstract, for example, the lines of the tree are reduced until the shape of the tree is barely visible and secondary to the overall composition of vertical and horizontal lines.
Here you can still see Mondrian's interest in abandoning the structured organization of lines. This move was significant for the development of Mondrian's pure abstraction.
Delaunay was one of the earliest artists of the abstract style. His work influenced the development of this direction, based on the compositional tension that was caused by the contrast of colors. He quickly fell under the neo-impressionist color influence and followed the color system of works in the style of abstraction very closely. He considered color and light to be the main tools with which you can influence the objectivity of the world.
By 1910, Delaunay had made his own contribution to cubism in the form of two series of paintings depicting cathedrals and the Eiffel Tower, which combined cubic forms, movement dynamics and bright colors. This new way of using color harmony helped separate the style from orthodox Cubism, called Orphism, and immediately influenced European artists. Delaunay's wife, the artist Sonia Turk-Delaunay, continued to paint in the same style.
Delaunay's main work is dedicated to the Eiffel Tower, the famous symbol of France. This is one of the most impressive of a series of eleven paintings dedicated to the Eiffel Tower between 1909 and 1911. It is painted bright red, which immediately distinguishes it from the dullness of the surrounding city. The impressive size of the canvas further enhances the grandeur of this building. Like a ghost, the tower rises above the surrounding houses, figuratively shaking the very foundations of the old order.
Delaunay's painting conveys this feeling of boundless optimism, innocence and freshness of a time that has not yet witnessed two world wars.
František Kupka is a Czechoslovak artist who paints in the style abstractionism graduated from the Prague Academy of Arts. As a student, he primarily painted on patriotic themes and wrote historical compositions. His early works were more academic, however, his style evolved over the years and eventually evolved into abstract art. Written in a very realistic manner, even his early works contained mystical surreal themes and symbols, which was preserved when writing abstractions.
Kupka believed that the artist and his work take part in a continuous creative activity, the nature of which is not limited, like an absolute.
Beginning in 1907-1908, Kupka began to paint a series of portraits of a girl holding a ball in her hand, as if she was about to play or dance with it. He then developed increasingly schematic representations of her, and eventually produced a series of completely abstract drawings. They were made in a limited palette of red, blue, black and white.
In 1912, at the Salon d'Automne, one of these abstract works was first publicly exhibited in Paris.
The style of abstractionism does not lose its popularity in the painting of the 21st century - lovers of modern art are not averse to decorating their homes with such a masterpiece, and works in this style fly under the hammer at various auctions for fabulous sums.
The following video will help you learn even more about abstract art in art:
It is human nature to put everything on the shelves, to find a place for everything and give a name. This can be especially difficult to do in art, where talent is such a category that it does not allow one to squeeze a person or a whole trend into a cell of a general ordered catalog. Abstractionism is just such a concept. It has been debated for over a century.
The expressive means of painting are line, form, color. If you separate them from unnecessary values, references and associations, they become ideal, absolute. Even Plato spoke about the true, correct beauty of straight lines and geometric shapes. The absence of an analogy of what is depicted with real objects opens the way for the influence on the viewer of something else unknown, inaccessible to ordinary consciousness. The artistic value of the picture itself should be higher than the importance of what it depicts, because talented painting gives birth to a new sensory world.
This is how the reformers argued. For them, abstractionism is a way of finding methods that have never seen before power.
Art critics argue about what abstractionism is. Art historians defend their point of view with fervor, filling in the gaps in the history of abstract painting. But the majority agreed with the time of his birth: in 1910 in Munich, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) exhibited his work “Untitled. (The first abstract watercolor)."
Soon Kandinsky in his book "On the Spiritual in Art" proclaimed the philosophy of a new trend.
One should not think that abstractionism in painting arose from scratch. The Impressionists showed a new meaning of color and light in painting. At the same time, the role of linear perspective, the exact observance of proportions, etc., has become less important. All the leading masters of that time fell under the influence of this style.
The landscapes of James Whistler (1834-1903), his "nocturnes" and "symphonies", are surprisingly reminiscent of the masterpieces of abstract expressionist painters. By the way, Whistler and Kandinsky had synesthesia - the ability to endow colors with a sound of a certain property. And the colors on their works sound like music.
In the works of Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), especially in the late period of his work, the form of the object is modified, acquiring a special kind of expressiveness. No wonder Cezanne is called the forerunner of cubism.
