Abstract Art

Abstract Art
Table of Content
Introduction: Understanding Abstract Art (slides 1-12)
Part 1: What is Abstract Art?
Objective
Non-Objective
Part 2: Realism vs. Abstract
Part 3: Philosophies
Abstract Formalism (Classical/Intellectual)
Abstract Expressionism (Romantic/Emotional)
Abstract Expressionism - Noun vs. Verb
Part 4: Roots of Abstraction
Part 5: Abstract Formalism - Significant People
Part 6: Abstract Expressionism – Significant People
 Introduction
• I hate abstract art !
• Why ?
• What if all you had to listen to was
Classical Music – would you miss out?
• What if all you had to look at was Realistic
art - would you miss out?
• Can you relate art and music ?
– Realistic Classical Music
– Abstract Rap
 Composition
• What are some parts • What are some parts
to music? to art?
– Chorus – Repetition
– Verse
– Content
– Beat, rhythm
– Tone, notes etc…. – Movement
– Color
Understanding Abstract Art
• Since abstract art
first appeared, many
people had difficulty
understanding and
struggled to accept
it as art.
• If you are one of
these people – don’t
worry. This is an
attempt to explain
how to understand
and appreciate
abstract art. Willem de Kooning,
“Woman V” 1952-53
Looking at Abstract art is like
finding images in clouds.
• Have you ever
looked at the clouds
and found
recognizable
images?
• Understanding abstract art is in the eye
and spirit of the beholder – YOU

• Most people say that no matter what mood you’re in,

you can look at a piece of abstract art and still be able to
relate to it in some way –

• Everyone brings their own unique

interpretation to the abstract art.

Just like finding images in clouds

 How to look at abstract art.
Through a simple meditative practice, the viewer (you) take an active
part in creating the meaning of the artwork.

Try this method

• Simply sit back – close your eyes, relax – slowly open them and just
stare at the artwork.
• Don’t think – just stare…stay in the present moment.
• Ask yourself – what do you feel? Is it sad, angry, excited etc….
• Ask yourself – why does this work make you feel this way? Is it
because of the colors, lines, space, etc….
• Now – look at it more closely, can you put a concept, story or
meaning that is personal to you in this work through relating the
elements of the art with your life?
• Abstract art is all about what the artist feels and what
mood they might want to portray.

• Let me tell you about my college abstract expressionalism

painting experience……………….
 Draw from life….
• The word “abstract” simply means to “draw from”. Abstraction draws
from a life’s experience of real and imaginary images, from
knowledge and feelings, from emotion to devotion, the simple and
the complex, and mixes it with skill, discipline and excellence, to
create expression from the human spirit. When you look at abstract
work, don’t clamour for an image you can identify.
• Wait for a moment, let the work “speak” to you and allow you a
glimpse of what the artist was thinking, what he or she was feeling
and what the artist wants to say. Sometimes it’s just your reaction to
colors, or specific shapes, or an overall texture, that will be the
voice.
• Our brains our wired to learn through association. In order to make
sense of the world we need to connect the new information with our
past experience or memories. Let the elements (line, shape, color…)
guide you to this connection by responding to the emotions frist that
they bring to you.
• I believe one also can learn to acquire an understanding and
appreciation of abstract art, as much as one needs to acquire
understanding and appreciation of the classics.
 Impact
A note from an abstract artist.
• I just wanted to drop a line again and let you know how much my patients
and I are enjoying your painting. I am a clinical psychologist. Your painting
has become a spontaneous marvelous ink blot with people trying to see as
many different things as possible in it. I’ve been impressed with the
playfulness and creativity. Thank you again for this wonderful addition to my
practice. It’s taken on more meaning than a painting on the wall.”

• What a wonderful testimony to the power of abstract art. This is precisely

where the beauty of abstract art lies. The color, the texture, and the form do
not resemble anything the viewers are familiar with, but instead prompt the
audience to create a meaning in their imagination.

