(lat. abstractio removal, distraction) non-objective, non-figurative art a form of visual activity that does not aim to imitate or display visually perceived reality. Abstract painting, graphics, sculpture exclude associations with recognizable objects.
The origins of abstract painting and the time of creation of the first abstract painting have not been established. We can only say with certainty that between 1910 and 1915, many European artists tried their hand at non-objective, non-figurative compositions (in painting, drawing, sculpture). Among them: R. Delone, M. F. Larionov, F. Picabia, F. Kupka, P. Klee, F. Mark, A. G. Yavlensky, U. Bochioni, F. Marinetti and others. The most original and famous V.V. Kandinsky, P. Mondrian, K.S. Malevich. The “inventor” of abstraction is usually called Kandinsky, referring to his watercolors of 1910-1912 and his theoretical works, which objectively testify to the self-sufficiency of art, point to his ability to create some new reality by his own means. Both in practice and in theory, Kandinsky was the most resolute and consistent of those who at that time approached the line separating figurativeness from abstraction. The unanswered question of who first crossed this line is of no fundamental importance, since in the early years of the 20th century. the latest trends in European art came close to this boundary, and everything indicated that it would be overturned.
Abstraction, contrary to popular notions, is not a stylistic category. This specific form of fine art falls into several directions. Geometrical abstraction, lyrical abstraction, gestural abstraction, analytical abstraction and more particular currents such as Suprematism, Aranformel, Nuajism, etc.
Abstract art styles are made up of the same style-forming elements as figurative art styles. This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that monochrome painting a canvas painted over in one tone is in the same neutral relation to style as an absolutely naturalistic figurative image. Abstract painting is a special kind of visual activity, whose functions are compared with the functions of music in the audio space.
The accelerating change of aesthetic attitudes in art originates in the revolutionary transformations in culture, science and technology of the 20th century. In art, new trends become noticeable already in the first half of the 19th century. At this time, in European painting, one can see both the improvement of naturalistic technique (J. Ingres, J.-L. David, T. Chasserio) and the growing trend towards conventionality (C. Corot, E. Delacroix, F. Goya); the latter is especially sharpened in English painting by R.O. Bonington and especially by W. Turner, whose paintings Sun rising in the mist(1806) musical evening(18291839) and some other works represent the most daring generalizations, bordering on abstraction. Let's pay attention to the form, but also to the plot of one of his last works Rain, steam, speed, which depicts a steam locomotive rushing through fog and a veil of rain. This picture, painted in 1848, is the highest measure of convention in the art of the first half of the 19th century.
From the middle of the XIX century. painting, graphics, sculpture refer to what is inaccessible to a direct image. The search for new pictorial means, methods of typification, increased expression, universal symbols, and compressed plastic formulas is being developed more and more intensively. On the one hand, this is aimed at displaying the inner world of a person his emotional psychological states, on the other at updating the vision of the objective world. In the 1900s, the discovery first in Spain, and then in France of primitive and a little later traditional ("primitive") art decisively changes the idea of the significance of conventional forms in the visual arts.
The state in which art is at this time can be called a permanent aesthetic revolution; the main events take place in France. The Universal International Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, on the Avenue of Nicholas II, was the first official exposition, which included the works of artists who were still "scandalous" at that time: E. Manet, C. Monet, O. Renoir and other impressionists, as well as P. Gauguin and P. .Cezanne. In 1904, the latest French painting, shown in Germany, made a stunning impression on German artists and served as an impetus for the creation of the Youth Union, which included future famous expressionists: E. L. Kirchner, K. Schmidt-Rottluff and others.
From 1905 to 1910 in Western European art there was a consistent "deconstruction" of the classical pictorial system, a radical change in aesthetic attitudes. After impressionism for the first time in the history of art introduced structural (non-stylistic) changes into painting, the French Fauvists and German expressionists change their attitude towards color, drawing, which finally go beyond the subordination of nature. Then Cubism liberates painting from the narrativity of the narrative plot.
If painting, like other arts, is not so much a demonstration of skill the creation of a work, but a way of self-expression, then abstract art must be recognized as the most advanced stage of fine art. This "ascent" demonstrates the creative evolution of the pioneer of abstract art, Kandinsky, which goes through a series of stages, including academic drawing and realistic landscape painting, before entering the free space of color and line. Abstract composition is the last, molecular, level on which painting is still painting. Further decay.
“The proof of my existence,” says one of the contemporary artists, “is not my name, my body they will disappear in the ocean of time, but fiction, the creation of appearances” (Francllin C. Jean Le Gac. Quoted by: Millet C. . Minsk, 1995, p. 235).
Creativity the most intimate, authentic way self-assertion, which people desperately need. This need embraces ever larger masses of people (which, in particular, is evidenced by the increasingly violent methods of collective and individual assertion of one's authenticity).
Abstract art is the most accessible and noble way to capture a personal being, and in a form similar to a facsimile print. At the same time, it is a direct realization of freedom.
In the United States, the rise of abstractionism begins already in the mid-1940s. The first notable figures at that time, besides P. Mondrian's student J. Pollock, were B. Diller, M. Tobey, B. W. Tomlin, A. Gorki. Among those whose work later influenced European painting are B. Newman, M. Rothko, F. Klin, R. Rauschenberg, W. Kuning, A. Reinhardt.
One of the first post-war French abstract artists who took the lessons of American painting, P. Soulages. His not the best works are reminiscent of the expressive abstractions of F. Klin. The works of G. Hartung are closer to the original source of European abstraction Kandinsky. Among the European artists who independently came to abstractionism in the post-war years are J. Fautrier, J. Mathieu, J.-P. Riopelle, J. Capogrossi, M. Esteve, A. Lanskoy, S. Polyakov, R. Bissière and J. Bazin. Especially influential in France in the postwar years were J. Bazin and R. Bissiere. Outlived all and continues to grow in price and popularity of the painting of N. de Stael, fluctuating, like the painting of Bissiere and partly of Bazin, on the fine line between complete abstraction and a hint of figurativeness.
In 1950, the first workshop appeared in Paris, in which the artists J. Devan and E. Pilet taught young people to get rid of realistic vision, create a picture using exclusively pictorial means and use no more than three tones in the composition, since “color determines form” (one must strive for to find the exact color). In the early 50s, A. Matisse created abstract compositions. Abstract painting by Dewan Apotheosis of Marat(1951) was received with great enthusiasm. Critics wrote that this is not only an intellectual portrait of a fiery tribune, but, in addition, “a celebration of pure color, a dynamic play of curves and straight lines”, “this thing is proof that abstraction expresses not only spiritual values, but also figurative art, can refer to historical and political events.
In the early 1950s, J. Mathieu's "lyrical abstraction" became popular in France. He owns a statement that reflects a new approach to art: “The laws of semantics operate on the principle of inversion: since a thing is given, a sign is sought for it, if a sign is given, it asserts itself if it finds an embodied one.” That is, first a sign is created, then its meaning is sought. In classical art, meaning seeks embodiment (primarily signified).
