abstraction and abstract art - Imagery which departs from representational accuracy, to a variable range of possible degrees, for some reason other than verisimilitude. Abstract artists select and then exaggerate or simplify the forms suggested by the world around them. The paintings of Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) and Georges Braque (French, 1882-1963) as well as the sculptures of Henry Moore (English, 1898-1987), Barbara Hepworth (English, 1903-1975), and Jacques Lipchitz (Russian-American, 1891-1973) are examples of abstract art. Wassily Kandinsky, (Russian, 1866-1944), was one of the first creators of pure abstraction in modern painting. After successful avant-garde exhibitions, he founded the influential Munich group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider; 1911-1914), when his paintings became completely abstract. His forms evolved from fluid and organic to geometric and, finally, to pictographic.

Examples:

 

 

James Abbott McNeill Whistler American, 1834-1903), Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, 1871, oil on canvas, 4 feet 8 3/4 x 5 feet 3 3/4 inches, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France. With planes and shapes flattened, and color muted, Whistler's portrait demonstrates his devotion to aestheticism and art for art's sake. Accordingly, Whistler prefered to describe this paintings as an arrangement — much as music is an arrangement of pure forms — making him a precursor to abstract art. See asymmetry — asymmetrical balance and rectangle.

 

 

 

Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944), Landschaft mit Turm (Rural Landscape), 1908, oil on cardboard, 74 x 98.5 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

 

 

Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation XIV, 1910, oil on canvas, 74 x 125.5 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

 

 

Wassily Kandinsky, Study for Improvisation V, 1910, oil on cardboard pulp, 27 5/8 x 27 1/2 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts. See study.

 

 

Wassily Kandinsky, Impression V (Park), 1911, oil on canvas, 106 x 157.5 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

 

 

 

Wassily Kandinsky, Mit dem schwarzen Bogen (With a Black Arc), 1912, oil on canvas, 189 x 198 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

 

 

 

Wassily Kandinsky, Bild mit rotem Fleck (Picture with Red Marks), 1914, oil on canvas, 130 x 130 x 0 x 0 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

 

 

 

Wassily Kandinsky, In the Gray, 1919, oil on canvas, 129 x 176 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris. See Bauhaus.

 

 

Wassily Kandinsky, Entassement réglé (Ordered Compression), 1938, oil and "ripolin" on canvas, 116 x 89 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

 

 

Augustus Vincent Tack (American, 1870-1949), Untitled (Abstraction), c. 1930, oil on canvas laid down on gessoed Masonite, 36 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, U of Nebraska, Lincoln, an anonymous loan.

 

 

Frantisek [aka Franz or Frank] Kupka (Czech, 1871-1957), Plans verticaux I, 1912-1913, oil on canvas, 150 x 94 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris. See Czech art and Orphism.

 

 

Piet Mondrian (Dutch, 1872-1944), New York City I, 1942, oil on canvas, 119.3 x 114.2 cm, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. See De Stijl.

 

 

 

Constantin Brancusi (Romanian-French, 1876-1957), Bird in Flight, c. 1940, polished bronze, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

 

 

Katherine Dreier (American, 1877-1952), Abstract Portrait of Marcel Duchamp, 1918, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, NY. See Dada and portrait.

 

 

Kasimir Malevich (Russian, 1878-1935), Black Square, c. 1923-1930, oil on plaster, 36.7 x 36.7 x 9.2 cm, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

 

 

 

Francis Picabia (born Francis Martinez de Picabia) (French, 1879-1953), Red Trees, c. 1912, oil on canvas, 92.5 x 73.4 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

 

 

Arthur G. Dove (American, 1880-1946), Ice and Clouds, 1931, oil on board, 19 1/2 x 26 3/4 inches (49.53 x 67.95 cm), Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH.

 

 

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973), Femme assise dans un fauteuil (Seated Woman), 1910, oil on canvas, 100 x 73 cm, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. See Cubism.

 

 

 

Stanton MacDonald-Wright (American, 1890-1973), Canon Synchromy (Orange), 1919, oil on canvas, 24 1/8 x 24 1/8 inches, Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, U. of Minnesota. See Synchromism.