• The responses to the same painting will be as varied as the individual

internal worlds creating them. Therefore the question of “understanding” of
abstract art is pointless. It is not intellectual or objective. It is purely
emotional, subjective, and personal.
 Part 1

What is Abstract Art?

 What is Abstract
• Any art that is not Realistic

George Bingham, The Fir

Traders Descending the
Missouri, 1845

Thomas Eakins, The Chess

Players, 1876 - America
 It is………..
• an exaggeration of one or more
compositional elements:

Li Value
n
Shape
e Texture
Space Form
Color
 Types of Abstraction
1. Objective – artwork with recognizable
images.

Matisse, The
Blue Nude,
1952
Picasso, Head, 1960
2. Non-objective – artwork with no
recognizable images

Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950

Frank Stella, (The Science of

Laziness) 1984,
• We are in such a period now with the advent and
growing popularity of academies. Others stand
by modernism in all forms of abstraction, from
the absurd to the popular, pledging never to
return to those staid disciplines of yesteryear.

• Real abstract art ( somewhat of an oxymoron )

flourishes somewhere in between.
Understanding abstract art is not complicated.
Once you get past the void of decorative arts
and the volume of voices who claim “everyone is
an artist,” you will discover a rich tapestry of
emotion and thought that comprises abstract art.
• Realism presents the viewer an artist’s
interpretation or representation of the world in its
complexity and simplicity.
• Abstraction presents the viewer an artist’s
reaction to the world in its complexity and
simplicity.
• Realism expresses the outer world and abstract
expresses the inner world.
• Realism mimics the outer world in a variety of
styles and techniques whereas abstraction
expresses the inner world in a variety of styles
and techniques.
• Realism hopes to answer “what is it?” whereas
abstraction hopes to answer “what is it saying?”
 Part 3

Let’s go deeper…
Philosophies of Abstract Art
 Before we begin…
• Think of the two different kinds of rap
music.
– Rehearsed
– Free Style
 Philosophies
• There are two main concepts of abstract art.
– Abstract Formalism - Relies on the formal qualities of
composition and is produced with much thought and
preplanning. Classical / Intellectual – What is important
is the product, end result. Often resulted in art theories.
• Picasso (Cubism), Cezanne, Mondrian, Op Art …

– Abstract Expressionism – Relies heavily on emotional

impact, intuition and is often spontaneous. The artists
often starts with just a concept or idea and improvises
as he produces the art. Romantic / Emotional – What is
important is the process.
• Jackson Pollack, Jane Frank, Mark Rothko, Robert
Motherwell…
 Abstract Formalism
• Picasso, Mondrian,

Piet Mondrian, Composition with Yellow,

Picasso, Woman Playing Mandolin Blue, and Red, 1921, oil on canvas, 72.5 x
69 cm, Tate Gallery. London.
 Abstract Expressionism

Jaskson Pollock, "Lavender

Mist" from 1950

Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 70, 1961

Robert Motherwell (American, 1915–1991)
 Noun vs Verb
• Noun
– Abstract Expressionism –
style developed by certain
artist (see roots of
Abstraction). Mainly non-
objective, improvisational
work.

• Verb
– Art work can be abstract,
objective and have more
emphasis on expression.
 Part 4

Roots of Abstract Art

• In the late 19th century the traditional
European concept of art was the imitation
of nature which was abandoned in favor of
imagination and the unconscious.
What caused it to happen?
•Some say the concept was influenced by Russian artist
Wassily Kandinsky around 1910.

•Others say the movement began in

New York when people stopped
tolerating the social realism art,
produced after the WWII (1947) and
instead switched to abstraction.
 Part 5

Abstract Expressionism

Significant Artists
Significant People
Wassily Kandinsky
(1866-1944)
• He is considered one of the
“inventors” of abstract painting.
He began painting realistic but
evolved into abstract art.
• He believed in what he called the
“psychological and spiritual effects
of color, developing an art form
in which shapes and colors alone
became the important quality.

