What is Abstract Art?
Abstraction is a visual aesthetic wherein colour and line are used to create an image of something that may exist in the real world. This is opposed to creating something which is effectively an illusion of reality. Abstract art is therefore any art which is non-realistic.
Historically by the end of the 19th century many European artists were under pressure to create realistic art, but simultaneously the invention of the photograph caused many artists to reevaluate their style and methodology of creating art. Thus with the advent of photography artists headed in a fundamentally different direction, away from realism and towards abstraction.
One of the noted early artists of this shift was French artist Edouard Manet, who created stylized paintings using an Oriental abstract aesthetic. Manet's work inspired the Impressionists (including Claude Monet) who focused on creating art which was more about the colour and the 'impression' of the scenery they were painting. Typically Impressionists enjoyed painting outdoors so they could capture the feeling of the light and sometimes the movement of water, leaves, wheat and so forth.
As photography and other forms of technology (ie. film) grew many artists began to develop more abstract art. These technological changes resulted in many social and intellectual arguments about the role of technology and art in society.
abstract art glossary
Abstract art - Non realistic art.
Nonfigurative art - Any art that does not show people or animals.
Nonobjective art - Any art that does not show any recognizable objects.
Nonrepresentational art - Any art that does not represent anything real, including symbols (ie. $, %, *) or any Jungian archetypes.
Geometric Abstraction - Art which uses geometry to create abstract images, regardless of whether they are symbolic or completely abstract.
Decorative Abstraction - Abstract art which is meant to be decorative, often repetitive. ie. Wallpaper.
Symbolic Abstraction - Art which uses abstraction to create symbolic images representative of ideas, people, creatures, objects, etc. Often used to represent abstract concepts such as sound waves and other things which cannot be seen.
During the 19th century the avant garde of abstract art was best seen in the art movements of Romanticism, Impressionism and Expressionism. Abstraction was largely about artistic independence for artists as they pursued more personal and less realistic styles. Often artists felt restricted by their patrons (ie. the Catholic Church) but during the Romanticist period many artists (ie. William Blake, Francesco Goya, John Constable, William Turner) turned to more alternative sources of patronage as the Catholic Church lost its power.
Advances in abstraction were not limited to European art. American artist James McNeill Whistler for example painted numerous abstract works. ie. Nocturne in Black and Gold: The falling Rocket (1872).
Expressionist painters used the surface of the canvas, distortions and vibrant colours to create emotionally charged paintings. Their work was often reactions to their contemporary experience and social changes, including reactions to Impressionism. The Expressionists also enjoyed depicting psychological states of being such as fear, anger and madness. ie. Vincent Van Gogh, Edvard Munch and James Ensor.
Pioneer geometric artists like Wassily Kandinsky, and Hilma af Klint had an important influence on the early forms of the geometric abstract art, later influencing Piet Mondrian.
abstract art of the 20th century
During the late 19th century and early 20th century Post Impressionism was more widely practiced and artists like Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne had a great impact on the artists who followed after, revolutionizing 20th century abstraction to the point that it became known simply as "Modern Art".
Modern Art is any art which uses a contemporary style leaning towards abstraction and is often devoid of narrative storytelling. Post Modern Art in contrast is any art which uses a contemporary style, but leans towards realism and narrative.
At the beginning of the 20th century Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Andre Derain, Raoul Dufy and Maurice de Vlaminck revolutionized the Paris art world with their wild colours in which later became called Fauvism. This expressive use of colour used rawness (and primitive influences) of shape and colour to create a never before seen style.
Following Fauvism, Georges Braque continued to expand into Cubism (a style which attracted Pablo Picasso to the movement) using abstraction to portray objects from multiple angles. Analytic Cubism focused more on this angles concept, but later expanded to include Synthetic Cubism which was less worried about angles and incorporated collages of newspaper clippings and photographs.
This idea of collaging other sources would later influence Marcel Duchamp, DADA artists and other movements. Picasso borrowed heavily from other artists and sources, stealing ideas from primitive art and even copying painting compositions of other artists. ie. Diego Riviera once threatened to kill Picasso when he copied the composition of one of Riviera's paintings.
Cubism attracted a following including Fernand Leger, Juan Gris, Albert Gleizes, Marcel Duchamp and countless other artists into the 1920s. Collage artists like Kurt Schwitters and Man Ray were instrumental to the development of DADA.
Futurism was another interesting turning point, inspired in part by rapidly changing technology and increased abstraction towards glorifying speed and movement using a similar aesthetic to Cubism. Examples of Futurism art include Natalia Goncharova's "Cyclist" (1913) and Giacomo Balla's "Abstract Speed + Sound" (1913-1914).
These changes in the art world influenced the Russian Constructivists, the German Bauhaus movement and from 1917 to 1921 there was a period abstract revolution amongst artists (partially in reaction to the horrors of WWI).
By the 1930s however a backlash happened, with some art galleries refusing to show abstract art because it was considered frivolous and "not real art". In Russia for example Social Realism became the only art approved by the state, mostly because it was seen as a propaganda tool.
As totalitarianism grew artists in regions unaffected by this political shift continued to use more organic / geometric forms, seeking to make "pure art" devoid of symbols.
By the end of WWII many artists had fled Europe to settle in the United States, making New York City the new centre of the art world. This melting pot of different artistic movements combined all the concepts of modern art, expressionism, cubism, abstraction, surrealism, and DADA. Amongst the artists is New York City were:
Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Leger, Piet Mondrian, Jacques Lipchitz, Max Ernst and Andre Breton.
Their artistic influence spread to artists like Georgia O'Keeffe, the New York School, the Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Mark Rothko, teachers John D. Graham and Hans Hofmann and artists like Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning.
With the rubberstamping of Abstract Expressionism (considered the height of abstraction) as an art movement abstraction had reached the pinnacle. Everything since then (Pop Art, Graffiti Art, etc.) has been the result of that pinnacle having already been reached
post-abstraction in the 21st century
Today abstract art is sometimes taken for granted. Artists don't need to read the theories of what came before, but instead can follow their gut instinct for what they think will make a good painting.
Post-modern abstract artists therefore are balancing several things: The need to create images which are aesthetically pleasing; the need to create artworks which are interesting to look at (regardless of whether they are using narrative / symbolism / theory to do so); the need create artwork they themselves enjoy making.
As artists we can give thanks to the rich history of abstract artists who came before us, but we don't need to pay homage to them by emulating them. We can create our own art within our own aesthetic guidelines. No totalitarian dictator standing over our shoulder telling us what is and isn't good art. (The interview below with Laura Warburton demonstrates this concept.)
As an artist myself I frequently use abstraction in my paintings in an effort to create a specific style which I feel adds to the mood of the painting. Its not meant to look real. Its meant to get a particular feeling across and to create an iconic look. I don't paint for money either. I paint because I enjoy it and like to challenge myself to create images people will instantly enjoy.
- Charles Moffat
The Art History Archive, July 2011.
From:http://www.laurawarburton.com/about/Abstract-Art.html
Monica Lemeshonok
www.artmoni.ru
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