Abstractionism in art took shape in a single trend in the course of the general progress of civilization. The environment of intellectuals was excited by new theories in philosophy and psychology, artists were looking for connections between the spiritual world and the material, personality and space. So, Kandinsky, in his justifications for the theory of abstraction, relies on the ideas expressed in the theosophical books of Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891).
Fundamental discoveries in physics, chemistry, and biology have changed ideas about the world, about the power of human influence on nature. Technological progress reduced the scale of the earth, the scale of the universe.
With the rapid development of photography, many artists decided to give it a documentary function. They argued: the business of painting is not to copy, but to create a new reality.
Abstractionism is a revolution. And talented people with sensitive mental attunements felt that the time for social change was coming. They weren't wrong. The twentieth century began and continued with unprecedented upheavals in the life of the entire civilization.
Along with Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) and the Dutchman Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) stood at the origins of the new trend.
Who does not know Malevich's "Black Square"? Since its appearance in 1915, it has excited both professionals and laymen. Some see it as a dead end, others - a simple outrageous. But all the work of the master speaks of the discovery of new horizons in art, of moving forward.
The theory of Suprematism (lat. supremus - the highest), developed by Malevich, asserted the primacy of color among other means of painting, likened the process of painting a picture to an act of Creation, "pure art" in the highest sense. Deep and external signs of Suprematism can be found in the works of contemporary artists, architects and designers.
The work of Mondrian had the same influence on subsequent generations. His neo-plasticism is based on the generalization of form and the careful use of open, undistorted color. Straight black horizontals and verticals on a white background form a grid with cells of different sizes, and the cells are filled with local colors. The expressiveness of the master's paintings prompted the artists either to their creative comprehension, or to blind copying. Abstractionism is used by artists and designers when creating very real objects. Especially often Mondrian motifs are found in architectural projects.
Russian artists were especially receptive to the ideas of their compatriots - Kandinsky and Malevich. These ideas fit especially well into the turbulent era of the birth and formation of a new social system. The theory of Suprematism was transformed by Lyubov Popova (1889-1924) and (1891-1956) into the practice of constructivism, which had a particular influence on the new architecture. Objects built in that era are still being studied by architects around the world.
Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964) and Natalya Goncharova (1881-1962) became the founders of Rayonism or Rayonism. They tried to display a bizarre interweaving of rays and light planes emitted by everything that fills the world around.
Alexandra Esther (1882-1949), (1882-1967), Olga Rozanova (1886-1918), Nadezhda Udaltsova (1886-1961) participated in the Cubo-Futurist movement, who also studied poetry.
Abstractionism in painting has always been a spokesman for extreme ideas. These ideas irritated the authorities of the totalitarian state. In the USSR, and later in Nazi Germany, ideologists quickly determined what kind of art would be understandable and necessary for the people, and by the beginning of the 40s of the twentieth century, the center of development of abstract art had moved to America.
Abstractionism is a rather vague definition. Wherever the object of creativity does not have a specific analogy in the surrounding world, one speaks of abstraction. In poetry, in music, in ballet, in architecture. In the visual arts, the forms and types of this trend are especially diverse.
The following types of abstract art in painting can be distinguished:
Color compositions: in the space of the canvas, color is the main thing, and the object dissolves in the play of colors (Kandinsky, Frank Kupka (1881-1957), orphist (1885-1941), Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Barnet Newman (1905-1970)) .
Geometric abstractionism is a more intellectual, analytical type of avant-garde painting. He rejects linear perspective and the illusion of depth, solving the question of the relationship of geometric shapes (Malevich, Mondrian, elementalist Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931), Josef Albers (1888-1976), follower of op art (1906-1997)).
Expressive abstractionism - the process of creating a picture is especially important here, sometimes the very method of applying paint, as, for example, among tashists (from tache - spot) (Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), tashist Georges Mathieu (1921-2012), Willem de Kooning ( 1904-1997), Robert Motherwell (1912-1956)).
Minimalism is a return to the origins of the artistic avant-garde. Images are completely devoid of external references and associations (b. 1936), Sean Scully (b. 1945), Ellsworth Kelly (b. 1923)).
So what is abstractionism now? Now you can read online that abstract painting is a thing of the past. Russian avant-garde, black square - who needs it? Now is the time for speed and clear information.
Information: one of the most expensive paintings in 2006 was sold for more than 140 million dollars. It is called "No. 5.1948", the author is Jackson Pollock, an expressive abstract artist.
The beauty of the surrounding world, experiences and significant events in life since ancient times have prompted a person to convey visual images with the help of paints. Painting has come a long way from rock paintings and ancient frescoes to unique works of art that amaze with realism.