In the early 1950s, New York's Betty Parson Gallery, where the works of Hans Hofmann and J. Pollock were exhibited for the first time in the late 1940s, saw the emergence of new names Barnet Newman and Robert Rauschenberg.
The style of American abstraction of the 50s is different rectilinear geometry: B. Diller, A. Reinhardt, W. Kuning, F. Klin, M. Rothko, B. Newman, R. Rauschenberg (exception A. Gorki, partly M. Tobey and A. Gottlieb). This style is associated with the New York School, suddenly gaining international fame.
Art has always been, in one way or another, a means of self-expression. The personality, indirectly imprinting itself in the normative structures of the Great Styles, creates such structures for itself in modern times.
With the release of abstraction, the creative person received freedom. Uncorrected by someone else, the line, color, texture become the author's facsimile print. Theoretically, nothing prevents the imprinting of personality in plastic, graphic, pictorial projections, in which how and thu o merge together (“My drawing is the direct and purest expression of my emotions,” says Matisse. L "Aventure du XX siecle. Paris, 1998. P. 511).
On the other hand, the measure of alienation allowed by abstraction surpasses everything that existed before. The picturesque constructor of Suprematism presupposes the satisfaction of aesthetic needs, unprecedented in its possibilities.
As a style-forming factor, abstraction infinitely expands the possibilities of embodying two opposite essences - the unique and the universal. Texts, works of art of all times testify to the fact that the author, to some extent, always spoke about himself, but never so consciously, thoroughly and frankly, as in the 20th century.
In the sum of the factors (the invention of photography, scientific and quasi-scientific theories of color and light, etc.) that determined the main vector of changes in art in modern times the movement from naturalism to abstraction, the first place is occupied by the individualization of creativity its transformation into a direct projection of personality.
Direct projection of temperament gestural painting is born in America. The victory of the new art in America may seem unexpected, if one recalls the indignation of the Americans, who for the first time saw in 1913 a large exhibition of the European avant-garde. In the war and post-war period, Americans could be convinced that investments in art were reliable and profitable. Anyone who realized the profitability of contemporary art in time got a chance to become fabulously rich (Peggy Guggenheim, Betty Parson, etc.). Almost all the classics of the European avant-garde found themselves in the position of emigrants during the war in the USA. The most famous of the American abstract artists Pollock, a student of Mondrian, and his success is the success of the Betty Parson Gallery.
In the early 1960s, abstract art returned from America to Europe in a renewed form. “This becomes a discovery,” K. Millet writes, “for those who have not yet fully developed their artistic credo... First, abstract art (most often American) is studied through reproductions.” “Devad notes with humor that, having access to American painting only through photographs of the Artforum magazine, he chose the postage stamp format for work, while Vialla, on the contrary, thinking that Jackson Pollock uses a large format, increasingly increases the format of his works! Only a few, such as Devade or Buren and Parmentier, were able to see American painting with their own eyes "(Mille K. French contemporary art. Minsk, 1995, p. 156).
The first exhibitions of American painting in Paris were organized in the early 60s, the most representative, The Art of Reality (1968), deployed at the Grand Palais, was devoted entirely to abstract American art. American influence on European art dates back to the Cold War years. During these decades, the horizontally organized democratic structure is rigidly opposed to the vertically organized communist one. Abstract anti-normative art largely due to its rejection in the USSR becomes a symbol of free creativity that opposes figurative normative "socialist realism". During the Cold War years, a centralized structure not necessarily left or right was associated for the intellectual with the idea of suppressing the individual. At the state level, the epitome of an ideally organized structure are giant military monsters opposing each other, threatening the death of all living things. Perhaps here are the subconscious origins of new trends in abstract art - the trend towards decomposition, decentralization. These sentiments are embodied in American painting all over, which abolishes the composition of the frame of the picture, turning the painting into a colorful field or just a painted surface (Color Field, Hard Edge, Minimal Art).
The polycentric state of the artistic space presupposes the autonomous existence of a strong creative personality who is able to assert her own individual style, method, direction (we recall that in the 1950s the greatest masters of the first echelon of the avant-garde were still working A. Matisse, A. Derain, J. Marriage, P. Picasso and others).
In the second half of the 50s, the first abstract sculpture appeared, equipped with an "electronic brain", Cysp I Nicola Sheffer. Alexander Calder, after the "mobiles" that were successful, creates his own "stables". There is one of the isolated areas of abstractionism op art.
At the same time, almost simultaneously in England and the USA, the first collages appeared, using mass-produced labels, photographs, reproductions, and similar objects of the new pop art style. Against this background, the success of the modest expressionist Bernard Buffet seems unexpected. Its style (definiteness of forms, balanced composition) correlates with such phenomena as Fall of Icarus Picasso in the UNESCO Palace, abstract paintings by F. Hundertwasser, monumental style of K. Klapek, monochrome designs by M.E. Viera da Silva.
One of the first attempts at a structural analysis of postclassical artistic creativity belongs to Umberto Eco. Gesticulation painting by J. Pollock, according to Eco, leaves the viewer complete freedom of interpretation. Comparing such painting with "mobiles", the semantic games of poetry and musical compositions of the late 50s, Eco tries to identify the common structure of "free explosion" for them, in which, he believes, there is "a fusion of elements similar to that used by traditional poetry at its best, when sound and meaning, the conventional meaning of sound and emotional content merge into one. This fusion is what Western culture considers a feature of art: an aesthetic fact,” writes Eco (Eco U. L "Oeuvre ouverte. Paris, 1965. Op. on: L "Aventure de l" art au XX-e siecle. Paris, 1988, p. 597).
The art of the 60s is an explosion of innovation and the final recognition by museums of various non-traditional phenomena that appeared in the 50s.
The famous New York school of painting, which in the 50s became the highest authority in its field, began with an appeal to abstraction by its founders: J. Pollock, M. Rothko, W. Kooning. Until the second half of the 1940s, American painting remained unremarkable. Her provinciality and conservatism did not contain anything specific, except for a certain restraint, coldness and asceticism. Later, this legacy of puritanism found an outlet in the style of abstract expressionism.
In addition to those mentioned, American painting of the 50s is represented by the names of B. Diller, A. Reinhardt, M. Tobey, B. W. Tomlin, K. Steele, F. Klin, A. Gottlieb, B. Newman, G. Hoffman, J. Albers, R. Crawford. With a distinct difference in directions and individual manners, American painting of the 50s demonstrates clarity, certainty, unambiguity, and confidence. Sometimes with some redundancy taking on an aggressive character. Artists of this generation know what they want, are confident in themselves, firmly assert their right to self-expression.
In the painting of the 60s from this period, the least aggressive, static form remains - minimalism. The founder of American geometric abstraction, Barnet Newman, and in an even more obvious form A. Lieberman, A. Held, K. Noland, as well as B. Diller a little earlier, successfully develop the ideas of neoplasticism and suprematism.
