How to identify abstract art which (appeared c. 1910)?
Abstract art of the 20th century could be broken up into three major types:
A. Abstract Expressionism, in USA, whose European equivalent was Lyrical Abstraction, also known as Tachisme (tache is French for stain, which is an appropriate description)
Look for large canvases covered and smeared in blobs, swirls and splatters of paint. The spectacle of creating the artwork was in a sense more important the artwork itself. It was a medium for personal expression by the artist. Jackson Pollock was famously filmed multiple times dripping, flinging and splattering paint from every direction on canvases placed on the floor.
Its main characteristic is drippy paint splattered on the canvas
Jackson Pollock showing off his “action painting” with his wife Lee Krasner watching who’s also an well-known abstract expressionist painter.
No. 5 (1948) by Jackson Pollock
Lavender Mist (1950) by Jackson Pollock
Convergence (1952) by Jackson Pollock
Composition 5 (1911) by Vassily Kandinsky
No.3/No.13 (Magenta, Black, Green on Orange) (1949) by Mark Rothko
Spiked Red (1969) by Pat Lipsky
B. Suprematism and Constructivism in Russia and De Stijl in Holland
Look for compositions with flat geometrical shapes in primary colors, always in asymmetry.
Black Circle (1924) by Kazimir Malevich
Supremus 55 (1916) by Kazimir Malevich
Composition II with Red Blue and Yellow (1930) by Piet Mondrian
Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red (1921) by Piet Mondrian
Counter composition V (1924) by Theo van Doesburg
C. Minimalism
Minimalism resisted medium-specific forms of art, i.e. it rejected the conventions of traditional painting and sculpture and could not be easily identified as either form. Most of Minimalist works were based on 3-dimensionality. Minimalist art had many of the same aesthetic elements of Abstract art. It could be considered a step towards post-modern conceptual art where an artwork is stripped of all signs of personal expression.
Untitled (1967) by Donald Judd
Mas o Menos (More or Less)(1964) by Frank Stella
Five Open Geometric Structures (1979) by Sol LeWitt
How abstract art got its name? and where?
Abstract art was not an official art movement. It gained its name from the artists depiction of “abstract” (pure) forms and colors. It emerged in Paris, the long-time capital of Western art, in the first decade of last century. Later on, German and Russian avant-garde artists would flee to Paris following the rise of Nazi and Soviet dictatorships. Modern art was seen as a decadent form of expression that had to be banned under the Nazis and and Soviets. One of the best known avant-garde artists who fled the Nazi rule to Paris was Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). Other artists moved to New York, which would become the new Western center of art post-WWII, while European capitals laid in ruins. Among the most significant abstract artists from that place and period is Jackson Pollock (1912-1956).
What gave rise to abstract art?
Abstract art, which emerged around 1910, and dominated the twentieth-century is still popular until today. It is also the most ridiculed art movement of all time. When it appeared as the ultimate form of modern art, it was not entirely new. Non-figurative art had always been around in many forms, e.g. calligraphy or Islamic patterns. However, it was in the last century that it was transformed from a decorative art into a fine art movement. Three major trends could be behind the its appearance:
1. Forever in the shadow of the masters
Since the advent of modern art, starting with Impressionism around 1870, art had been slowly evolving into abstraction. In fact, one could describe all modern art movements as somehow abstract since they all experiment with breaking the traditional representational forms. In movements such as Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Futurism, the subject matter was fragmented or de-emphasized. Eventually, the subject matter was completely removed in abstract art movements of the twentieth-century. To fully explain this phenomenon towards abstraction is not easy, however one major reason was the experimentation with forms, and the pursuit of novelty, by modern artists trying to break away from the traditions left behind by the Renaissance Masters, whose era of two centuries (1400-1600), laid the foundations of Western art.
2. Reaction to modern horrors and alienation
Modern artists had increasingly viewed the world as a hostile place. Many around industrialized Europe at the turn of the century, suffered from the malaise of alienation. The two world wars and the destruction they left behind exacerbated the anxiety of artists. The logic, and orderliness, of traditional painting had no place, in their view, in the world of modern art. If artists viewed the world as meaningless, then it is no surprise that their art would be also meaningless.
3. The invention of the camera
Since the invention of photography in 1839, artists had mixed feelings about its influence. Some art movements viewed photography as a positive influence. Realism tried to imitate its frankness in depicting “real life.” Futurist artists went further by studying and copying photography on a technical level. In reality however, most artists were not excited about that invention. When the French painter Paul Delaroche saw the first daguerreotype around 1840, he cried out “from today, painting is dead.” One could say that photography, with cameras becoming smaller and more popular at the beginning of the century, helped push painting into abstraction. Around that time, also film as another artistic medium emerged. Now that photographs and films are the dominant forms of visual arts, artists felt liberated from the need to accurately represent objects or record life events. Abstraction started with depicting landscapes and cityscapes through experimentation with light and color (Impressionist art) but eventually the canvases showed only simple shapes and primary colors. Not only was the subject matter eliminated, but also the artist’s emotional state or any traces of personal expression.
Rebels of a new generation
Up until things got “abstract,” artists had always created representational art, i.e. there were objects “represented” that you could see. It should be mentioned that for a few decades, such objects had been breaking up, as in Cubist art, or blurred to the point of lacking detail or boundaries, as in Impressionist art, however artworks still contained objects and a subject matter. With abstract art, artists no longer depicted objects, but only basic shapes and primary colors. Abstract artists were no longer interested in expressing emotions like the Impressionist artists did, or deliver a message, as the Futurists did. They were content to keep their art meaningless, or at least leave interpretation completely up to the viewer, without giving away clues.
Curiously, even within that so-called abstract art movement, the different sub-movements were reactions against one another. For example Abstract Expressionism, made famous by Jackson Pollock, was a step away from even strict shapes and forms. Pollock preferred to release his “passion” onto the canvas resulting in blobs and drips of paint. His focus was the performance of painting and his personal expression. On the other hand, De Stijl artists had no interest in “personal” expression. Their works showed mainly geometric shapes. Yet again, Minimalism as it arrived in the 1960s and 70s, rebelled against the very medium of the canvas, along with sculpture. Minimalist artists refused to restrict their art to a particular medium, hence they embraced new materials and three-dimensional forms.
That artistic rebellion liberated painters from having to adhere to any traditions established by their predecessors. While the old masters of art would spend several months working on a canvas, a modern abstract artist could finish an artwork in a day or just a few hours! Critics declared that they did not find any skills required for such artworks. They enjoyed performing experiments trying to prove that even apes could actually create abstract artworks. They even compared Pollock’s famous paintings to bird droppings! Viewers were just as harsh, spreading the old cliché that “my kid could have done that!” No wonder abstract art became one of the most hated art styles of all time. Many art movements stood out as marginal and edgy then eventually became accepted like Impressionism and Fauvism, however abstract art is no more accepted today than it was a century ago when it appeared. It continues to be among the most controversial and most polarizing art movements. It continues to pose the basic question of what is art?
2. How abstract art got its name and what gave rise to it?
3. Why abstract artists were rebels?