• “Painting should represent a

mood not illustrate an object.”
Wassily Kandinsky’s “Blue
Paintin” (1922)
Significant People (cont’d.)
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)

• Born in the Netherlands and later

moved to Manhattan in 1927

• Became friends with art critic John

D. Graham and painter Arshile
Gorky who got him started with
painting abstraction

• Became famous for his impact on

the abstract expressionism
movement in the 1940’s and was
recognized as a leader of it in the
1950’s Willem de Kooning
(1975)
Significant People
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)

• Moved to New York to study at

the Art Students League

• Worked for the Federal Art

Project from 1938-1942

• Invented the “drip” technique

• Artist of the most expensive

painting in the world in 2006,
“No. 5” (1948), that sold for Jackson Pollock’s “Blue Poles”
$140,000,000 (1952)
Significant People (cont’d.)
Franz Kline (1910-1962)

• Recognized as a very “spontaneous”

painter, focusing not on figures or
images, but rather on brush strokes
and use of the canvas

• Most famous for his black and white

paintings, which some say reference
to Japanese calligraphy

• Most modern architecture is said to

be modeled after Kline’s works Franz Kline’s “Painting
Number 2” (1954)
Significant People (cont’d.)
Fuller Potter (1910-1990)

• Painted landscapes and portraits

until he met Jackson Pollock in
1950 and permanently changed
his style of painting to abstract

• Never used the “drip” method

like Pollock did, but instead put a
lot of paint on the brush at once
and applied it liberally and
aggressively to the canvas

Fuller Potter (1969)

 Part 6

Abstract Formalism
Using one style of abstract formalism
– Cubism - and two examples of work
inspired by Cubism.
Significant People
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

• Pablo Picasso, born in Spain, was a

child prodigy who was recognized as
such by his art-teacher father.

• Recognized as the leader of Cubism.

Influenced by Einstein’s Theory of
Relativity

• Wanted to truly represent 3

dimension on a 2 dimensional
surface.
Pablo’s Picasso “Dora Maar
Au Chat” (1941)
• Periods: Rose, Blue, Analytical,
Synthetic
Other People Alexandra
Nechita’s
Alexandra Nechita (1910-1990) “Wine Taster”

• She was born in Communist Romania.

• Considered a child prodigy by art
critics, she has created a visual
language of her own in a modern
abstract expressionist and cubist
manner and creates unique, masterful,
dynamic compositions.
• Whit her innate sense of color, she
transfers images of what she sees, what
she imagines, and what she dreams, to
large canvases with sensitivity,
boldness, and a totally uninhibited
freedom.
• She is completely comfortable with all Alexandra Nechita’s
media. “Know Yourself”
Other People
Noel Cole (b.1957)

• Art teacher since 1980

• Inspired by Alexandra Nechita –

developed this piece for lesson/

Noel Cole’s “Clara and Jason”

(2001)
Result/Conclusion
What happened in the end?

• There really is no specific starting date of abstract art, much less an

ending date

• The movement, in all, has been over, but abstraction is now looked
upon as just another equally beautiful form of art

• There are many artists that still create abstract art today, and now
they have taken the ideas of it and applied it to other things, such as
architecture
Result/Conclusion (cont’d.)
What were the lasting effects?

• Abstract paintings and art have influenced many people

to not feel like they just have to paint portraits and
landscapes, but that they can just paint what they feel
and make their work actually mean something to them

• There are now tons of buildings, bridges, stairs,

monuments, etc. that have been created with an abstract
theme. Architecture as a whole has changed incredibly
since abstract art was introduced.
Result/Conclusion (cont’d.)
Abstract Architecture
Where did it happen?

“New York City”

 Look at Abstract art
• Like finding images in clouds
 Links
• http://drawsketch.about.com/od/drawinglessonsandtips/a/abstract.htm
(more on music and getting started with abstraction)
• http://www.artchive.com/artchive/abex.html
• http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/a/abstractexpr.html
• http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/tl/20th/abs-expr.html
• http://www.biddingtons.com/content/pedigreeabstract.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_expressionism