A new trend in American painting, called "chromatic" or "post-painterly" abstraction, comes from the horizon of Fauvism and Post-Impressionism. Hard style, emphatically sharp outlines of the works of E. Kelly, J. Jungerman, F. Stella are gradually giving way to painting of a contemplative melancholic warehouse.
The style of Helen Frankenthaler, Maurice Louis is distinguished by soft contours, subtle color nuances, indefinite outlines. Geometric abstraction also moves into the register of rounded shapes (A. Lieberman, A. Held).
American painting of the 70s returns to figurativeness. It is believed that the 70s is the moment of truth for American painting, which is freed from the European tradition that nourished it and becomes purely American. What is happening looks like this, if only we consider that abstraction is alien to the American "national spirit". It is indicative that the protests against abstract art, which is essentially cosmopolitan and belongs to the world civilization, as a rule, proceeded and continue to proceed from collectivist ideologies that suppress the personality.
From the point of view of the ongoing transformation of style (from rigid geometry to biomorphism), the ongoing changes should be interpreted, on the contrary, as a departure from the fundamental Puritan virtues - asceticism, determination, firmness, certainty.
It is believed that American painting of the 70s is more "soulful" than "spiritual". “The painting of the seventies,” writes Barbara Rose, “is not only actually more diverse, more heterogeneous and pluralistic than the painting of the sixties, but it is also much more intimate, more poetic and more personal. Painting is once again filled with unique and subjective content" (Rose B. La peinture americaine le XX ciecle. Paris Zurich, 1992. P. 126).
In the painting of the 80s they see almost a complete "return to the aesthetics of realistic art." However, despite the return of traditional forms, from portraiture to historical and genre painting, nothing that appeared in previous decades disappears. It is not abstraction that has been overcome, but its canonization, the bans on figurative art, on "low" genres, and on the social functions of art.
At the same time, the style of abstract and abstract-figurative painting acquires a previously absent softness streamlined volumes, blurring of contours, richness of halftones, subtle color shades (cf. the works of E. Murray, G. Stefan, L. Rivers, M. Morley, L. Chese, A. Byalobroda). Does not disappear completely and hard style; it fades into the background and continues to exist in the work of the older generation of geometrists and expressionist artists (H. Buchwald, D. Ashbaug, J. Gareth, etc.).
Painting as a means of self-expression is not inferior to music in the embodiment of the “inexpressible”, and, if necessary, can be more specific than the word. Possessing in its entire volume the means of drawing and the plastic possibilities of sculpture, recreating the illusion of real and fantastic space, significantly surpassing sculpture in the possibilities of manipulating volumes, painting has its own unique means - color.
The possibilities of color, revealed by the French Impressionists, with the release of painting into abstraction, were deployed even more widely. The opinion that painting today is an anachronism exists because our age is the age of music, and also because, thinking about painting, we imagine a primed canvas stretched on a stretcher, covered with a layer of paint and varnish, a kind of museum exhibit . But painting is a process, a world of open possibilities of stopped moments, the appearance of longed-for images, adventures, confrontations, reflections, liberation from redundancy, filling insufficiency, it is an act of self-affirmation and a direct projection of intuition, a demonstration of mastery and the possibility of discoveries. Those who are lucky enough to enter the world of abstract painting and freely realize this opportunity know this especially well.
WASSILY KANDINSKY. PORTRAIT OF WIFE NINA WILLEM DE KOONING. ABSTRACTION
Seuphor M. Dictionaire de la peinture abstract. Paris, 1957
Ponente N. Painting moderne. Trends contemporary. 19401960. Skira, 1960
Valier D. L "art abstract. Paris, 1967
Art 1998. Chicago at Navy Pier. Chicago, 1998
Find "ABSTRACTIONISM" on
Single Barrel Pattern, William Morris
"Abstract", also called "non-objective art", "non-figurative", "non-representational", "geometric abstraction" or "concrete art", is a rather vague umbrella term for any object of painting or sculpture that does not depict recognizable objects or scenes. However, as we can see, there is no clear consensus on the definition, types, or aesthetic meaning of abstract art. Picasso thought that such a thing did not exist at all, while some art historians believe that all art is abstract - because, for example, no painting can count on being anything more than a rough summary of what it sees. painter. In addition, there is a sliding scale of abstraction, from semi-abstract to fully abstract. So while the theory is relatively clear—abstract art is detached from reality—the practical task of separating abstract from non-abstract works can be much more problematic.
What is the concept of abstract art?
Let's start with a very simple example. Take a bad (non-naturalistic) drawing of something. The execution of the image leaves much to be desired, but if its colors are beautiful, the drawing can amaze us. This shows how a formal quality (color) can override a representational one (drawing).
On the other hand, a photorealistic painting of, say, a home can show excellent graphics, but the subject matter, color scheme, and overall composition can be completely boring.
The philosophical justification for assessing the value of artistic formal qualities stems from Plato's assertion that: "Straight lines and circles ... are not only beautiful ... but eternal and absolutely beautiful."
Convergence, Jackson Pollock, 1952
In essence, Plato's dictum means that non-naturalistic images (circles, squares, triangles, etc.) have absolute, unchanging beauty. Thus, a painting can only be judged for its line and color, it does not need to depict a natural object or scene. The French painter, lithographer, and art theorist Maurice Denis (1870-1943) had the same in mind when he wrote: “Remember that a painting is before it becomes a war horse or a naked woman…essentially a flat surface covered with color collected in a certain order."
Frank Stella
Types of abstract art
To keep things simple, we can divide abstract art into six main types:
- Curvilinear
- based on color or light
- Geometric
- Emotional or intuitive
- Gestural
- minimalist
Some of these types are less abstract than others, but they all involve the separation of art from reality.
Curvilinear abstract art
Honeysuckle, William Morris, 1876
This type is strongly associated with Celtic art, which uses a range of abstract motifs including knots (the eight main types), interlaced patterns, and spirals (including the triskele or triskelion). These motifs were not invented by the Celts, many other early cultures used these Celtic ornaments over the centuries. However, it's fair to say that Celtic designers breathed new life into these patterns by making them more intricate and intricate. They later returned during the 19th century and were especially evident in book covers, textiles, wallpaper and calico designs like those of William Morris (1834-96) and Arthur McMurdo (1851-1942). Curvilinear abstraction is also characterized by the "infinite picture" concept, a widespread feature of Islamic art.
Abstract art based on color or light
Water Lily, Claude Monet
This type is illustrated in the work of Turner and Monet, who use color (or light) in such a way as to separate the work of art from reality as the object dissolves into a swirl of pigment. Examples are the paintings Water Lily by Claude Monet (1840-1926), Talisman (1888, Musee d'Orsay, Paris), Paul Serusier (1864-1927). Several of the expressionist paintings by Kandinsky, painted in his time with Der Blaue Reiter, are very close to abstraction. Colored abstraction reappeared in the late 1940s and 50s in the form of color painting developed by Mark Rothko (1903-70) and Barnett Newman (1905-70). In the 1950s, a parallel variety of abstract painting related to color emerged in France, known as lyrical abstraction.