 

 

Paul Strand (American, 1890-1976), Abstraction, Twin Lakes, Connecticut, 1916, depicted: Connecticut, United States of America, silver and platinum print, 32.8 x 24.4 cm (12 15/16 x 9 5/8 inches), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. See photography.

 

 

Stuart Davis (American, 1894-1964), Egg Beater No. 1, 1927, oil on canvas, 29 1/8 x 36 inches (74 x 91.4 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.

 

 

 

Ben Nicholson, OM (English, 1894-1982), 1924 (first abstract painting, Chelsea), c. 1923-4, oil and pencil on canvas, 55.4 x 61.2 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

 

 

Arshile Gorky (American, born Armenia, 1904-1948), The Betrothal, II, 1947, oil on canvas, 50 3/4 x 38 inches (128.9 x 96.5 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. See Abstract Expressionism.

 

 

Hans Hartung (French, born Germany, 1904-1989), T 1973, E-13, 1973, oil on canvas, 111 x 180 cm, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran. See diagonal and scribble.

 

 

 

Terry Frost (English, 1915-), Green, Black and White Movement, 1951, oil on canvas, 109.2 x 85.1 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

 

 

 

 

Richard Diebenkorn (American, 1922-1993), Ocean Park Series No.49, 1972, oil on canvas, 93 x 81 inches (236.2 x 205.7 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

 

 

Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997), the six prints in the "Bull Profile Series," Bull I, (the most figuratively representational image of the six)

 

 

 

Bull II,

 

 

 

Bull III,

 

 

 

Bull IV,

 

 

 

Bull V,

 

 

and Bull VI (the most abstract image of the six), 1973, each is a linoleum cut on paper, and each is 68.5 x 89.0 cm, Tate Gallery, London. See Pop Art.

 

 

Gerhard Richter (German, 1932-), Abstract Painting No. 439, 1978, oil on canvas, 200.0 x 300.0 cm, Tate Gallery, London. See German art.

 

 

 

Gerhard Richter, G.A.4 (21.1.84), 1984, colored inks, watercolor, pencil and crayon on paper, 5 7/8 x 8 1/4 inches (15 x 21 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

Gerhard Richter, Breath, 1989, oil on canvas, Milwaukee Art Museum, WI.

 

 

 

Sam Gilliam (American, 1933-), Abstraction, 1969, acrylic on aluminum-treated paper. See African American art .

 

Taylor _____ (American, contemporary, at 10 years old), House Cat, from Realistic to Abstract, 2005, colored pencils on paper, 6 x 18 inches. See realism and more children's art of this sort.

 

• "Do not copy nature too much. Art is an abstraction."
  Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), French Post-Impressionist.
  
  
• "The more abstract is form, the more clear and direct its appeal."
  Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Russian painter and educator. See Bauhaus.
  
  
• "All painting — the painting of the past as well as of the present — shows us that its essential plastic means were only line and color."
  Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), Dutch painter of De Stijl.
  
  
• "The truly modern artist is aware of abstraction in an emotion of beauty."
  Piet Mondrian. See beauty and expression.
  
  
• "They are imbeciles who call my work abstract. That which they call abstract is the most realistic, because what is real is not the exterior but the idea, the essence of things."
  Constantin Brancusi (Romanian-French, 1876-1957).
  
  
• "When you see a fish you don't think of its scales, do you? You think of its speed, its floating, flashing body seen through the water. . . . If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would arrest its movement, give a pattern or shape of reality. I want just the flash of its spirit."
  Constantin Brancusi.
  
  
• "The more horrifying the world becomes, the more art becomes abstract."
  Paul Klee (1879-1940), Swiss painter. See Bauhaus and Swiss art.
  
  
• "To think of abstraction as an end in itself is undoubtedly letting oneself be led into a cul-de-sac and can only lead to exhaustion and impotence."
  Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959), English sculptor. See English art.
  
  
• "What goes on in abstract art is the proclaiming of aesthetic principles. . . . It is in our own time that we have become aware of pure aesthetic considerations. Art never can be imitation."
  Hans Hofmann (1880-1966), American Abstract Expressionist painter and educator.
  
