Great Designers & Grid Interpretations By John Adamoli
Piet Mondrian is a famous Dutch painter who was born on March 7th, 1872 and died on February 1st, 1944. (Piet Mondrian) Piet Mondrian was one of the founding members of the De Stijl “the Style” movement along side Theo Van Doesburg. This movement used elements such as horizontal and vertical lines, rectangles, and the three primary colors Blue, Red and Yellow. Piet Mondrian would later become famous for his minimalist abstract paintings inspired by the De Stijl movement. (De Stijl Movement) Mondrian found his purpose and began these minimalist paintings focusing only on the material properties of paint expressing his ideas abstractly using line and color. (Piet Mondrian) Before the De Stijl movement artists had been creating realism images using three–dimensional figures in realistic settings. In 1912 Mondrian moved to Paris where he later discovered the work of Pablo Picasso who inspired Mondrian to try Cubism. (Chadwick) Mondrian wanted to solely focus on the material properties of paint and began this minimalistic style, which only used horizontal and vertical lines, rectangles and the three primary colors.
Mondrian believed this style of painting depicted the progressing forces of the human condition and the forces of nature. An example of this is Piet’s famous painting the “Pier and Ocean,” which reduced a landscape to just horizontal and vertical lines. Mondrian broke down his images of the world to just horizontal and vertical lines representing two opposing forces, such as masculine and feminine, positive and negative, and the dynamic and the static. (Chadwick) During his time with the De Stijl movement is when we see Piet Mondrian’s purist abstract forms. De Stijl was created after World War I and it emerged largely in response to the horrors that came from it. (Jirousek, Charlotte) The world didn’t need more three-dimensional figures to look at, it needed abstract that make the mind wander. The most simplistic forms using only three colors much like Mondrian’s abstractions. Mondrian’s work also reflects his association with the Theosophical society. In Theosophy, Lines shapes, and color symbolizes the unity of spiritual and natural forces. Mondrian composed opposites such as black and white or vertical and horizontal lines which where inspired by tension, and struggles. (Chadwick)
Piet Mondrian was inspired by Picasso’s cubism, which led him to his abstractions. After World War I ended the start of the De Stijl movement also inspired Mondrian’s abstract pieces. Mondrian wanted to create landscapes or café tables in its purist form by only using horizontal and vertical lines and the three primary colors red, blue, yellow. These abstract pieces I feel were inspired by the horrors that came from World War I and they represented the tension and struggles during the time.
Works Cited Chadwick, Stephanie. PhD “Mondrian, Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow.” Khan Academy, 2017. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/modernity-ap/a/mondrian-composition “Piet Mondrian Artist Overview and Analysis”. [Internet]. 2017. TheArtStory.org http://www.theartstory.org/artist-mondrian-piet.htm “De Stijl Movement Overview and Analysis”. [Internet]. 2017. TheArtStory.org http://www.theartstory.org/movement-de-stijl.htm Jirousek, Charlotte “De Stijl” [Internet]. 1995. http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl. htm
The surface of things give enjoyment
Their inferiority gives life -Piet Mondrian
The surface of things give enjoyment
Their inferiority gives life -Piet Mondrian
The Grid System is an aid
Not A Guarantee -Josef Albers
The Grid System is an aid
Not A Guarantee -Josef Albers
Abstraction is real Probably more real than nature -Josef Albers
Abstraction is real Probably more real than nature -Josef Albers
Deign Is More than
Just
A few tricks
to the eye
its a few tricks -Neville Brody
to the brain
Deign Is More than
Just
A few tricks
to the eye
its a few tricks -Neville Brody
to the brain