Talisman, Paul Serusier
geometric abstraction
Boogie Woogie on Broadway by Piet Mondrian, 1942
This type of intellectual abstract art has been around since 1908. An early rudimentary form was Cubism, specifically Analytic Cubism, which rejected linear perspective and the illusion of spatial depth in painting to focus on its two-dimensional aspects. Geometric abstraction is also known as concrete art and objectless art. As you might expect, it is characterized by non-naturalistic imagery, usually geometric shapes such as circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, etc. In a sense, with absolutely no reference to or connection to the natural world, geometric abstractionism is the purest form of abstraction. One could say that concrete art is to abstract art what veganism is to vegetarianism. Geometric abstraction is represented by the Black Circle (1913, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg), painted by Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) (the founder of Suprematism); Boogie Woogie on Broadway (1942, MoMA, New York) Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) (founder of neoplasticism); and Composition VIII (The Cow) (1918, MoMA, New York) by Theo Van Dosburg (1883-1931) (founder of De Stijl and Elementarism). Other examples include Josef Albers' Appeal to the Square (1888-1976) and Op-Art by Victor Vasarely (1906-1997).
Black circle, Kazimir Malevich, 1920
Composition VIII, Theo Van Dosburg
Emotional or intuitive abstract art
This type of art embraces a combination of styles whose common theme is the naturalistic trend. This naturalism manifests itself in the forms and colors used. Unlike geometric abstraction, which is almost anti-nature, intuitive abstraction often depicts nature, but in a less representative way. Two important sources for this type of abstract art are: organic abstraction (also called biomorphic abstraction) and surrealism. Perhaps the most famous artist specializing in this art form was the Russian-born Mark Rothko (1938-70). Other examples include paintings by Kandinsky such as Composition No. 4 (1911, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen) and Composition VII (1913, Tretyakov Gallery); Woman (1934, Private collection) Joan Miro (1893-1983) and Indefinite Divisibility (1942, Allbright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo) Yves Tanguy (1900-55).
Indefinite divisibility, Yves Tanguy
Gesticulation (gestural) abstract art
Untitled, D. Pollock, 1949
This is a form of abstract expressionism where the process of creating a painting becomes more important than usual. For example, the paint is applied in an unusual way, the strokes are often very loose and fast. Notable American sign painting exponents include Jackson Pollock (1912-56), inventor of Action-Painting and his wife Lee Krasner (1908-84), who inspired him to invent his own technique, the so-called "drip painting"; Willem de Kooning (1904-97), famous for his work in the Woman series; and Robert Motherwell (1912-56). In Europe, this form is represented by the Cobra group, in particular Karel Appel (1921-2006).
minimalist abstract art
Learning to draw, Ed Reinhardt, 1939
This type of abstraction was a kind of avant-garde art, devoid of all external references and associations. This is what you see - and nothing else. It often takes a geometric shape. This movement is dominated by sculptors, although it also includes some great artists such as Ed Reinhardt (1913-67), Frank Stella (born 1936), whose paintings are large scale and include clusters of form and color; Sean Scully (born 1945) Irish-American artist whose rectangular shapes of color appear to mimic the monumental forms of prehistoric structures. Also Joe Baer (b. 1929), Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015), Robert Mangold (b. 1937), Bryce Marden (b. 1938), Agnes Martin (1912-2004) and Robert Ryman (born 1930). 
Ellsworth Kelly
Frank Stella
“When the acute angle of the triangle touches the circle, the effect is no less significant than that of Michelangelo, when the finger of God touches the finger of Adam,” said V. Kandinsky, the leader of avant-garde art in the first half of the 20th century.
- a form of visual activity that does not aim to display visually perceived reality.
This direction in art is also called "non-objective", because. its representatives abandoned the image, close to reality. Translated from Latin, the word "abstract" means "removal", "distraction".
V. Kandinsky "Composition VIII" (1923)
Abstract artists on their canvases created certain color combinations and geometric shapes to evoke various associations in the viewer. Abstractionism does not aim to recognize the subject.
History of abstract art
Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Natalya Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, Piet Mondrian are considered the founders of abstractionism. Kandinsky was the most resolute and consistent of those who at that time represented this trend.
Researchers say that it is not entirely correct to consider abstractionism as a style in art, because. it is a specific form of fine art. It is divided into several areas: geometric abstraction, gestural abstraction, lyrical abstraction, analytical abstraction, suprematism, aranformel, nuageism, etc. But in essence, a strong generalization is an abstraction.
V. Kandinsky “Moscow. The Red Square""
Already from the middle of the XIX century. painting, graphics, sculpture are based on what is inaccessible to a direct image. The search for new visual means, methods of typification, increased expression, universal symbols, compressed plastic formulas begins. On the one hand, this is aimed at displaying the inner world of a person - his emotional psychological states, on the other hand - at updating the vision of the objective world.
Kandinsky's work goes through a series of stages, including academic drawing and realistic landscape painting, and only then goes into the free space of color and line.
V. Kandinsky "The Blue Rider" (1911)
Abstract composition is the last, molecular level at which painting is still painting. Abstract art is the most accessible and noble way to capture personal existence, and at the same time it is a direct realization of freedom.
Murnau "Garden" (1910)
The first abstract painting was painted by Wassily Kandinsky in 1909 in Germany, and a year later he published the book “On the Spiritual in Art” here, which later became famous. The basis of this book was the artist's reflections that the external can be accidental, but the internally necessary, spiritual, constituting the essence of a person, may well be embodied in the picture. This attitude is connected with the theosophical and anthroposophical works of Helena Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner, which were studied by Kandinsky. The artist describes color, the interaction of colors and their influence on a person. “The psychic power of paint... evokes a spiritual vibration. For example, the color red can evoke a spiritual vibration similar to that which causes fire, since red is at the same time the color of fire. Warm red color has an exciting effect; this color may intensify to a painfully agonizing degree, perhaps also because of its resemblance to flowing blood. The red color in this case awakens the memory of another physical factor, which, of course, affects the soul in a painful way.
V. Kandinsky "Twilight"
“...violet is a chilled red, both in the physical and mental sense. Therefore, it has the character of something painful, extinguished, has something sad in itself. It is not in vain that this color is considered suitable for the dresses of old women. The Chinese use this color directly for mourning attire. Its sound is similar to the sounds of the English horn, flutes and, in its depth, to the low tones of woodwind instruments (for example, bassoon).
V. Kandinsky "Grey oval"
"Black color internally sounds like Nothing without possibilities, like dead."