By the end of the 19th century, some artists began to look for new ways of expression, trying to bring an unconventional look, a new philosophy to their works. From that time on, mastering the technique of performance was no longer enough.
So, at the turn of the century, a direction called "modernism" appeared with its inherent revision of classical art, a challenge to established aesthetic canons. Within its framework, a very special trend developed - abstractionism.
The Latin word abstractio is translated into Russian as "distraction". It was used to define a new style in painting that arose at the beginning of the 20th century. They were used not by chance, since abstract artists, without attaching great importance to the level of performance, put the author's special vision and new means of expression in the foreground.
In other words, abstractionism is a specific type of fine art that has refused to convey real forms and objects. Therefore, it is often characterized as non-figurative or non-objective art.
Instead of conveying visual images, abstractionists focus on displaying the internal, intuitive patterns of comprehending the world, which are hidden behind visible objects.
For this reason, it is impossible to find associations with familiar things in their works. The main role here is played by the ratio of colors, spots, geometric shapes and lines. In addition to artists, some sculptors, architects, designers, musicians, photographers and even poets became interested in the art of abstraction.
Wassily Kandinsky is considered to be the founder of abstractionism. In 1910, he painted his first painting in Germany in a technique that was new at that time. Moreover, in 1911 Kandinsky's book "On Spiritual Art" was published in Munich.
In it, he outlined his aesthetic philosophy, which was formed under the influence of the works of R. Steiner and E. Blavatsky. The book was a huge success, and a new trend in painting was called "abstractionism". This was the starting point: now a non-objective approach to creativity has gained popularity in various types of fine art.
Despite the fact that Russian artists such as Kandinsky V. and Malevich K. stood at the origins of abstractionism, in the Soviet Union of the 30s the new direction was ostracized. During the Second World War, America became the center of abstract art, where many of its representatives immigrated from Europe. Here, back in 1937, the Museum of Non-Objective Painting was opened.
Post-war abstract art went through several stages of development, including the revival of non-figurative art in Russia with the beginning of perestroika. Artists finally got the opportunity to create paintings in different directions. They transferred personal subjective experiences to canvases with the help of color, especially white, which has become one of the main components of modern non-objective art.
From the first years of the emergence of a new type of fine art, two main directions began to develop within its framework: geometric and lyrical. The first was reflected in the work of Kazimir Malevich, Peter Mondrian, Robert Delaunay and others. The lyrical direction was developed by Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock, Hans Hartung, etc.
Geometric abstractionism uses ordered figures, planes and lines, while lyrical abstractionism, on the contrary, operates with randomly scattered color spots. In turn, on the basis of these two directions, other currents were formed, connected with abstractionism by a single aesthetic concept: systematism, constructivism, suprematism, orphism, tachisme, neoplasticism, rayonism.
Discoveries in the field of physics at the beginning of the 20th century served as an impetus for the emergence of such a trend as rayonism within the geometric direction. The Russian artists M. Larionov and N. Goncharova stood at its origins. According to their idea, any object is the sum of rays that are transmitted on the canvas by oblique colored lines. The task of the artist is to create a form out of them in accordance with his own aesthetic vision.
And in the 50s of the last century, geometric abstraction, including Rayonism, temporarily gave way to the lyrical direction. It is characterized by improvisational performance, as well as an appeal to the emotional state of the artist. In other words, lyrical abstractionism is a kind of snapshot of a person's emotional experiences, made without depicting objects and forms.
As already noted, the style of abstractionism owes its appearance to V. Kandinsky. Preparing for a career as a lawyer, he subsequently became interested in painting and, having gone through the stages of passion for various areas of modernism, he created his own, unique type of abstract painting.
Having proclaimed a departure from nature to the essence of phenomena, Kandinsky dealt with the problems of convergence of color and music. In addition, the influence of symbolism in relation to color interpretation is clearly visible in his work.
In different periods of his life, the artist was fond of either geometric or lyrical direction. As a result, abstractionism in Kandinsky's painting, especially of the late period, combines the principles of both trends.
The Dutchman P. Mondrian, along with V. Kandinsky, is considered one of the founders of abstract art. Together with his followers, the artist founded in 1917 the society "Style", which published the magazine of the same name.
The aesthetic views of Mondrian formed the basis of a new direction - neoplasticism. Its characteristic feature is the use of large rectangular planes painted in the primary colors of the spectrum. It can certainly be classified as geometric abstractionism.
