The abstract painter
Abstract painting is an important part of modern art. For the figurative painter, this new branch of the visual arts is a world to discover. Its principles are simply different. Before the birth of abstract painting, each work had a subject or motif, for example, portraits, landscapes, or still lifes. The contemporary painter no longer needs to represent reality to create emotion or a reflection on the world. This is a fundamental difference. This article provides some historical background on the emergence of this movement. Its aim is to offer you some knowledge that will allow you to better appreciate this art during your future visits to museums or exhibitions. However, many people believe that abstract painting is difficult to grasp.
The beginnings of abstract art
Around 1910–1930, a revolution occurred in painting: the emergence of abstraction. For the first time, painters dared to exhibit paintings without any recognizable subject matter. The works referred only to themselves, expressing only the power of color and line.
This artistic upheaval occurred simultaneously in Moscow, Paris, and Munich on the eve of the First World War. The best-known of these movements is Cubism, founded by Braque and Picasso. The latter was himself influenced by the Post-Impressionism of Cézanne, considered the father of modern painting.
Later, during the First World War, Surrealism emerged, partly stemming from psychoanalysis and Dadaism. It rejected the anti-aesthetic stance and established framework of abstract painting. Surrealism had a significant influence on abstract painting.
The trauma of the First World War fostered new, more or less esoteric spiritualities that sought expression in the arts. Psychoanalysis, newly emerged with Sigmund Freud, also played a significant role in the birth of this new art. Scientific and technological advancements undoubtedly also contributed. In this post-war context of the early 20th century, visible reality certainly became less prominent in art than mental representations. The horrors of war could no longer be expressed through simple images. It was necessary to delve deeper into the pursuit of pure emotion. For some painters, this new paradigm finally opened up a new aesthetic universe.
From then on, abstract painting explored new aesthetic forms. Different styles of abstraction emerged simultaneously from 1911 to 1917 with their founders ; Frantisek Kupka , Wassily Kandinsky , Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian .
The three main types of abstraction
Three branches of abstraction stand out: warm abstraction, cold abstraction, and informal painting. It's worth noting that Vasily Kandinsky created the first abstract watercolor.
In contrast to so-called "warm" abstraction, there is "cold" abstraction, which corresponds to geometric abstraction. With strokes, lines, squares, circles, and triangles, geometric painting is an art form that prioritizes pure form. Informal painting is instinctive.
Spontaneity: warm abstraction
Wassily Kandinsky is the father of warm abstraction, also known as lyrical abstraction . This technique emphasizes spontaneity to unleash pure emotion on the canvas. There is no intellectual process involved in this creative form. Only gesture and emotion prevail.
Rigour: cold abstraction
During the same period, some artists focused on expressing the essence of aesthetics through geometry. This was notably the pursuit of the painter Piet Mondrian . For him, the foundations of abstract painting lay in geometric forms. These forms were composed of the elementary building blocks of squares and triangles, in primary colors. In practical terms, this stark abstraction demanded rigor in the harmony of colors and shapes.
Informal painting
The term "informal" was first used in 1951 by Michel Tapié . Informal art corresponds to new, extreme experiments.
The best representatives are Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock , and Georges Mathieu. Informal painting is characterized by its opposition to Cubism and Surrealism. It can be defined by the search, on the canvas, for a harmonious unity of forms and colors. The proportions between the pictorial elements are instinctively defined by the painter's gesture. It is an abstract painting composed of signs whose aesthetic meaning is calculated in real time.
Towards a new contemporary abstract painter
The painter's attitude toward abstraction gradually changes as the initial shock of discovery fades. No longer a conqueror, but an artist like any other, abstract art enters painting schools. Its teaching becomes academic, sparking numerous debates about the mixing of genres. Gerhard Richter is a significant example, moving from figurative to abstract art with great mastery. In this, he follows in the footsteps of Wassily Kandinsky. The conflict between figurative and abstract art subsides, opening new avenues for artists who no longer feel confined to a particular style. This allows their imaginations free rein, unburdened by the constraints of the past. The legacy of the first abstract painters is considerable and continues to stimulate reflection on the nature of aesthetics.