“It is clear that all the above designations of these simple colors are only very temporary and elementary. The same are the feelings that we mention in connection with colors - joy, sadness, etc. These feelings are also only material states of the soul. The tones of colors, as well as music, have a much more subtle nature; they evoke much more subtle vibrations that defy words.”
V.V. Kandinsky (1866-1944)
An outstanding Russian painter, graphic artist and fine art theorist, one of the founders of abstractionism.
Born in Moscow in the family of a merchant, he received his basic musical and artistic education in Odessa when the family moved there in 1871. He brilliantly graduated from the law faculty of Moscow State University.
In 1895 an exhibition of French Impressionists was held in Moscow. Kandinsky was especially struck by Claude Monet's painting "Haystack" - so at the age of 30 he completely changes his profession and becomes an artist.
V. Kandinsky "Colorful life"
His first painting was A Motley Life (1907). It is a generalized picture of human existence, but this is already the prospect of his future work.
In 1896 he moved to Munich, where he became acquainted with the work of the German Expressionists. After the outbreak of the First World War, he returned to Moscow, but after a while he again left for Germany, and then for France. He traveled a lot, but periodically returned to Moscow and Odessa.
In Berlin, Wassily Kandinsky taught painting, became a theorist of the Bauhaus school (Higher School of Construction and Artistic Design), an educational institution in Germany that existed from 1919 to 1933. At this time, Kandinsky received worldwide recognition as one of the leaders of abstract art.
He died in 1944 in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Abstractionism as an artistic direction in painting was not a homogeneous phenomenon - abstract art united several trends: Rayonism, Orphism, Suprematism, etc., which you can learn more about from our articles. Early 20th century - a time of rapid development of various avant-garde movements. Abstract art was very diverse, it also included cubo-futurists, constructivists, non-objectives, etc. But the language of this art required other forms of expression, but they were not supported by figures of official art, moreover, contradictions were inevitable among the avant-garde movement itself. Avant-garde art was declared anti-popular, idealistic and practically banned.
Abstractionism did not find support in Nazi Germany either, so the centers of abstractionism from Germany and Italy moved to America. In 1937, a museum of non-objective painting was created in New York, founded by the family of the millionaire Guggenheim, in 1939 - the Museum of Modern Art, created at the expense of Rockefeller.
Post-war abstract art
After World War II, the “New York School” was popular in America, whose members were the creators of abstract expressionism D. Pollock, M. Rothko, B. Neumann, A. Gottlieb.
D. Pollock "Alchemy"
Looking at the picture of this artist, you understand: serious art does not lend itself to easy interpretation.
M. Rothko "Untitled"
In 1959, their works were exhibited in Moscow at the US National Art Exhibition in Sokolniki Park. The beginning of the "thaw" in Russia (1950s) opened a new stage in the development of domestic abstract art. The New Reality studio was opened, the center of which was Eliy Mikhailovich Belyutin.
The studio was located in Abramtsevo near Moscow, at Belyutin's dacha. There was an attitude towards collective work, which the futurists of the early 20th century aspired to. "New Reality" brought together Moscow artists who held different views on the method of constructing abstraction. Artists L. Gribkov, V. Zubarev, V. Preobrazhenskaya, A. Safokhin left the New Reality studio.
E. Belyutin "Motherhood"
A new stage in the development of Russian abstraction begins in the 1970s. This is the time of Malevich, Suprematism and Constructivism, the traditions of the Russian avant-garde. Malevich's paintings aroused interest in geometrized form, linear signs, and plastic structures. Modern authors have discovered the works of Russian philosophers and theologians, theologians and mystics, have accessed inexhaustible intellectual sources that filled the work of M. Schwartzman, V. Yurlov, E. Steinberg with new meaning.
The middle of the 1980s - the completion of the next stage in the development of abstraction in Russia. End of XX century marked a special "Russian way" of non-objective art. From the point of view of the development of world culture, abstract art as a stylistic direction ended in 1958. But only in post-perestroika Russian society did abstract art become equal with other areas. Artists got the opportunity to express themselves in not only classical forms, but also in the forms of geometric abstraction.
Modern abstract art
The modern language of abstraction often becomes white. For Muscovites M. Kastalskaya, A. Krasulin, V. Orlov, L. Pelikh, the space of white (the highest color tension) is filled with endless possibilities, allowing the use of both metaphysical ideas about the spiritual and optical laws of light reflection.
M. Kastalskaya "Sleepy Hollow"
The concept of "space" has a different meaning in contemporary art. For example, there is a space of a sign, a symbol. There is a space of ancient manuscripts, the image of which has become a kind of palimpsest in the compositions of V. Gerasimenko.
A. Krasulin "Stool and eternity"
Some trends in abstract art
Rayism
S. Romanovich "Descent from the Cross" (1950s)
A direction in the painting of the Russian avant-garde in the art of the 1910s, based on a shift in light spectra and light transmission. One of the early trends of abstractionism.
At the heart of the work of the rayists is the idea of "the intersection of the reflected rays of various objects", since a person actually perceives not the object itself, but "the sum of the rays coming from the light source, reflected from the object and falling into our field of vision." The rays on the canvas are transmitted using colored lines.
The founder and theorist of the movement was the artist Mikhail Larionov. Mikhail Le-Dantyu and other artists of the Donkey's Tail group worked in Rayonism.
Rayonism received particular development in the work of S. M. Romanovich, who made the coloristic ideas of Rayonism the basis of the “spatiality” of the colorful layer of a figurative painting: “Painting is irrational. It comes from the depths of man, like a spring springing from the ground. Its task is the transformation of the visible world (object) through harmony, which is a sign of truth. To work - to write in harmony - can the one in whom she lives - this is the secret of man.
Orphism
A trend in French painting at the beginning of the 20th century, formed by R. Delaunay, F. Kupka, F. Picabia, M. Duchamp. The name was given in 1912 by the French poet Apollinaire.
R. Delaunay "Field of Mars: Red Tower" (1911-1923)
Artists-orphists sought to express the dynamics of movement and the musicality of rhythms through the interpenetration of the primary colors of the spectrum and the intersection of curvilinear surfaces.
The influence of Orphism can be seen in the works of the Russian artist Aristarkh Lentulov, as well as Alexandra Exter, Georgy Yakulov and Alexander Bogomazov.
A. Bogomazov "Composition No. 2"
neoplasticism
This style is characterized by clear rectangular shapes in architecture (“international style” by P. Auda) and abstract painting in the layout of large rectangular planes painted in the primary colors of the spectrum (P. Mondrian).
"Mondrian style"
abstract expressionism
A school (movement) of artists who paint quickly and on large canvases, using non-geometric strokes, large brushes, sometimes dripping paint onto the canvas to bring out emotions to the fullest. The goal of the artist with such a creative method is the spontaneous expression of the inner world (subconscious) in chaotic forms, not organized by logical thinking.
The movement received a special scope in the 1950s, when it was headed by D. Pollock, M. Rothko and Willem de Kooning.