The paintings of Mondrian P., obsessed with the balance of horizontals and verticals, are canvases consisting of rectangles of different sizes and different colors, separated by black bold lines.
Neoplasticism had a noticeable influence on architecture, furniture design, interior design, and typographic art.
Abstractionism in the art of Kazimir Malevich is characterized by a certain technique of superimposing two layers of paint to obtain a special kind of color spot. The name of the artist is associated with the emergence of Suprematism - a direction in which the simplest geometric shapes of different colors are combined.
Malevich created his own unique system of abstract fine art. His famous "Black Square", painted on a white background, is still one of the most talked about paintings by abstract artists.
At the end of his life, Malevich returned from non-objective to figurative painting. True, in some canvases the artist still tried to combine the techniques of realism and suprematism, as can be seen in the painting “Girl with a shaft”.
The attitude towards non-objective painting is very different: from categorical rejection to sincere admiration. Nevertheless, one cannot deny the influence that the abstract genre has had on contemporary art. Artists created new directions, from which architects, sculptors, and designers drew fresh ideas.
And this trend continues. For example, in modern non-objective painting, a plot direction is developing, which is characterized by the construction of an image that evokes certain associations.
Sometimes we don’t even notice how many objects made in this technique surround us: furniture and its upholstery, jewelry, desktop wallpapers, etc. Abstract techniques are also widely used in Photoshop and computer graphics.
Thus, abstractionism is an artistic phenomenon in art, which, regardless of our attitude towards it, occupies an important place in modern society.
Abstractionism abstractionism
(from lat. abstractio - distraction), non-objective art, one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century, which arose in the beginning. 1910s At the heart of the creative method of abstractionism is a complete rejection of "life-likeness", images of the forms of reality. An abstract picture is built on the ratio of colored spots, lines, strokes; sculpture - on combinations of three-dimensional and flat geometrized forms. With the help of abstract constructions, the artists wanted to express the internal patterns and intuitively comprehended essences of the world, the Universe, hidden behind visible forms.
The date of birth of abstractionism is considered to be 1910, when V.V. Kandinsky exhibited in Munich the first abstract work in the history of art (a watercolor) and wrote a treatise "On the Spiritual in Art", in which he substantiated his creative method with the discoveries of science. Soon, abstractionism becomes a powerful movement, within which various directions arise: lyrical abstraction (paintings by Kandinsky and the masters of combining "Blue Rider" with their fluid, "musical" forms and emotional expressiveness of color) and geometric abstraction (K.S. Malevich, P. Mondrian, partly by R. Delaunay, whose compositions are built on combinations of elementary geometric shapes: squares, rectangles, crosses, circles). Malevich's programmatic work was his famous "Black Square" (1915). The artist called his method Suprematism (from Latin supremus - the highest). The desire to break away from earthly reality led him to a passion for space (Malevich was one of the authors of the famous play "Victory over the Sun"). The artist called his abstract compositions "planites" and "architectons", symbolizing the "idea of universal dynamism".
In the beginning. 20th century Abstract art has spread to many Western countries. In 1912 neoplasticism was born in Holland. The creator of neoplasticism, P. Mondrian, together with T. van Doesburg, founded the De Stijl group (1917) and a magazine under the same name (published until 1922). The "human principle" was completely expelled from their art. Members of the De Stijl group created canvases where the surfaces drawn with a grid of lines formed rectangular cells filled with pure uniform colors, which, according to Mondrian, expressed the idea of pure plastic beauty. He wanted to create a painting "devoid of individuality" and, because of this, possessing "world significance".
In 1918-20. in Russia arose based on the ideas of Suprematism constructivism, which united architects (K.S. Melnikov, A. A. Vesnin and others), sculptors (V. E. Tatlin, N. Gabo, A. Pevzner), graphs ( El Lissitzky, A. M. Rodchenko). The essence of the direction was outlined by Vesnin: “Things created by contemporary artists should be pure constructions without the ballast of figurativeness.” An important role in the development of constructivism was played by the Bauhaus, an art association founded in 1919 in Germany by the architect W. Gropius (P. Klee; V. V. Kandinsky, El Lissitzky and others). In 1930, the French critic M. Seyfor created the Circle and Square group in Paris. In 1931, the "Abstraction - Creativity" association was founded in Paris, founded by emigrants from Russia N. Gabo and A. Pevzner. Tachisme (from the French tache - spot) was a particularly radical trend. Tashists (P. Soulages, H. Hartung, J. Mathieu and others) did without brushes. They splashed, splattered paint on the canvas, then smeared or trampled it. They mixed soot, tar, coal, sand, broken glass with paints, believing that the color of dirt is no less beautiful than the color of the sky. With the outbreak of World War II, the center of abstract art moved to the United States (J. Pollock, A. Gorky, V. Kooning, Fr. Klein, M. Tobey, M. Rothko). In the 1960s a new upsurge of abstractionism began. This trend in art remains relevant today, but no longer occupies a dominant position, as in the beginning. 20th century
(Source: "Art. Modern Illustrated Encyclopedia." Under the editorship of Prof. A.P. Gorkin; M.: Rosmen; 2007.)
