Mondrian Modern Art

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MondrianModern Art
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Composition in Yellow Light Brown
Modern Art

• Modern art usually refers to art created after
  1900.
• In modern art, artists tend to reject the
  artistic traditions of the past.
• There is a lot of experimentation in Modern Art
  in terms of subject matter, materials used, as
  well as in methods of expression.
• Modern art moves further into the abstract and is
  more interested in expressing and evoking emotion
  than in a faithful representation of what the eye
  can see.
• How is this painting modern?
• What makes this work different from anything else
  weve seen so far?
• Is this art? Why or why not?

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The Red Tree
Piet Mondrian

• Piet Mondrian was born in the Netherlands in 1872
  and died in New York in 1944.
• Mondrians father was a headmaster and amateur
  artist, and Mondrian began drawing at a very
  early age.
• Mondrian initially became a primary school
  teacher and painted in his spare time. In 1892,
  he moved to Amsterdam and studied at the National
  Academy of Art.
• His paintings were initially traditionally
  landscapes, but his style evolved to the more
  abstract. By 1910, he was regarded as one of the
  finest avant-garde painters in the Netherlands.

This painting was done in 1909. Mondrian was
already well-known as a modern artist, but he had
not yet developed what would become his signature
style.
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Composition in Red, Yellow and Blue

• In Amsterdam in 1911, he saw an exhibit of
  Picassos cubist work. This so moved him that he
  moved to Paris to immerse himself in the work of
  his contemporaries.
• He returned to Holland in 1914 for a visit, but
  while he was there, WWI broke out, and he did not
  return to Paris until after the war had ended.
• Upon his return to Paris in 1919, Mondrian began
  creating his signature style of gridded artwork.
  
• Not surprisingly, Mondrian was excessively
  compulsive. He liked extreme order in his life
  and studio and was very uncomfortable when
  anything was out of place.
• What do you see in this painting?
• Notice the white dots that appear at the
  intersection of the black lines.

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Composition in Black Red

• Mondrian founded an art movement called De Stijl
  (The Style) in 1917. This movement is also
  known as neoplasticism.
• Neoplasticism advocated
• pure abstraction
• a reduction in art to use only the essentials of
  form and color
• use of only primary colors, black white
• only straight horizontal or vertical lines.
• Neoplasticism seems to be a very rigid style.
• Do you think that a style can be so restrictive
  and still produce art?
• Do you think that anyone practicing the
  Neoplastic style could create something original,
  or would they only be copying Mondrian?

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Broadway Boogie-Woogie

• This is Mondrian's last completed work and is
  considered by many to be his greatest.
• This painting is meant to represent the restless
  motion of the city.
• Notice the way the lines seem to jump when you
  look at the painting.
• Some critics have suggested that this painting is
  meant to represent the neon lights on Broadway,
  others have said that the grid pattern mimics the
  city itself.
• What do you think? If you didnt know the title
  of the painting, would this evoke a city-feel
  to you?
• Is this art?

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Composition in Red, Blue and Yellow
Mondrian wrote

• I construct lines and color combinations on a
  flat surface, in order to express general beauty
  with the utmost awareness. Nature (or, that which
  I see) inspires me, puts me, as with any painter,
  in an emotional state so that an urge comes about
  to make something, but I want to come as close as
  possible to the truth and abstract everything
  from that, until I reach the foundation (still
  just an external foundation!) of things
• I believe it is possible that, through horizontal
  and vertical lines constructed with awareness,
  but not with calculation, led by high intuition,
  and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic
  forms of beauty, supplemented if necessary by
  other direct lines or curves, can become a work
  of art, as strong as it is true. What do you
  think?

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Composition in Red, Yellow, Blue and Black

• Mondrian believed that by pursuing pure
  abstraction in art, the artist could free himself
  from the attachments of the external.
• He believed that copying nature was limiting, and
  that spiritual truth had to be found outside
  nature in the simplicity of lines and color.
• Mondrians style has become iconic. You see it
  everywhere from architecture to fashion.
• Why do you think that Mondrians aesthetic is so
  popular and enduring?
• Do you think that as we embrace Mondrians style
  we are reaching for a connection with the
  spiritual that is missing in the natural world
  whether we know it or not?
• Do you have to believe in Mondrians theory of
  art to enjoy his art?
• Do you have to believe it to understand his art?