D. Pollock "Under different masks"
One of the forms of abstract expressionism is tashism, both of these movements practically coincide in ideology and creative method, however, the personal composition of the artists who called themselves tashists or abstract expressionists does not completely coincide.
Tachisme
A. Orlov "Scars in the soul never heal"
It is a painting with spots that do not recreate images of reality, but express the unconscious activity of the artist. Strokes, lines and spots in tachisme are applied to the canvas with quick hand movements without a premeditated plan. The European group "COBRA" and the Japanese group "Gutai" are close to Tachisme.
A. Orlov "The Seasons" P.I. Chaikovsky
By definition, we agree with Wikipedia, Abstractionism (lat. abstractio n - removal, distraction) or non-figurative or pointless a direction of art that abandoned the representation of forms close to reality in painting, graphics and sculpture.
The aesthetic concept of the first abstractionists was based on the rejection of the real form, which requires erudition and logical understanding from the viewer, in favor of expressing at least a pure emotional message. As a maximum, it was assumed that artistic creativity reflects the laws of the universe, hidden behind external, superficial phenomena of reality. These patterns, intuitively comprehended by the artist, were expressed through the ratio of abstract forms (color spots, lines, volumes, geometric shapes).
Rice. 1. V. V. Kandinsky. First abstract watercolor. 1910
The widely used term abstract composition comes from the field of education, where it defines the formulation of an educational exercise. The word "composition" is used not in the sense of compilation, but in the aspect of a finished work. Rather, of course, to talk about composition in abstract art. As the art of "personal experience", abstractionism in various periods of existence shocked the viewer, constituted the avant-garde of art, then ridiculed, condemned and censored, as art that does not have any meaning and degenerate. However, now abstractionism exists on a par with all other forms of art and, moreover, enters the special positions of the tasks of entrance tests when entering educational institutions for architectural and design specialties. As a test of the applicant's creative abilities, the abstraction test is very productive because clearly reveals creative thinking, compositional knowledge and the ability to express a theme in complicated conditions of a ban on recognizable forms of the surrounding world. Indeed, historically, working with the primary elements of the language of art (those geometric forms from which, by cutting off the excess in figurative art, objects of the visual world can be obtained), abstractionists turned to compositional principles common to all fine art. It is not surprising that abstractionists found application for their non-representational forms in industrial aesthetics (design), artistic design, and architecture (the activities of the Style group in the Netherlands and the Bauhaus school in Germany; the work of Kandinsky at VKHUTEMAS; architectons and design projects of Malevich; "mobiles" of Alexander Calder; designs by Vladimir Tatlin, works by Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner). The activity of abstractionists contributed to the formation of modern architecture, arts and crafts, and design.
Personally, the author is interested in an abstract composition only because it is easier to understand the psychophysiological laws of perception of the image by the viewer using the example of conditional abstract forms and put them into service when identifying the author's thought in the work. After all, in order to make your ideas intelligible for the viewer, it is logical to communicate in a pictorial language that is understandable to the viewer and the artist, as Doctor of Art History G.P. Stepanov wrote about. (Compositional Problems of the Synthesis of Arts, 1984). In the language of the universal human psyche gestalts by R. Arnheim (Art and Visual Perception. 1974), taking into account the physiology of viewing and processing what the brain has seen, which G.I. Panksenov (Painting. Form, color, image, 2007). This topic is described in detail by the author in the articles "" and "", which will increase the understanding of this article. Let us pay attention to the fact that even when the first ideas of a subject (genre or plot, associative-surrealistic, decorative, etc.) composition* are sketched, all objects in it are outlined by conditional spots or masses, which are then brought to recognizable forms by the method of “cutting off” the excess . The theory of composition unequivocally dictates that it is in the conditional masses of large and small, dark and light at the stage of the first implicit sketches that interaction, harmony, compositional center, means of expression should be found and carefully preserved until the end of the work on the work.
Rice. 2. Sketches of paintings. a) I.I. Levitan. Platform. Approaching train. Sketch. 1879. State Tretyakov Gallery. b) Spiridonov V. M. Multi-figured composition. Sketch 1941 Chuvash state. museum. in)
Kiparisov P. G. Mariykas are coming. Sketches for the painting "When the Lilac Blooms". Chuvash state. museum.
This approach brings together all aspects of composition (genre, abstract associative, decorative, etc.). Of course, in abstraction, we can only bring the viewer closer to some kind of psychological experience, mood, sensation, but this is not at all small for a work and an objective character. Therefore, understanding the composition in abstraction will expand the horizons of artists of figurative trends in art. It is from these positions that we put forward the hypothesis that understanding the connection between the psychological and the visual should become the basic principle for expressing certain sensations in compositional knowledge. This will allow the artist to more accurately express his thought and create a more powerful emotional impact on the viewer in a work of both a figurative and non-figurative nature.
However, do all draftsmen understand the principles of displaying certain sensations, this or that association, mood in a non-objective composition, what coded language should the author and the viewer use through the image?
*All fine art can be divided into objective and non-objective. Both sections can be represented as a combination of trends in art, for example, in abstract art, there are two large areas - geometric abstraction, based mainly on clearly defined configurations (Malevich, Mondrian) and lyrical abstraction, in which the composition is organized from freely flowing forms (Kandinsky). Within their framework, narrower currents can be distinguished, for example, tashism (painting with spots that express the unconscious activity of the artist), suprematism (combinations of multi-colored planes of the simplest geometric outlines), neoplasticism (painting in the layout of large rectangular planes painted in the main colors of the spectrum), etc. .d. In object painting, various approaches to depicting the most realistic form, action, time, and space intervene. For example, genre realistic composition, i.e. reflecting a certain genre of art (portrait, still life, landscape, animalistic, historical, battle, everyday, etc.) clearly adheres to Aristotelian unities - time, place, action. In such art, certain actors at a certain point in time in real space are united by one action. However, in object art historically there have also been such trends as surrealism, cubism, futurism and other “objective” avant-garde trends, where objects of the surrounding world with a significant degree of stylization (deformation, simplification, complication, etc.) or without it are depicted not in conditions of the real physical world, but as if in a stream of associative reflections of the author. In other words, there are real objects, but times, spaces can mix, color can be interpreted conditionally, and the form can be severely deformed. “Already the period of the proto-avant-garde at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries is characterized as a breakdown, a transition from the classical aesthetics of Aristotle, mimesis to a non-classical, anti-Aristotelian tradition.” But, with all this, the laws, rules, principles, means of expression are the same for all manifestations and produce the effect laid down by the author in any variants of an objective or non-objective image.
The purpose of this article is to attempt to describe the adequate principles by which human sensations are revealed in an abstract composition, and at the same time to explain the method of thinking about the expression of life sensations in composition using the example of standard tasks for teaching composition and shaping of tactile, taste, vestibular, etc. sensations. To do this, we analyze the features of composition in abstract art and give several examples with illustrations.