- [Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Abstract art Dictionary of Russian synonyms. abstractionism n., number of synonyms: 2 abstract art (1) … Synonym dictionary
abstractionism- a, m. abstractionnisme m., eng. abstracitonism.1926. Rey 1998. An extremely formalist trend in painting, sculpture and graphics. SIS 1985. Unlike abstract art, realism is always concrete. Zalygin Features of documentary. Lex. SIS 1964 ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language
ABSTRACTIONISM, a, husband. In the visual arts of the 20th century: a direction, followers of which depict the real world as a combination of abstract forms or color spots. | adj. abstractionist, oh, oh. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
- (lat. abstractio - distraction) - a direction in the art of the twentieth century, especially painting, which refused to depict the forms of reality. The aesthetic credo of abstractionism was expounded by V. Kandinsky. Abstract art - ... ... Encyclopedia of cultural studies
- (Latin abstractio removal, distraction) the direction of non-figurative art, which abandoned the representation of forms close to reality in painting and sculpture. One of the goals of abstractionism is to achieve ... ... Wikipedia
Abstractionism- (from Latin abstractus abstract) abstract, non-objective, non-figurative art; a trend in the lawsuit of the 20th century, which put forward the idea of refusing to depict the forms of reality. It aims to create compositions with different emotions. content with… … Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary
abstractionism- a, only unit, m. A direction in painting, sculpture, graphics of the twentieth century, whose followers reproduce the real world in the form of abstract forms, color spots, lines, etc. Since the time of Apollinaire, the parallel between music and so on has become a habit … … Popular dictionary of the Russian language
abstractionism- (from Latin abstractio removal, distraction) a direction in the art of the 20th century, whose adherents fundamentally refuse to depict real objects and phenomena (mainly in painting, sculpture and graphics); the ultimate expression of modernism... Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism
Abstractionism- (lat. abstrahere) - 1. the formalist direction in painting, founded by V. Kandinsky (1910 1914), later embodied in the main trend in the development of other trends in fine arts mainly in Western culture (cubism, ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy
Abstractionism (lat. abstractio- removal, distraction) or non-figurative art- a direction of art that abandoned the representation of forms approximate to reality in painting and sculpture. One of the goals of abstractionism is to achieve “harmonization” by depicting certain color combinations and geometric shapes, causing the viewer to feel the completeness and completeness of the composition. Prominent figures: Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, Piet Mondrian.
Abstractionism(art under the sign of "zero forms", non-objective art) - an artistic direction that was formed in the art of the first half of the 20th century, completely refusing to reproduce the forms of the real visible world. The founders of abstractionism are considered to be V. Kandinsky , P. Mondrian and K. Malevich.
V. Kandinsky created his own type of abstract painting, freeing from any signs of objectivity the spots of the Impressionists and the "wild". Piet Mondrian came to his pointlessness through the geometric stylization of nature, begun by Cezanne and the Cubists. The modernist trends of the 20th century, focused on abstractionism, completely depart from traditional principles, denying realism, but at the same time remain within the framework of art. The history of art with the advent of abstractionism experienced a revolution. But this revolution arose not by chance, but quite naturally, and was predicted by Plato! In his later work Philebus, he wrote about the beauty of lines, surfaces and spatial forms in themselves, independent of any imitation of visible objects, of any mimesis. This kind of geometric beauty, in contrast to the beauty of natural “irregular” forms, according to Plato, is not relative, but unconditional, absolute.
After the 1st World War of 1914-18, the tendencies of abstract art often manifested themselves in individual works by representatives of Dadaism and Surrealism; at the same time, the desire to find application for non-pictorial forms in architecture, decorative art, and design was determined (experiments of the Style group and the Bauhaus). Several groups of abstract art ("Concrete Art", 1930; "Circle and Square", 1930; "Abstraction and Creativity", 1931), uniting artists of various nationalities and trends, arose in the early 30s, mainly in France. However, abstract art was not widespread at that time, and by the mid-30s. the groups broke up. During the years of World War II (1939–45), a school of so-called abstract expressionism arose in the United States (painters J. Pollock, M. Toby etc.), which developed after the war in many countries (under the name of tachisme or “formless art”) and proclaimed as its method “pure mental automatism” and subjective subconscious impulsiveness of creativity, the cult of unexpected color and texture combinations.
