Abstract Art

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Abstract Art
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Abstract ArtTable 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

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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

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Composition

• What are some parts to music?
• Chorus
• Verse
• Beat, rhythm
• Tone, notes etc.

• What are some parts to art?
• Repetition
• Content
• Movement
• Color

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Understanding Abstract Art
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• Since abstract art first appeared, many people
  had difficulty understanding and struggled to
  accept it as art.
• If you are one of these people dont worry.
  This is an attempt to explain how to understand
  and appreciate abstract art.

Willem de Kooning, Woman V 1952-53
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Looking at Abstract art is like finding images in
clouds.
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• Have you ever looked at the clouds and found
  recognizable images?

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• Understanding abstract art is in the eye and
  spirit of the beholder YOU
• Most people say that no matter what mood youre
  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
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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.
• Dont think just starestay 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?

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• 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.

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Draw from life.

• The word abstract simply means to draw from.
  Abstraction draws from a lifes 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, dont 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 its 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.

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ImpactA 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. Ive been impressed
  with the playfulness and creativity. Thank you
  again for this wonderful addition to my practice.
  Its 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.

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Part 1

• What is Abstract Art?

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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
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It is..

• an exaggeration of one or more compositional
  elements

Value
Line
Shape
Texture
Space
Form
Color
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Types of Abstraction

• Objective artwork with recognizable images.

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

Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950
Frank Stella, (The Science of Laziness) 1984,
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• 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.

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• Realism presents the viewer an artists
  interpretation or representation of the world in
  its complexity and simplicity.
• Abstraction presents the viewer an artists
  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?

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Part 3

• Lets go deeper
• Philosophies of Abstract Art

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Before we begin

• Think of the two different kinds of rap music.
• Rehearsed
• Free Style

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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

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Abstract Formalism

• Picasso, Mondrian,

Piet Mondrian, Composition with Yellow, Blue, and
Red, 1921, oil on canvas, 72.5 x 69 cm, Tate
Gallery. London.
Picasso, Woman Playing Mandolin
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Abstract Expressionism
Jaskson Pollock, "Lavender Mist" from 1950
Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 70, 1961Robert
Motherwell (American, 19151991)
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(No Transcript)
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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.

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Part 4

• Roots of Abstract Art

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• 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.

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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.

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Abstract Expressionism
Part 5

• Significant Artists

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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 Kandinskys Blue Paintin (1922)
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Significant People (contd.)
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 1940s and was
  recognized as a leader of it in the 1950s

Willem de Kooning (1975)
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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
  140,000,000

Jackson Pollocks Blue Poles (1952)
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Significant People (contd.)
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 Klines works

Franz Klines Painting Number 2 (1954)
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Significant People (contd.)
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)
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Abstract Formalism
Part 6

• Using one style of abstract formalism Cubism -
  and two examples of work inspired by Cubism.

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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
  Einsteins Theory of Relativity
• Wanted to truly represent 3 dimension on a 2
  dimensional surface.
• Periods Rose, Blue, Analytical, Synthetic

Pablos Picasso Dora Maar Au Chat (1941)
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Other People
Alexandra Nechitas Wine Taster
Alexandra Nechita (1910-1990)

• 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 media.

Alexandra Nechitas Know Yourself
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Other People
Noel Cole (b.1957)

• Art teacher since 1980
• Inspired by Alexandra Nechita developed this
  piece for lesson/

Noel Coles Clara and Jason (2001)
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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

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Result/Conclusion (contd.)
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.

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Result/Conclusion (contd.)
Abstract Architecture
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Where did it happen?
New York City
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Look at Abstract art

• Like finding images in clouds

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Links

• http//drawsketch.about.com/od/drawinglessonsandti
  ps/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.h
  tml
• http//www.biddingtons.com/content/pedigreeabstrac
  t.html
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_expressionis
  m