Scribd
Upload
49 views13 pages

Constructivism and Abstract Expressionism

none

Uploaded by

Cherrie Simeon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
49 views13 pages

Constructivism and Abstract Expressionism

none

Uploaded by

Cherrie Simeon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 13

Constructivism

and
Abstract
Expressionism
Table of contents
0
Constructivism
1 • Constructionist Impression
and Style
• De Stijl Art
Abstract
0
Expressionism
2 • Characteristics of Abstract
Expressionism
• Approaches and Style
01
Constructivis
m
Constructivism is a Russian
artistic and architectural
movement influenced by
Cubism and Futurism, initiated
in 1913 by Vladimir Tatlin's
"painting reliefs". Members
were called artist-engineers
due to their admiration for
machines and technology.

Alexander Rodchenko, El
Lissitzky, Gabo and Pevsner
spread Constructivism to
Germany, England, and the US,
while Lissitzky's combination of
Constructivism and
Suprematism influenced de
Stijl and Moholy-Nagy.
Constructionist Impression and Style
Constructivism and Suprematism developed in Russia in the
20th century, but Constructivism embraced new social and
cultural developments and sought to use art as a tool for the
common good.

Constructivism pioneers experimented with three-dimensional


designs and attacked traditional forms of art, declaring painting
"dead" at the '5x5-25' exhibition. Rodchenko's Black on Black
series made a statement: "Representation is finished; it is time
to construct".

Constructivism was spread internationally through the various


origins of its artists, including Naum Gabo, Antoine Pevsner, El
Lissitzky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Theo van Doesburg, Ben
Nicholson, Josef Albers, and Hans Richter.

The Constructivists sought an art of order, rejecting the past


and leading to a world of understanding, unity, and peace. This
utopian undercurrent is often missing from contemporary
abstract art.
The De Stijl Art
The De Stijl Art De Stijl was a group of Dutch artists in
1917 seeking laws of equilibrium and harmony in art
and life.

De Stijl's movement influenced painting, decorative


arts, typography, and architecture, but it was
architecture that realized both its stylistic aims and its
goal of close collaboration among the arts.

Die Stijl was a movement that established harmony


and order through the reduction of elements to pure
geometric forms and primary colors. It is the most
significant work of graphic design from the movement,
but its ideas were also influential on the development
of graphic design.
The De Stijl Art
P. Oud adopted a purer form of geometry, consisting
of straight lines and basic geometric shapes in the
three primary colors. Mondrian argued that art
should be abstract, not natural or concrete, as it is a
pure representation of the human mind.

De Stijl is a body of work from 1917-1931 founded


in the Netherlands that advocated pure abstraction
and universality by simplifying visual compositions
to black, white and primary colors.
De Stijl's death was due to Theo von Doesburg's
passing, but the movement had a strong central
character. Most communication took place by letter,
with Mondrian and Rietveld never meeting in
person.
02
Abstract
Expressionism
Characteristics of Abstract
characteristics. Among them Expressionism
Despite this diversity, Abstract Expressionist paintings share several broad
are:

o They are basically abstract. They depict forms not drawn from the visible world.

o They emphasize free, spontaneous, and personal emotional expression, and they
exercise considerable freedom of technique and execution.

o They show similar emphasis on the unstudied and intuitive application of that paint
in a form of psychic improvisation akin to the automatism of the Surrealists, with a
similar intent of expressing the force of the creative unconscious in art.

o They display the abandonment of conventionally structured composition built up out


of discrete and segregable elements and their replacement with a single unified,
undifferentiated field, network, or other image that exists in unstructured space
Characteristics of Abstract
Expressionism
o They display the abandonment of conventionally structured
composition built up out of discrete and segregable elements and their
replacement with a single unified, undifferentiated field, network, or
other image that exists in unstructured space

o Their paintings fill large canvases to give these aforementioned visual


effects both monumentality and engrossing power. The early Abstract
Expressionists had two notable forerunners: Arshile Gorky, who
painted suggestive biomorphic shapes using a free, delicately linear,
and liquid paint application; and Hans Hofmann, who used dynamic
and strongly textured brushwork in abstract but conventionally
composed works.
The Abstract Expressionist movement has three main
Approaches and Style
approaches: Action painting, which is characterized by a loose,
rapid, dynamic, or forceful handling of paint in sweeping or
slashing brushstrokes and techniques partially dictated by
chance. Pollock first practiced Action painting by dripping
commercial paints on raw canvas, De Kooning used extremely
vigoro and expressive brushstrokes to build up richly coloured
and textured forms, and Kline used powerful, sweeping black
strokes on a white canvas to create stark monumental forms.

Abstract Expressionism is divided into three main styles: lyrical,


structured, and calligraphic. The third approach was Rothk
Newman and Reinhardt, who used large areas of flat col and thin,
diaphanous paint to achieve quiet, subtle, almost meditative
effects. Rothko was the outstanding color-field painter, whose
works consist of large scale combinations of soft-edged, solidly
colored rectangular areas that tend to shimmer and resonate.
Approaches and Style
Abstract Expressionism had a great impact on both the American
and European art scenes during the 1950s. It marked the shift of the
creative centre of modern painting from Paris to New York City in the
postwar decades. In sculpture, artists such as Smith and Bourgeois
were considered Abstract Expressionists. Smith's welded-steel
statues often mingle intersecting geometric shapes with brushed-
metal finishes, while Bourgeois created abstract statuettes of
discarded wood that she found and painted in such a way that her
process was visible, challenging prior conventions of "finished"
works of naturalistic sculpture.

You might also like