In the second half of the 50s, the art of installation, pop art, was born in the United States, which somewhat later glorified Andy Warhol with his endless replication of portraits of Marilyn Monroe and cans of dog food - collage abstractionism. In the visual arts of the 60s, the least aggressive, static form of abstraction, minimalism, became popular. At the same time Barnet Newman, founder of American geometric abstractionism along with A. Lieberman, A. Held and K.Noland successfully engaged in the further development of the ideas of Dutch neoplasticism and Russian Suprematism.
Another trend in American painting was called "chromatic" or "post-painting" abstractionism. Its representatives to some extent repelled Fauvism and Post-Impressionism. Rigid style, emphasized sharp outlines of works E. Kelly, J. Jungerman, F. Stella gradually gave way to painting of a contemplative melancholic warehouse. In the 1970s and 1980s, American painting returned to figurative art. Moreover, such an extreme manifestation of it as photorealism has become widespread. Most art historians agree that the 70s is the moment of truth for American art, since during this period it finally freed itself from European influence and became purely American. However, despite the return of traditional forms and genres, from portraiture to historical painting, abstract art has not disappeared either.
Paintings, works of "non-fine" art were created as before, since the return to realism in the United States did not overcome abstractionism as such, but its canonization, the ban on figurative art, which was identified primarily with our social realism, and therefore could not be considered odious in a "free democratic" society, a ban on "low" genres, on the social functions of art. At the same time, the style of abstract painting acquired a certain softness, which it lacked before - the streamlining of volumes, the blurring of contours, the richness of halftones, subtle color solutions ( E.Murray, G.Stefan, L.Rivers, M.Morley, L.Chese, A.Bialobrod).
All these trends laid the foundation for the development of modern abstractionism. In creativity there can be nothing frozen, final, since this would be death for him. But no matter what paths abstractionism takes, no matter what transformations it undergoes, its essence always remains unchanged. It lies in the fact that abstractionism in fine art is the most accessible and noble way to capture personal being, and in a form that is most adequate, like a facsimile print. At the same time, abstractionism is a direct realization of freedom.
In abstractionism, two clear directions can be distinguished: geometric abstraction, based mainly on clearly defined configurations (Malevich, Mondrian), and lyrical abstraction, in which the composition is organized from freely flowing forms (Kandinsky). Also in abstractionism there are several other major independent trends.
An avant-garde trend in the visual arts, which originated at the beginning of the 20th century and is characterized by the use of emphatically conditional geometric shapes, the desire to “split” real objects into stereometric primitives.
Direction in abstract art of the 1910s, based on the shift of light spectra and light transmission. The idea of the emergence of forms from the "crossing of the reflected rays of various objects" is characteristic, since a person actually perceives not the object itself, but "the sum of the rays coming from the light source, reflected from the object."
The designation of the direction of abstract art, which existed in 1917-1928. in Holland and united artists grouped around the magazine "De Stijl" ("Style"). Characterized by clear rectangular shapes in architecture and abstract painting in the layout of large rectangular planes, painted in the primary colors of the spectrum.
Direction in French painting of the 1910s. Artists-orphists sought to express the dynamics of movement and the musicality of rhythms with the help of "regularities" of the interpenetration of the primary colors of the spectrum and the intersection of curvilinear surfaces.
Direction in avant-garde art, founded in the 1910s. Malevich. It was expressed in combinations of multi-colored planes of the simplest geometric outlines. The combination of multi-colored geometric figures forms balanced asymmetric Suprematist compositions permeated with internal movement.
The trend in Western European abstractionism of the 1950s and 60s, which was most widespread in the USA. It is a painting with spots that do not recreate images of reality, but express the unconscious activity of the artist. Strokes, lines and spots in tachisme are applied to the canvas with quick hand movements without a premeditated plan.
The movement of artists who paint quickly and on large canvases, using non-geometric strokes, large brushes, sometimes dripping paint onto the canvas, to bring out the emotions to the fullest. The expressive method of painting here is often as important as the painting itself.
