AbstractionismBy Audrey Johnson and Eshna Chopra

Abstractionism is…“Art that makes no direct, immediately

discernible reference to recognizable objects”

Subjects are exactly what you see: color, line, shape.

Movement began around 1911 with artist Wassily Kandinsky. This movement was mostly concentrated in Europe.

Wassily (Vasily) Kandinsky“For me, the province of art and the province of nature thus became more and more widely separated, until I was able to experience both as completely independent realms.”

Timeline of Kandinsky 1866: Born in Moscow to a highly educated family.

1896: Moved to Munich, Germany and studied art. (Art School of Anton Azbe and The Academy of Fine Arts.)

1909: Moved towards abstraction.

1911: Founded “Der Blaue Reiter” group

1912: Concerning the Spiritual in Art was published(foundation of abstractionism)

1920: Founded Moscow institute of Artistic Culture.

1923: Taught at Bauhaus

1933: Moved to Paris

1944: Died

Influences (Kandinsky)Influences on Kandinsky

Influences caused by Kandinsky

Paul CézanneClaude Monet

William BaziotesArshile GorkyHans HartungHans Hofmann

Post-ImpressionismFauvismCubism Expressionism

Action Painting Color Field PaintingSurrealism

Developments in science, philosophy, and political and social changes were also influences on Kandinsky’s work.

Der Blaue Reiter

Improvisation

7

(1910)

Impression 5 - Park (1911)

Composition 8 (1923)

Kasimir Malevich

"Feeling is the determining factor ... and thus art arrives at non-objective representation through Suprematism." 

Timeline of Malevich 1878: Born in Ukraine to a middle class family.

1895: Studied at the Kiev School of Art

1904: Studied at the Stroganov School of Art

1907: Shift to more Avant-Garde art

1915: Found the Suprematism movement

1915: Beginning of Black Series, White on White followed

1918: Worked for Government Fine Arts Dept. Taught Abstractionism.

1919: Completed manuscript of his book On New Systems in Art

1935: Death

Influences (Malevich)Influences on Malevich Influences caused by Malevich

Paul CézannePablo PicassoHenri MatisseEl Lissitzky

El LissitzkyWassily KandinskyMarcel DuchampPaul KleeAd Reinhardt

FauvismCubismExpressionismByzantine ArtTransrational PoetryFuturism

ConstructivismAbstract ExpressionismMinimalismPop ArtConceptual Art

Malevich also had an interest in aerial photography and aviation, leading to aerial landscape inspired paintings.

The Black Square (1915)

White on White (1918)

Piet Mondrian "The emotion of

beauty is always obscured by the appearance of the object. Therefore, the object must be eliminated from the picture."

Timeline of Mondrian 1872: Born in Holland to a cultured family

1892: Royal Academy of Visual Arts in Amsterdam

1905: Painted in Dutch Luminist Style

1908: Netherland’s Theosophical Society. (Evolution

1911)

1912 - 1914: Lived in Paris. Cubist influence. 1917: De Stijl Journal (The Style). Idea of total

abstraction, modernism, led to Neo-Plasticism movement.

1920s: Most abstract period

1938: London. 1940: Because of WWII moves to NYC (Broadway Boogie

Woogie 1943)

1944: Death

Influences (Mondrian)Influences on Mondrian Influences caused by

Mondrian

Vincent van GoghPaul CézannePablo PicassoTheo van Doesburg

Ilya BolotowskyLeon Polk SmithTheo van DoesburgPeggy Guggenheim

PhilosophyBuddhism/Theosophical studiesCubismImpressionismFauvismLuminism

De StijlAbstract ExpressionismColor Field PaintingMinimalism

"All the time I'm driven to the spiritual. Through Theosophy I became aware that art could provide a transition to the finer regions, which I will call the spiritual realm."

Evolution (1910 – 1911)

Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow(1930)

Broadway BoogieWoogie(1942 -1943)

Georgia O’Keeffe“I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at - not copy it.”

Timeline of O’Keeffe 1887: Born in Wisconsin and received art lessons at home

1905: Art Institute of Chicago, then Arts Students League in NYC

1908: Won William Merritt Chase still-life prize

1912 - 1916: Taught art at various schools

1916-1946: Husband Stieglitz supported her art and organized exhibitions at different galleries.

1929: New Mexico landscape paintings

1970s: Though going blind, still produced abstract pieces

1986: Death in New Mexico

Influences (O’Keeffe)

Influences on O’Keeffe Influences caused by O’Keeffe

Arthur Wesley DowAlon BementAuguste RodinWassily KandinskyAlfred Stieglitz

Judy ChicagoAndy Warhol

Asian ArtArt NouveauModernism

American Modernist PaintingPrecisionismAbstract Expressionism

She was also influenced by the architecture of NYC and the landscapes of New Mexico.

Sunrise and Little Clouds II (1916)

Evening Star III (1917)

Red and Orange Streak/Streak(1919)

Red and Orange(1922)

Political and Social Climate Political and Social changes in Europe.

Ex: Russian Revolution, Communism World War I & II. Caused relocation of

artists. Science and Philosophy. Ex: Freud,

Einstein Avant-Garde Movement and creative

independence = a reaction to industrialization and political conflict

Reactions “The Nazis confiscated 57 of

Kandinsky’s canvases during their purge of "degenerate art" in 1937”

Stalinist regime was against abstract art and banned much of Malevich’s work as well.

Many males perceived O’Keeffe’s work as over sexualized and “shameless.”

Public opinion of Mondrian’s work was divided; ranging from “aesthetically pleasing” to “a child could do it.”

Impact

Abstractionism artists played a large role in the development of other modern art movements, including Abstract Expression, Pop Art, and Color Field Painting.