How to appreciate abstract painters
Abstract paintings lack specific motifs, and some people may react negatively to them. In this article, we'll explore how to appreciate abstract art.
Learning to see
"It doesn't look like anything" or "A child could do it." These are the kinds of remarks you sometimes hear at abstract art exhibitions.
In our daily lives, we are accustomed to dealing with reality. With abstraction, our mind cannot grasp a logical explanation of what is seen. It is lost, and it is then the sole power of the image that operates.
To become familiar with abstract painting, let's learn to look at the world around us outside of the concepts that define it. A tree can be seen as a collection of green patches crossed by darker lines. By lowering your eyelids so that only a sliver of light passes through, your vision changes. It becomes blurrier and almost unreal. So, focus on the shapes and colors, without trying to define what you see. This experience should bring you closer to the best way to look at an abstract painting.
Abstract painting is not the name of an artistic movement. It is a pictorial expression that has broken away from classical painting. In the creative process, painters react as you do when you make the effort to detach yourself from concepts. The act of looking is therefore also a creative act.
"All forms in nature are treated with cylinders, spheres, and cones." Paul Cézanne.
Simply enjoy the beauty
One way to appreciate art is to let your gaze wander without trying to understand. Are the colors vibrant and delightful, the composition bold, and the texture of the paint interesting? Then let yourself be immersed in the image.
A pleasant method is to associate what you see with music. Musical harmony and painting have things in common. The same is true for poetry, which is the music of words.
Synesthesia is a condition that allows people to associate colors with musical notes, but also with letters. Wassily Kandinsky, one of the founders of abstract painting, was synesthetic. Thus, it is not unusual to think of music when looking at his works.
Understanding the context and meaning
It's good to appreciate a work of art with your own sensibilities. However, if you understand the context in which that work was created, your enjoyment will be much deeper. Knowledge of artistic movements and artists in particular helps you to "enter" the works. The painting before you becomes part of the grand history of art, and you feel as though you are witnessing it.
The artistic movements of abstract painting
Cubism (circa 1907)
Cubism is attributed to Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.
Until then, figurative paintings were drawn from a single object, but Cubism invented a method to capture the shape of the object seen from different angles and in a single image.
This technique, which surprised many artists, has been passed down to the present day. It is one of the most important inventions in the history of modern art.
Expressive abstraction
Pure abstract painting is also called "self-expressive abstraction." It is abstract painting that uses the inner self as the basis for creative action.
Vasily Kandinsky is a representative artist of this type of abstract painting. He was strongly influenced by the mystical and holistic worldview of the Russian Symbolists, as well as by Theosophy, which he began to explore from 1908 onwards.
Neoplasticism (circa 1920)
Neo-Plasticism is a theory of geometric abstract art proposed by Mondrian. In 1911, Mondrian was deeply impressed by Picasso's Cubist works. He traveled to Paris and engaged in discussions with various painters. It was then that he came to believe that Cubism was straying from the pure concept of abstraction. For Mondrian, it was essential to get to the heart of the matter. For him, geometric forms and primary colors were the essence of abstract art. His ideas would later inspire the Minimalists.
Action painting (circa 1950)
The abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock is the leading figure of "action painting." This style uses gestures such as splashes, drips, or broad brushstrokes. Meaning and aesthetics arise from the painter's movements.
Color Field (circa 1950)
A color field is a pictorial expression in which a colored "surface" occupies a large portion of the canvas. The entire canvas is completely smooth, without a center or focal point. It contains few patterns and no objects. Each color or geometric line plays an important role. Artists belonging to Abstract Expressionism, such as Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and Ronald Davis, are representative of this movement.
Ten renowned abstract painters!
Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) was one of the Russian avant-garde artists who created the concept of Suprematism. Malevich encountered Cubism in Paris, and his style evolved toward pure geometric abstraction. His representative work, "Black Square," is his first abstract painting. It is now housed in the Tretyakov Gallery in Russia. "Painterly Realism of a Football Player" is also a highly significant work in his oeuvre.
Malevich completely eliminated the meaning contained in his paintings. He established a style that consists of representing minimal forms such as squares, triangles, and circles; this is Suprematism . However, Kazimir Malevich could not express himself in his country, the Soviet Union. Satlin had banned his painting, forcing him to turn to figurative painting to avoid the camps, which ended his career at the age of 57.
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a pioneer of Russian abstract painting. Classically trained, he mastered figurative art, but he wanted to express more than reality and turned to abstraction. From the early 1910s, he abandoned figurative art, and his paintings became a symphony of vibrant, bursting patches of color. This is known as warm abstraction or lyrical abstraction.
Kandinsky's warm abstraction was inspired by Monet's "haystacks ." Vasily Kandinsky is one of the founders of abstract art. For him, painting is the language of feeling, expressing with forms and colors what words cannot. With Kandinsky, art gains absolute freedom, and everything becomes possible.
Kandinsky divides his works into three types according to the distance from the object: "impression", "improvisation" and "composition".
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, and ceramicist who spent most of his adult life in France. He is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and the founder of the Cubist movement. Furthermore, Picasso's artistic style was multifaceted, encompassing all the visual arts.
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (1879-1940) was a Swiss painter who was part of the " Blue Rider" with Kandinsky and others. He also taught at the Bauhaus .
Klee was familiar with music from a very young age. He played in the Bern orchestra from the age of 11. However, his interest in painting led him to pursue a career in that field. He was influenced by Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism.
Klee's style is characterized by rich colors. After a trip to Tunisia, he became aware of the expressive power of color. He said that color and he were one.
Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) is considered the father of abstract painting in the Netherlands. His work, which contrasted with Kandinsky's, is known as "cold abstraction." Mondrian was a key figure in the Dutch art movement and also influenced the Bauhaus. His artistic expression simplified colors and forms to their simplest possible. Through Yves Saint Laurent, his work had a significant impact on fashion in 1965, particularly with the iconic painting "Composition 2: Red, Blue, and Yellow," which became synonymous with the "Mondrian Look." His influence would later give rise to minimalism.
Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) was born in the United States. He was the leading figure of " action painting ," a technique that uses no brushes, but rather drips and splashes of paint onto a canvas laid on the floor .
Influenced by Miró, Pollock expressed himself through actions based on the concept of the unconscious. He is one of the best-known representatives of "abstract expressionism".
Jackson Pollock suffered from alcoholism for a long time and died suddenly at the age of 44 in 1956. After driving drunk, he crashed into a tree.
Mark Rothko
The Russian-Jewish American painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970) is one of the leading figures of postwar art. A studious student, Rothko left Yale University to pursue an artistic career. His knowledge of Greek mythology drew him closer to the Surrealists. He was also influenced by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The "Rothko style" is characterized by its use of color imbued with spirituality; it is a meditative art form.
Frank Stella
American painter and sculptor Frank Stella was born in 1936. Beyond abstract expressionism, he is also known as a leading figure in minimal art. Stella studied art history at Princeton University. Later, inspired by Jasper Johns , he reduced his paintings to the bare minimum of elements to produce the "Black Painting Series."
Breaking with abstract expressionism, Stella describes her work as "a flat, painted surface, nothing more.".
In 1959, he was selected for the 16th American Artists Exhibition (Museum of Modern Art, New York), and the following year he organized a solo exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery , a legendary gallery that led post-war American art.
Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman (1905-1970) was a leading figure in Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting, alongside Pollock and Rothko. Born in New York City to a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, Newman worked as a critic and curator before beginning his painting career in 1944 at the age of 40. His style is characterized by a uniform application of color, punctuated by one or more vertical lines he called "Zips."
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