Recently, abstract art has begun to move from the paintings of artists to the cozy interior of the house, updating it favorably. The minimalist style with the use of clear forms, sometimes quite unusual, makes the room unusual and interesting. But it's easy to go overboard with color. Consider the combination of orange in such an interior style.
White best dilutes rich orange, and, as it were, cools it. Orange color makes the room get hotter, so not much; not prevent. The emphasis should be on furniture or its design, for example, an orange bedspread. In this case, white walls will drown out the brightness of the color, but leave the room colorful. In this case, paintings of the same range will serve as an excellent addition - the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise there will be problems with sleep.
The combination of orange and blue colors is detrimental to any room, if it does not apply to the nursery. If you choose not bright shades, then they will successfully harmonize with each other, add mood, and will not adversely affect even hyperactive children.
Orange goes well with green, creating the effect of a tangerine tree and a chocolate tint. Brown is a color that varies from warm to cold, so it perfectly normalizes the overall temperature of the room. In addition, this combination of colors is suitable for the kitchen and living room, where you need to create an atmosphere, but not overload the interior. Having decorated the walls in white and chocolate colors, you can safely put an orange chair or hang a bright picture with a rich tangerine color. While you are in such a room, you will have a great mood and a desire to do as many things as possible.
Kandinsky was one of the pioneers of abstract art. He began his search in impressionism, and only then came to the style of abstractionism. In his work, he exploited the relationship between color and form to create an aesthetic experience that embraced both the vision and the emotions of the audience. He believed that complete abstraction gives room for deep, transcendent expression, and copying reality only interferes with this process.
Painting was deeply spiritual for Kandinsky. He sought to convey the depth of human emotion through a universal visual language of abstract shapes and colors that would transcend physical and cultural boundaries. He saw abstractionism as an ideal visual mode that can express the artist's "inner need" and convey human ideas and emotions. He considered himself a prophet whose mission is to share these ideals with the world, for the benefit of society.
Hidden in bright colors and clear black lines depict several Cossacks with spears, as well as boats, figures and a castle on a hilltop. As in many paintings from this period, it represents an apocalyptic battle that will lead to eternal peace.
In order to facilitate the development of a non-objective style of painting, as described in his On the Spiritual in Art (1912), Kandinsky reduces objects to pictographic symbols. By removing most of the references to the outside world, Kandinsky expressed his vision in a more universal way, translating the spiritual essence of the subject through all these forms into a visual language. Many of these symbolic figures were repeated and refined in his later work, becoming even more abstract.
Malevich's ideas about form and meaning in art somehow lead to a concentration on the theory of style abstractionism. Malevich worked with different styles in painting, but most of all he was focused on the study of pure geometric shapes (squares, triangles, circles) and their relationship to each other in the pictorial space. Through his contacts in the West, Malevich was able to convey his ideas about painting to artist friends in Europe and the United States, and thus profoundly influence the evolution of contemporary art.
The iconic painting "Black Square" was first shown by Malevich at an exhibition in Petrograd in 1915. This work embodies the theoretical principles of Suprematism developed by Malevich in his essay "From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: New Realism in Painting".
On the canvas in front of the viewer is an abstract form drawn on a white background in the form of a black square - it is the only element of the composition. Even though the painting seems simple, there are elements such as fingerprints, brush strokes showing through the black layers of paint.
For Malevich, the square means feelings, and the white one means emptiness, nothing. He saw the black square as a godlike presence, an icon, as if it could become a new sacred image for non-objective art. Even at the exhibition, this picture was placed in the place where an icon is usually placed in a Russian house.
Piet Mondrian, one of the founders of the Dutch De Stijl movement, is recognized for the purity of his abstractions and methodical practice. He rather radically simplified the elements of his paintings in order to display what he saw not directly, but figuratively, and to create a clear and universal aesthetic language in his canvases. In his most famous paintings from the 1920s, Mondrian reduces forms to lines and rectangles, and the palette to the simplest. The use of asymmetric balance became fundamental to the development of contemporary art, and his iconic abstract works continue to be influential in design and are familiar to popular culture to this day.
The "gray tree" is an example of Mondrian's early transition to the style abstractionism. The 3D tree is reduced to the simplest lines and planes, using only grays and blacks.
This painting is one of a series of works by Mondrian that took a more realistic approach, where, for example, trees are presented in a naturalistic way. While later pieces became increasingly abstract, for example, the lines of the tree are reduced until the shape of the tree is barely visible and secondary to the overall composition of vertical and horizontal lines. Here you can still see Mondrian's interest in abandoning the structured organization of lines. This move was significant for the development of Mondrian's pure abstraction.
