5x What is abstract art?

Abstract art is a form of expression that began in the early 20th century. It is characterized by the fact that artists increasingly distance themselves from the representation of real nature in their work and compose their works of art from non-representative or merely suggestive forms of objects, i.e. abstractly. That is why abstract art is also called "non-objective art" or "non-objective art".

Contemporary abstract art is divided into numerous modern styles with and without reference tohistorical art movements and is mainly applied to abstract painting and sculpture.

How did abstract art originate and who were its inventors?

The first painters and sculptors moved away from depicting the real world shortly after 1900. The career of Wassily Kandinsky is well known, which from stylized painting in the sense of Munich Art Nouveau, through numerous development phases, ultimately culminated in abstract compositions that culminated in the absolute non-objectivity of geometric shapes. Kandinsky laid the theoretical foundation for this new trend in painting in his essay "On the Spiritual in Art" from 1910. However, it is questionable whether he actually played a role in the history of the development of abstract art. According to his own statements he paintedhis first non-representational painting in 1910, but experts now assume that this work dates from earlier. It was probably not painted until 1913, although the Czech Frantiek Kupka had already made abstract paintings in 1911.

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What are the characteristic features of abstract art?

Abstract art offers many more design possibilities than representational art forms. While before, alonelandscapes, houses, people and animals were depicted, there is much more freedom in abstract art. In this modern form of expression, artists are concerned with the representation of inner worlds that are more versatile than the visually observable outer world. They challenge the viewer to become even more involved with their creation and to find out what they want to convey to him with it.

If no direct reference to reality can be established, the only option is the interpretation of the work of art itself. As an aid, the artist often provides a written legend that informs what he thought and felt during the production. Without this aid, even experienced art connoisseurs come to different opinions when interpreting one and the same work.

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Colour, shape and the material used are considered the most important building blocks of abstract art. Modern artists often claim that there is no comparison possible with figures and shapes innature. They attach great importance to the fact that their creations are the result of their creativity alone.

What are the motifs in abstract art?

Since 1910, abstract art has appeared in ever new stylistic variations. The diversity can be traced back to both lines of its origin: On the one hand, it arises from the free painterly development that stems from expressionism, founded by Wassily Kandinsky and continued by Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Hans Hartung, Jackson Pollock and other artists, and which was already prepared by Art Nouveau artists such as August Endell, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionisand Hermann Obrist. On the other hand, it is based on the geometrizing direction that began almost simultaneously with cubism, and to which the artists Mikhail Fedorovich Larionov, Kazimir Severinovich Malevich, Frantiek Kupka and Piet Mondriaan can be counted.

While the first of these original forms reached its most unfettered expression in informal art, especially from 1945 onwards, the other experienced its most strict attachment in the field of technoid constructivism, which further developed into concrete art. From the 1940s onwards, abstract painting was added, prepared by Paul Klee, with its own visual language of decorative, magical-looking pictorial signs and formal rhythms. The best-known representatives of this art movement include Willi Baumeister and several artists from the École de Paris.

What art movements are there in abstract art?

After its origins, abstract painting quickly divided into a number of different styles. The cross-style division into geometric abstraction (Theo van Doesburg, Piet Mondriaan, Kasimir Severinovich Malevich) and expressive abstraction (Wassily Kandinsky) or into a constructive-geometric and a lyrical direction mainly relates to external features, less to methodological differences. Surrealism also made use of abstract principles (cf. automatism). The American Jackson Pollock is considered the most notable representative of the art movement that later became abstract expressionism or actionpainting was mentioned. However, other modern artists, such as André Masson, a French surrealist, were pioneers.

Which art forms/types play a role in abstract art?

The main art forms in abstract art are painting and sculpture, which are considered synonymous. Both developed from the beginning of the 20th century. For both types there is an emergence of different expressions and design possibilities. Today, abstract art encompasses numerous different art styles and movements of the 20th century.

What art techniques are used in abstract art?

Action painting, made internationally known by Jackson Pollock, is a direction of modern painting in the field of abstract expressionism. It appeared in the United States in the early 1950s and is similar to European Tachisme or Informel.

Oil paint is also used for abstract art. This classical supreme art discipline is mainly applied to portrait painting, landscape painting, genre painting and still lifes. The durability of oil paint is as unsurpassed as the beauty of its colours. The term oil painting is derived from the fact that oil as a binder is the most essential element of oil painting.

In the field of abstract painting with oil paint and acrylic paint, the most important methods are the palette knife technique, the pouring technique, the drip technique (spraying the paint onto the canvas), the glazing technique and the mixing technique. In sculpture there are statues of steel, wood and sandstone, bronze casting and plastic sculptures. There is also collage and the use of different materials, known as mixed media.

Which artists are important for abstract art?

The painter Francis Picabia, France, and Wassily Kandinsky, Russia, created abstract works of art from about 1911 and aretherefore considered important pioneers of abstract art. However, this is by no means an invention of the 20th century. In the Jewish and Islamic world, painting has been following this path for many centuries. This is primarily due to religious beliefs, which in many respects do not allow for representation. Among the most notable representatives of abstract art are:

• Gerhard Richter, Germany, (* 1932)
• Wassily Kandinsky, Russia, Germany, France, (1866 - 1944)
• Jackson Pollock, United States, (1912 - 1956)
• Yves Klein, France, (1928 - 1962)
• Willem de Kooning, USA, (1904 - 1997)

What criticism does abstract art face?

Abstract art was highly polarized from the start. It was enthusiastically received and defended by those who encountered it, but there was also serious and polemical criticism. Even renowned art historians and artists were skeptical or dismissive of it.

Abstract art had a difficult time being received by both the public and art critics. Because of his deviation from the established concept of art and his renunciationof the representative performance, it met with the disapproval of the majority of the audience. Statements were made that it was not art and that neither craftsmanship nor artistic talent were required to create it. Critics polemically cited examples of wild chimpanzees to discredit abstract art.

Another point of criticism is that abstract painting, and especially abstract expressionism, was functionalized during the Cold War. For example, the accusation emerges that the CIA subsidized Jackson Pollock and other abstract expressionists in connection with the Congress for Cultural Freedom and inconsistent with the funding policies of the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. In exchange for Stalin's expansion of socialist realism in his sphere of power, abstract art offered a way to demonstrate political and artistic freedom and progressiveness in the devastated post-war Europe, without revealing an overt message of social criticism.

Which famous museums show abstract art?

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) contains one of the most important and influential collections of contemporary and modern art in the world. This art collection can be found in New York, in the Midtown district of Manhattan. Works of architecture and design can be found here, as well as drawings, paintings, photographs, illustrations, prints, sculpture, electronic media and films. The museum also has an extensive library with 300,000 volumes.