For the expression of statics in the composition are characteristic:
A heavy bottom and a light top is a psychological anticipation (expectation) of the alignment of forces in the sheet, which is due to the physical realities of life. In other words, from the habit of feeling a reliable support under your feet, and a light bright sky above your head. Therefore, it is better to lay the compositional center just below the geometric center of the sheet in order to strengthen the bottom, to draw the composition to the implied platform. The area of support felt associatively at the lower edge of the sheet must be large due to the physical law that a large plane gives a large friction force. In connection with the life experience of finding equilibrium stable states, it is necessary to emphasize verticals and horizontals as a compositional key or a dominant principle in composition. Nothing worth putting on the corner. Even triangles in compositions that introduce diagonals with their sides must be placed on a wide base, tending to isosceles and right triangles. According to the author, color does not affect vestibular sensations.
To express the dynamics in the composition are characteristic:
In connection with the prevailing "Arnheim" psyche gestalt, one can feel a light, bright sky above one's head; often, when viewing the pictorial plane, objects placed in the upper part of the sheet seem to be flying or falling. Therefore, it is better to lay the compositional center in dynamic compositions just above the geometric center of the sheet in order to shift the focus for the viewer, as it were, “to the sky”. We dare to suggest that dark and large objects, which are associated with gravity, seem to be falling, while light and light objects, by analogy with fluff, snow, steam, etc., seem to be flying. The support area at the bottom edge of the sheet is absolutely unnecessary. Unlike statics, the structure of a dynamic composition is most often a diagonal. There may be a spiral, but with a spiral, the impression of constant removal and flight must be “suppressed” with rhythm and scale. Please note that dynamics does not mean chaotic movement, but vector-directed, as if with a given acceleration. In other words, the depicted objects should appear to be flying (thrown with force) towards a specific target. Such static shapes as various rectangles should be placed at an angle, diagonally. The main means of expression is rhythm. By changing the distance from one drawn object to another, the artist can create a feeling of acceleration or deceleration, depending on how far the eye needs to jump from one object to another. At the same time, the effect of a long-term reduction in departing objects will also be a good help. Color does not affect vestibular sensations, according to the author.
Rice. 3. Examples of the image of statics and dynamics in a geometric abstract composition. a) Yuldasheva E. b) Lazareva V. c) Lazareva V.
The expression of the massive in composition is characterized by:
To express gravity in a sheet, it is better to lay the compositional center just below the geometric one. It is better to choose a horizontal format, as if “mundane”. In particular cases, for massiveness, the area of \u200b\u200bsupport should be, and the larger, the better (including the total of several heavy objects) due to the fact that a heavy mass is more strongly attracted to the ground. It is necessary to press the image to the bottom edge of the sheet. However, there may be various artistic tasks in which the massive should not be connected with the ground, then it should be limited only to a large scale in the sheet and a dark tone. There is probably no pronounced structure for creating massive compositions, but it is interesting to enhance the feeling of heaviness, stuffiness and pressure due to the fact that graphically you can pinch or crush a small object with large ones, by analogy with blockages. Try to depict objects tightly, without visible gaps between them. For weight sensations, tone is much more important: light or dark, than color. So to reveal the feeling of massiveness, dark tones should come to the rescue. This is again connected with life experience, which associatively links heavy tones with the severity expected before the experience (a priori). Including, figuratively, darkness is associated with difficult emotional states of a person. And since it is known from the color science course that each color can be matched with a tone that is appropriate in strength, dark colors of brown, blue, purple, dark green, dark burgundy colors and other dark shades of colors are naturally suitable for massive. The main means of expression is scale. This is again connected with life experience, which associates the huge size with the expected weight of the object.
To create a feeling of lightness in the composition is characteristic:
For a light compositional center, it is better to design a little higher than the geometric center of the sheet in order to connect the most important thing in the composition with something soaring, sublime. Even the format should most likely be chosen vertical. In special cases related to statics or stability, support points will be needed, but for greater expression of light structures, they should be point (not solid), visually thin supports, regardless of the area of \u200b\u200bthe support. However, there may be various artistic tasks of a dynamic nature. Then it is worth limiting yourself to expressing the idea with the help of scale and light tone. It is pointless to single out the pronounced structure of the composition here, but it is interesting to enhance the feeling of lightness by the abundance of “air” between the objects in the image. At the same time, the so-called “drawing through” or “through the object” will become an excellent artistic technique for emphasizing lightness, creating the impression of transparency of the depicted objects. It is also good to depict objects as hollow, associatively lightening their mass. To reveal the feeling of lightness, by analogy with the realities of life, light colors are suitable, by analogy with fluff, snow, steam, etc. And since it is known from the color science course that each color can be matched with a tone that is appropriate in strength, naturally lightness is associated with light shades of flowers: yellow, pink, orange, blue, light green. The main means of expression is scale. This is again connected with life experience, which associates the small size with the known lightness of the object.
Rice. 4. Examples of images of massive and light in a geometric abstract composition. a) Belyaeva E., b) Lazareva V., c) Yuldasheva E.
To create a sense of stability and instability in the composition, it is important:
These two themes are inextricably linked with the human idea of the plane of the earth, floor, podium, support. Of course, these planes do not have to be drawn, but they can be implied and emphasized by the concentration of lines. The stable will differ from the static only in the feeling that the static will stand for centuries, and the stability is a fleeting phenomenon. If the static, as we understand it, is difficult to destroy, then the stable is destroyed with little effort. In order to peremptorily present a sense of stability in the graphic design, the support area (including the total of several objects) may not be large, however, the total projection of the compositional center of the entire structure onto the plane of the intended “floor” should fall into the support area. On the contrary, if the projection of the center of gravity goes beyond the support area, then there is a feeling of collapse, fall, destruction. In this case, we recommend choosing a vertical format. To The compositional center should be higher than the geometric one.
Rice. 5. Examples of images of stable and unstable in an abstract geometric composition. a) Lazareva V., b) Yuldasheva E.
To express the taste sensations of sour for the composition, it is important:
In the author's opinion, color plays a huge role in expressing taste sensations. Bright colors of lemon, lime, pineapple, grapefruit, etc. are associated with sour life. Therefore, all coldish shades of yellow, green, emerald, blue, blue, and purple are suitable for us. Naturally, the listed colors may not be enough for the author-composer's idea. At the same time, you should not impoverish your composition with the listed colors. Only one rule should be remembered - 75% percent of cold sour colors and 25% others. It should be clearly understood that the more elements you bring into the composition from opposite sensations, the more extraneous associations you have, which contradicts the principles of the integrity of the composition, when each element should work to express the general idea of the author. Formation in the composition occurs again due to the images of real life. AT remember how you feel when you eat a lemon. The oral cavity seems to cut, prick, pinch, therefore, the forms in the composition should be used sharp, needle-like, sharp, rough.