Delaunay was one of the earliest artists of the abstract style. His work influenced the development of this direction, based on the compositional tension that was caused by the contrast of colors. He quickly fell under the neo-impressionist color influence and very closely followed the color system of works in the style of abstractionism. He considered color and light to be the main tools with which you can influence the objectivity of the world.
By 1910, Delaunay had made his own contribution to cubism in the form of two series of paintings depicting cathedrals and the Eiffel Tower, which combined cubic forms, movement dynamics and bright colors. This new way of using color harmony helped separate the style from orthodox Cubism, called Orphism, and immediately influenced European artists. Delaunay's wife, the artist Sonia Turk-Delaunay, continued to paint in the same style.
Delaunay's main work is dedicated to the Eiffel Tower - the famous symbol of France. This is one of the most impressive of a series of eleven paintings dedicated to the Eiffel Tower between 1909 and 1911. It is painted bright red, which immediately distinguishes it from the dullness of the surrounding city. The impressive size of the canvas further enhances the grandeur of this building. Like a ghost, the tower rises above the surrounding houses, figuratively shaking the very foundations of the old order. Delaunay's painting conveys this feeling of boundless optimism, innocence and freshness of a time that has not yet witnessed two world wars.
Frantisek Kupka is a Czechoslovak artist who paints in the style abstractionism graduated from the Prague Academy of Arts. As a student, he primarily painted on patriotic themes and wrote historical compositions. His early works were more academic, however, his style evolved over the years and eventually evolved into abstract art. Written in a very realistic manner, even his early works contained mystical surreal themes and symbols, which was preserved when writing abstractions. Kupka believed that the artist and his work take part in a continuous creative activity, the nature of which is not limited, like an absolute.
Beginning in 1907-1908, Kupka began to paint a series of portraits of a girl holding a ball in her hand, as if she was about to play or dance with it. He then developed increasingly schematic representations of her, and eventually produced a series of completely abstract drawings. They were made in a limited palette of red, blue, black and white. In 1912, at the Salon d'Automne, one of these abstract works was first publicly exhibited in Paris.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, artists, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Kazemir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, have been experimenting with the forms of objects and their perception, and also questioning the canons existing in art. We have prepared a selection of the most famous modern abstract artists who have decided to push their boundaries of knowledge and create their own reality.
German artist David Schnel(David Schnell) likes to roam places that used to be dominated by nature, and now they are heaped with buildings of people - from playgrounds to factories and factories. Memories of these walks give birth to his bright abstract landscapes. Giving free rein to his imagination and memory, rather than photographs and videos, David Schnell creates paintings that resemble computer virtual reality or illustrations for science fiction books.
Creating her large-scale abstract paintings, the American artist Christine Baker(Kristin Baker) draws inspiration from the history of art and racing Nascar and Formula 1. At first, she gives volume to her work, applying several layers of acrylic paint and tape the silhouettes. Kristin then carefully peels it off, which reveals the underlying layers of paint and makes the surface of her paintings look like a multi-layered, multi-coloured collage. At the very last stage of the work, she scrapes off all the bumps, making her paintings look like they feel like an x-ray.
In her work, the Greek-born artist from Brooklyn, New York, Elena Anagnos(Eleanna Anagnos) explores aspects of everyday life that are often overlooked by people. In the course of her “dialogue with the canvas”, ordinary concepts acquire new meanings and facets: negative space becomes positive and small forms increase in size. Trying to breathe life into her paintings in this way, Eleanna tries to awaken the human mind, which has stopped asking questions and being open to something new.
Giving birth to bright splashes and smudges of paint on the canvas, an American artist Sara Spitler(Sarah Spitler) seeks to reflect chaos, disaster, imbalance and disorder in her work. She is attracted to these concepts, as they are beyond the control of a person. Therefore, their destructive power makes the abstract works of Sarah Spitler powerful, energetic and exciting. Besides. the resulting image on the canvas of ink, acrylic paints, graphite pencils and enamel emphasizes the ephemeral nature and relativity of what is happening around.
Drawing inspiration from the field of architecture, the artist from Vancouver, Canada, Jeff Dapner(Jeff Depner) creates layered abstract paintings made up of geometric shapes. In the artistic "chaos" he created, Jeff seeks harmony in color, form and composition. Each of the elements in his paintings are connected to each other and lead to the following: "My work explores the compositional structure [of a painting] through the relationships of colors in a chosen palette…". According to the artist, his paintings are "abstract signs" that should take viewers to a new, unconscious level.