  
• "What does that represent? There was never any question in plastic art, in poetry, in music, of representing anything. It is a matter of making something beautiful, moving, or dramatic — this is by no means the same thing."
  Fernand Leger (1881-1955), French painter. See Cubism, music, and plastic art.
  
  
• "There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterwards you can remove all traces of reality. There's no danger then, anyway, because the idea of the object will have left an indelible mark."
  Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish-French artist. See Cubism.
  
  
• "The painter can and must abstract from many details in creating his painting. Every good composition is above all a work of abstraction. All good painters know this. But the painter cannot dispense with subjects altogether without his work suffering impoverishment."
  Diego Rivera (1886-1957), Mexican painter. See Mexican art and mural.
  
  
• "The abstraction is often the most definite form for the intangible thing in myself that I can clarify in paint."
  Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), American painter.
  
  
• "Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they may say something."
  Georgia O'Keeffe.
  
  
• " 'Realism' has been abandoned in the search for reality: the 'principal objective' of abstract art is precisely this reality."
  Ben Nicholson (1894-1982), English artist. See English art.
  
  
• "All art is an abstraction to some degree."
  Henry Moore (1898-1986), English sculptor. See English art.
  
  
• "To abstract is to draw out the essence of a matter. To abstract in art is to separate certain fundamentals from irrelevant material which surrounds them."
  Ben Shahn (1998-1969), American painter. See New Deal art and social realism.
  
  
• "I'm not an abstractionist . . . I'm not interested in relationships of color or form or anything else."
  Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Russian-born American Abstract Expressionist painter.
  
  
• "Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot physically see with his eyes. . . . Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas."
  Arshile Gorky (1904-1948), Armenian-born American Abstract Expressionist painter.
  
  
• "Nature and abstract forms are both materials for art, and the choice of one or the other flows from historically changing interests."
  Meyer Schapiro (1905-1996), American art writer and educator.
  
  
• "[Abstract art is] a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered."
  Al Capp (1909-1979), American cartoonist, known for his comic strip "Li'l Abner."
  
  
• "Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you."
  Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), American Abstract Expressionist painter.
  
  
• "Nothing as drastic an innovation as abstract art could have come into existence, save as the consequence of a most profound, relentless, unquenchable need. The need is for felt experience — intense, immediate, direct, subtle, unified, warm, vivid, rhythmic."
  Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), American Abstract Expressionist painter. "What Abstract Art Means to Me," The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, spring, 1951.
  
  
• "One of the most striking of abstract art's appearances is her nakedness, an art stripped bare."
  Robert Motherwell.
  
  
• "I have been continuously aware that in painting, I am always dealing with . . . a relational structure. Which in turn makes permission 'to be abstract' no problem at all."
  Robert Motherwell.
  
  
• "A conscious decision to eliminate certain details and include selective bits of personal experiences or perceptual nuances, gives the painting more of a multi-dimension than when it is done directly as a visual recording. This results in a kind of abstraction... and thus avoids the pitfalls of mere decoration."
  Wayne Thiebaud (1920-), American painter. See decorative arts and Pop Art.
  
  
• "Abstract literally means to draw from or separate. In this sense every artist is abstract... a realistic or non-objective approach makes no difference. The result is what counts."
  Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993), American painter.
  
  
• "Maybe I was a little jealous or envious of the abstract painters — but the truth was I thought what they were doing was boring."
  Larry Rivers (1923-2002), American Pop Artist.
  
  
• "You have to have time to be sorry for yourself to be a good Abstract Expressionist."
  Robert Rauschenberg (1925-), American painter, sometimes Fluxus or Pop artist. See combine.
  
  
• "Abstract paintings must be as real as those created by the 16th century Italians."
  Frank Stella (1936-), American artist. See Minimalism.
  
  
• "All painting, no matter what you are painting, is abstract in that it's got to be organized."
  David Hockney (1937-), English painter and photographer. See English art and photography.

• Abstract-art.com is produced by Ron Davis, and includes hundreds of pages and thousands of images of abstract art, of many times, styles, and media.
  
  
• The WebMuseum's page about abstraction.
  

Also see Abstract Expressionism, art for art's sake, interdisciplinary, likeness, nonobjective art, stylize, symbol, and verisimilitude.

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