Abstractionism

Brief History of Abstract Art

Originating in Europe in the late 19th century , abstract art fully emerged in

the early 20th century when a decline in the appreciation of Realism became more

common among Avant-garde artist of the period. Likewise, the Abstract art

movement which followed called for works which allowed for lucid analysis and

meaning via lines, colors and shapes that had not been previously recognized in

art.
 Pablo Picasso
(Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de
Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria
de los Remedios Cipriano de la
Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y
Picasso)

– Cubist Spanish painter/ sculptor

 The three figures in Three
Musicians are Harlequin and
Pierrot from Commedia
Dell'Arte, and a
monk. Harlequin represents
Picasso, Pierrot represents
Guillaume Apollinaire, and
the monk represents Max
Jacob.

Three Musicians (1921)

 In The Girl Before a Mirror, one
is literally looking at two
images, the observer (left) and
the reflection (right). The
observer owns (holds) the
inner image as her own, so in a
way the portrait is still one
person: dark and light, inner
and outer, good and (maybe)
evil, even life and death.
Girl Before a Mirror
Paris, March 14, 1932
 Cubism Influences

Cubism was the first abstract art style. It was truly a

revolutionary style of modern art developed by Pablo Picasso and
George Braques. The Cubist style emphasized the flat, two-
Weeping Woman (1937)
dimensional surface of the picture plane, rejecting the traditional by Pablo Picasso
techniques of perspective, foreshortening, modeling, and refuting
time-honored theories that art should imitate nature. Instead, they
presented a new reality in paintings that depicted radically
fragmented objects.

The Portuguese (1911)

by George Brasques
Van Gogh’s most famous art work “The Starry Night”, is one of the finest
examples of abstract to emerge in this era.

The Starry Night (1889)

by Vincent Van Gogh
 Abstractionism

 Abstract Art
 is also generally classified to be figurative
abstractions and paintings which represent things that
aren’t visual, such as emotion, sound, or spiritual
experience.
 art that does not represent anything, but tries to
achieve effect using shape, color, and line.
 Imagery which departs from representational
Composition VIII (1923)
accuracy. by Wassily Kandinsky
 What actually is Abstractionism?

Abstractionism literally means the

distancing of an idea from objective referents.
That means, in the visual arts, pulling a
depiction away from any literal,
representational reference points. You can also
call abstract art nonrepresentational art.
 New Movements Born From Abstractionism

• Neoplasticism (or De Stilj – The Style) – Founded by Theo Van Doesburg, a

Dutchman, in 1917. Used only primary colors and straight lines to convey elements
of nature. Connected to geometric abstractionism, all decoration except color was
eliminated.

Composition VII (The Three Graces), (1917) Composition C (No.III), (1935)

by Theo Van Doesburg by Piet Mondrian
• Constructivism – a movement with the ideology that the purpose of art should be it’s social
importance and impact on society; conflicts with suprematism and helped influence
Neoplaticism.

Tatlin’s Tower (1920) Oppressed People of the Whole

by Vladimir Tatlin world(1924)
by Gustav Klutsis
• Suprematism – created by Malevich, Suprematism

is based on “the supremacy of pure artistic feeling”.

Suprematist piece were painted using a limited

number of colors and their subject matter was limited

to basic shapes and forms.

Black Square (1913)
by Kazimir Malevich
 Famous Abstract Artist

Willem de Kooning – Kooning was a Dutch artist who became a part of New York
City Abstract Expressionist movement. His famous painting is Woman III which
sold for over $137 million.

Woman III (1953) Seated Woman (1940) Excavation (1950)

Franz Kline – was an American painter mostly

known for his black and white paintings. He was

Four Square (1956) Black Reflection (1956)
considered an Action Painter.

Wassily Kandinsky – is considered the father of

abstract painting. In an effort to capture sound and

emotion in art, he painted some of the first major

abstract works. Composition VII(1913) The Blue Rider(1903)

 Wassily Kandinsky was a
Russian artist known for his
artistic theories and innovation.
He viewed art as a spiritual
vehicle and the artist as a
prophet. Kandinsky was the first
known and recorded European
artist to create fully abstract
artworks. This would change the
trajectory of Modern Art and
open possibilities in the art world
for the rest of time.
Father of Abstract Art
Piet Mondrian – He developed an abstract
painting style that involved straight lines and
colored rectangles. He called this type of painting
“The Style”
The Gray Tree (1912) Pier and Ocean (1915)

Mark Rothko – He’s painting are known for their

large vibrant block color.

Yellow and Blue (1954) Blue and Grey (1962)

Jackson Pollock - Pollock created his paintings without using brush strokes in what

would later be called Action Painting. He became famous for his large paintings made

with dribbles and splashes of paint.

Autumn Rhythm (1950) Convergence (1952)

 Types of Abstract Art
 Curvilinear - The style is characterized by a curving line used to form abstract patterns,
such as spirals, circles, swirls, and S-shapes, as well as to define human facial features. It
was the artistry of the Celtic artisans who infused new life into the conventional abstract
motifs that existed way before Celtic appeared. The curvilinear art helped these
conventional motifs that consist of knots, spirals, and patterns become more eye-catching
and exquisite. The art was lost and re-found in the 19th century during Celtic revival
movement and in the 20th century at the Art Nouveau revolution. This kind of art is
known for its infinite patterns idea that was pushed by the Islamic art.
 Example of Curvilinear Abstract Art

Eharo Mask in Wren’s City Churches(1883)