To express the taste sensations of sweet for the composition, it is important:
Warm shades of yellow, green, at the same time orange, red, brown are associated with sweetness from life. With regard to other colors, exactly the same rule applies: 75% percent associated with a sweet taste and 25% other colors. To form the shape of objects in the composition, remember your feelings from eating sweets, up to cloyingly sweet. Soft curved curves, viscous, drop-shaped forms immediately come to mind, associations with squeezing jams, with flowing creamy layers between multi-layered cakes, may arise. You just need to start analyzing and transforming your own memories into lines and colors abstracted from objects.
Rice. 6. Examples of expression in an abstract lyrical composition of sour and sweet sensations a) in black and white graphics, b) in color. Ikonnikova E.
How to Express Joy and Sadness in Composition
Sadness in the drawing - these are dark, thick achromatic or tending to achromatic colors, a certain impersonality or boredom expressed by monotonous forms and the same distances between them, vertical rhythms, curved curves, the creation of the effect of "haze", nebula by special techniques, such as pointillo. Joy is a dynamic composition, asymmetric, the rhythms are constantly changing, as are the scales. All elements do their job: medium forms in relation to the format, as a rule, carry the main semantic load and create the main action, large elements in a composition have the property of uniting medium ones into a system, subordinating disparate elements, small ones are the “raisin” of each composition. With well-thought-out plastic phrases, they decorate the composition, like a small piece of jewelry in a wardrobe. Again, remember the attributes of the holiday and arrange dot lines similar to fireworks, rain, confetti, ribbons, claps, flashes, etc. Colors accordingly should be open bright.
Rice. 7. Examples of images in an abstract composition a) tactile, b) tactile, c) auditory and other sensations. Ikonnikova E.
We have done a great job, which is almost impossible to do perfectly due to individual perception. We did not touch upon the cultural, religious and social associations of people, only physical and physiological ones, common, perhaps, for the entire population of the globe. Here it was even more important to present a method of reasoning, which can later be applied to such tasks as expressing heat and cold, loudness and deafness, aggression or peacefulness, excitement and calmness, etc. The article touches upon important points of compositional knowledge, because to In teaching the professions of the architectural and artistic cycle, there are tasks for expressing sensations in abstraction, but the author does not know the fact of the presence of a clear supporting theory. Therefore, an attempt was made to give a basis from the author's personal developments for individual reflection, to search for the author's techniques of beginning artists. Let us draw the reader's attention to the fact that the article contains basic principles that are probably clear to professionals with experience and analytical thinking. And since one of the principles of composition is novelty (not in the sense that any author's development that did not previously exist in itself is new, but in the sense that its composition should be cardinally distinguished by individual finds from a monotonous mass), then to this basis each author needs to look for their individual developments. It remains to be said that the presented author's concept is not the ultimate truth, learn from your own experience, analyze, synthesize. Listening to the inner voice, oddly enough, is very important, how important it is to analyze the answer given to yourself and try to understand how to fix what you don’t like, or how not to spoil what you like. So the techniques and findings associated with a positive response over the years become a huge professional baggage, which is also cleared of unsuccessful tests associated with negative personal experiences and feedback from teachers.
A.S. Chuvashov
Bibliography:
1. Kryuchkova V. A. Abstractionism // Great Russian Encyclopedia / S. L. Kravets. Moscow: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2005. T. 1. S. 42-43. 768 p.
2. Sarukhanyan A.P. On the relationship between the concepts of "modernism" and "avant-gardism" // Avant-garde in the culture of the twentieth century (1900-1930): Theory. Story. Poetics: In 2 books. / Ed. Yu. N. Girina. - M.: IMLI RAN, 2010. - T. 1. - S. 23.
Abstractionism is a relatively young art movement. The year 1910 is officially recognized as the year of its birth, when the artist Wassily Kandinsky exhibited the first canvas in a new technique, painted in watercolor.
Representatives of abstract art take simple and complex forms, lines, planes as the basis for creating their own masterpieces and play with color. What happens in the end has nothing to do with real objects. This is a work that is accessible only to the superconscious through the sensory world of the individual.
For decades after the appearance of the first work in this style, abstractionism has undergone various changes, actively introduced into other avant-garde trends.
(Abstraction by Carol Hein)
Within the framework of abstractionism, artists created numerous paintings, sculptures, and installations. Separate elements have been used and continue to be successfully implemented, including in the interiors of modern premises.
Today, the abstract trend in art is divided into geometric and lyrical abstraction. The geometric direction of abstractionism is characterized by strict and clear lines, stable states. Lyrical abstraction is characterized by free form and demonstration of the dynamics set by the master or artist.
Abstract art in painting
It was with painting that abstractionism began its development. On canvas and paper, he was revealed to the world through the play of color and lines, recreating something that had no analogues in the real world of objects.
(...and a clearer abstraction by Carol Hein)
Bright representatives of abstractionism are:
- Kandinsky;
- Malevich;
- Mondrian.
Later, they had many followers, each of whom made his own artistic contribution, applying new techniques for applying paints and new principles for creating an abstract composition.
(Wassily Vasilyevich Kandinsky "Composition IV")
The founders of the direction, creating their masterpieces on canvas, relied on new scientific and philosophical theories. For example, Kandinsky, justifying his own artistic creations, appealed to the theosophical works of Blavatsky. Mondrian was a representative of neoplasticism and actively used pure lines and colors in his works. His paintings were repeatedly copied by many representatives of the field of painting and art. Malevich was an ardent supporter of the theory of Suprematism. The primacy in the art of painting was given by the master to color.
(Kazimir Malevich "Composition of geometric shapes")
In general, abstractionism in painting turned out to be a twofold direction for ordinary people. One considered such works to be dead ends, the second - they sincerely admired the ideas that the artists put into their creations.
Despite the randomness of lines, shapes and colors, paintings and works of art in the style of abstractionism create a single and holistically perceived composition by the audience.
Directions of art abstractionism
Works in the style of abstractionism are difficult to clearly classify, since this direction has many followers, each of whom contributed his own vision to development. In general, it can be divided according to the type of predominance of lines or techniques. To date, there are:
- color abstractionism. Within the framework of these works, the artists play with colors and shades, placing the emphasis in the works on the perception of them by the mind of the beholder;
- geometric abstractionism. This trend has its own strict characteristic differences. These are clear lines and shapes, the illusion of depth and linear perspectives. Representatives of this trend are Suprematis, neoplasticists;
- expressive abstractionism and tachisme. The emphasis in these branches is not on colors, shapes and lines, but on the technique of applying paint, through which dynamics is set, emotions are conveyed and the unconscious of the artist is reflected, working without any preliminary plan;
- minimalistic abstract art. This trend is closer to the avant-garde. Its essence boils down to the absence of references to any associations. Lines, shapes and colors are used concisely and to a minimum.
The birth of abstractionism as a trend in art was the result of the changes that hovered at the beginning of the last century, associated with numerous new discoveries that began to move humanity forward. Everything new and still incomprehensible needed the same explanation and way out, including through art.