Papua New Guinea by Arthur Mackmurdo
 Types of Abstract Art

 Color-Related or Light-Related Abstract Art - the basic idea behind color-related or

light-related art is to utilize color in such a manner that the artwork appears to be
separated from the reality. This amazing art style is known to be characterized by a swirl
of pigment in each of the artwork made. Eventually, viewers find it extremely tough to
distinguish the pigment in the artwork. This is how this impeccable art style draws more
and more art lovers & innovators towards it.
 Example of Color-related Abstract Art

Water lilies(1916) Interior at Petworth(1828)

by Oscar Claude Monet by Joseph Mallord William Turner
 Types of Abstract Art

 Geometric Abstraction -  It is characterized by non-

naturalistic imagery, typically geometrical shapes such as
circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, and so forth. In a
sense - by containing absolutely no reference to, or
association with, the natural world - it is the purest form
of abstraction. One might say that concrete art is to
abstraction, what veganism is to vegetarianism.
Broadway Boogie Woogie(1943)
by Piet Mondrian
 Types of Abstract Art

 Gestural Abstract Art - This is a form of abstract

expressionism, where the process of making the painting
becomes more important than usual. Paint may be applied
in unusual ways, brushwork is often very loose, and
rapid. The idea was that the artist would physically act out
his inner impulses, and that something of his emotion or
state of mind would be read by the viewer in the resulting
paint marks.
Woman (1950)
By Willem de kooning
 Types of Abstract Art

 Emotional or Intuitional Abstract Art - This type of intuitional art embraces a mix of
styles, whose common theme is a naturalistic tendency. This naturalism is visible in the
type of shapes and colors employed. Unlike Geometric Abstraction, which is almost anti-
nature, intuitional abstraction often evokes nature, but in less representational ways. Two
important sources for this type of abstract art are: Organic Abstraction (also called
Biomorphic abstraction) and surrealism.
 Example of Emotional or Institutional Abstract Art

“I’m not an abstractionist. I’m not interested in the

relationship of color or form or anything else. I’m
interested only in expressing basic human emotions:
tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on.”

- Mark Rothko

Orange and Yellow (1956)

 Types of Abstract Art

 Minimalist Abstract Art - This type of

abstraction was a back-to-basics sort of avant-
garde art, stripped of all external references and
associations. It is what you see - nothing else. It
often takes a geometrical form, and is
dominated by sculptors, although it also
includes some great painters.

Black and White(1913)

by Franz Kline
Vicente Silva Manansala (January 22,
1910 – August 22, 1981) was a Filipino
cubist painter and illustrator. One of the
first Abstractionists on the Philippine art
scene Vicente Manansala is also
credited with bridging the gap between
the city and the suburbs, between the
rural and cosmopolitan ways of life. His
paintings depict a nation in transition, an
allusion to the new culture brought by the
Americans. Manansala together with
Fabian de la Rosa are among the best-
selling Philippine artists in the West.
In his Jeepneys, Manansala
combined the elements of
provincial folk culture with the
congestion issues of the city.
•Madonna of the Slumsoil on lawanit •Planting the First Cross
board. 86 x 61 cm.  1950. •Seal of the Arellano University
•Machinery •Slum Dwellers
•Birdman. 1973. - this painting was •Bayanihan
subjected to a forgery incident in •Balut Vendors
2012 •Jansen Rodriguez
•Magsasaka •Pamilya
•Pounding Rice •Reclining Mother and Child
•Kalabaw (Carabao), oil on canvas, •Dambana
28.5 inches x 38 inches, 1965 •The Musicians
•Murals "Stations of the cross " in the
Church of the Parish of the Holy
Sacrifice
•Bangkusay Seascape. 1940. Oil on
canvas. 14 x 18 inches.
•Pila Pila sa Bigas (Left and Right),
1980. Oil on canvas. 51 x 84 inches.
 What is Hernando Ocampo famous for?

is best known for his abstract painting

depicting the harsh reality of poverty and
suffering. The vibrant pallet and distorted
biomorphic shapes in his work were
inspired by the landscape of his home
country and by science fiction writing.

Mutation (1950), the painting that

launched Hernando Ruiz Ocampo’s
Mutant series, BSP collection
 Constancio Bernardo (December 22, 1913 – August 8, 2003)
was a Filipino painter and professor. He is known
for making the earliest modern geometric abstract
paintings in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia
 Who was the 1st female abstract artist?
HILMA AF KLINT (October 1862 – 21
October 1944) was a Swedish artist and
mystic whose paintings are considered
among the first abstract works known in
Western art history.

“GROUP IV, THE TEN

LARGEST,” NO. 7,
ADULTHOOD, 1907
 Do you know who Jose Tanig Joya is?

He was a Filipino abstract artist and a National

Artist of the Philippines awardee. Joya was a
printmaker, painter, mixed media artist, and a
former dean of the University of the Philippines'
College of Fine Arts. He pioneered abstract
expressionism in the Philippines.
With a size of 305 cm by 118 cm, the Granadean Arabesque
(1958) was among the works of Joya showcased to represent
the Philippines in the prestigious Venice Biennale in 1964—the
first time that the Philippines participated in the world's longest-
running biennale and the leading showplace for contemporary
art
Leo Tolstoy could be
called a father of abstract
expressionism and the
expressionist movements
of the 19th and
20th centuries. His
“Expression Theory”
centered on the idea that
art elicits and provokes
emotion in the viewer.
 What was Leo Tolstoy most famous works?

Tolstoy is best known for his two longest works, War

and Peace (1865–69) and Anna Karenina (1875–77)
 What Is Abstract Expressionism?

is an artistic movement of the mid-20th century

comprising diverse styles and techniques and
emphasizing especially an artist’s liberty to
convey attitudes and emotions through
nontraditional and usually nonrepresentational
means.
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