De stijl

2/3/2014

ART HISTORY 4450 De Stijl (Neo-Plasticism)

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) • • •

•

•

•

biography: Dutch; son of a painter training: Academy for Fine Art (Amsterdam 1892) early work: naturalistic – succession of stylistic influences (e.g., academic realism, Impressionism, PostImpressionism, Symbolism) – subject: single flower vs. bouquet • in an effort to “better express its plastic structure” method: inspired by Cézanne – breaking down compositional elements into facets of color context: Theosophy – type of philosophical mysticism – seeks to disclose concealed essences of reality – Blavatsky  believed possible to attain profound knowledge of nature than provided by empirical means • M's work for rest of his life inspired by search for spiritual knowledge career: moves to FR when WWI ended in 1918 – remains until 1938; emigrates to London – emigrates to USA (1940)

1

2/3/2014

Mondrian’s The Farm (1905)

Mondrian’s Haystacks (1908) vs.

Monet’s Haystacks (c. 1890s)

2

2/3/2014

Mondrian’s Chrysanthemum (1908) vs. van Gogh’s Post-Impressionist Irises (c. 1890)

Neo-Plasticism •

•

•

aim: to take Cubism to logical conclusion – by uniting material and spiritual worlds through an art of pure geometry early work: painter of nature – gradually abstracted forms – attention to surface texture – rigid form of abstraction • rules allow only for canvas subsected into rectangles by horizontal and vertical lines mature style: “non-objective” (c. 1920) – strictly imposed set of limitations – surface grid of horizontal and vertical lines – basic shapes  rectangle & square – color scheme  very limited palette (primaries + black/white)

3

2/3/2014

(Left) Mondrian’s Still-life w/ Gingerpot #1 (1911) vs. (right) Mondrian’s Still-life w/ Gingerpot #2 (1912)

(Left) Mondrian’s Red Tree (1908) vs. (right) Mondrian’s Gray Tree (1911)

4

2/3/2014

(Left) Mondrian’s Gray Tree (1911) vs.

Mondrian’s Composition in Line and Color (1913)

Mondrian

•

Composition No. VII (1913) – – –

–

aesthetic: non-objective forms: geometric; eschew any suggestion of volume or depth method: Cubist methodology • scaffolding of interlocking black lines & planes of color • fades at painting’s edges color: ocher/gray tones resemble Cubism

5

2/3/2014

Mondrian •

Composition No. VIII (1914) – – – –

aesthetic: non-objective • limited to line, shape, color color: introduces pastels forms: includes arcs arrangement: horizontal-vertical • did not have an exclusively pictorial function, as it did for Cubists • carried mystical implications (see Theosophy) – basic oppositional principles – interact to produce a state of universal harmony

Mondrian

•

Composition in Gray and Ochre – – – – –

–

date: 1918 aesthetic: non-objective meaning: mystical implications (see Theosophy) forms: eliminates curvature arrangement: horizontal-vertical grid becomes more concrete • extends to canvas edge color: muted neutrals, secondaries & complimentaries

6

2/3/2014

Mondrian

•

Composition (1920) –

– – –

–

–

aesthetic: non-objective • austere • iconoclastic theme: renounces world of appearances subject: formal elements of line, shape, and color placed on 2-d canvas composition: irregular • areas do not repeat • thickness of lines varies spatial order: depth implied solely by overlapping lines & forms on flat plane of canvas color: primaries • pushed out to perimeter • unbound by edges

(Left) Lozenge Composition (1921) vs. (right) Fox Trot; Lozenge Composition with Three Black Lines (1929)

7

2/3/2014

Mondrian

•

Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942-3) – –

–

– –

aesthetic: non-objective forms: • identical, small squares • retains strict horizontals and verticals composition: dynamic movement • corresponds to new life in NYC (e.g., jazz, grid of city) color: primaries & white spatial order: 2-d flatness of canvas

(Left) Trowbridge’s Post-Modern Politics of Time (2012) vs. (right) Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942-43)

8

2/3/2014

IMAGE INDEX •

Slide 3:

•

Slide 4:

•

Slide 5:

•

Slide 6:

•

Slide 7:

•

Slide 8:

MONDRIAN, Piet. The Farm (1905), charcoal on paper, 43.8 x 60.1cm., The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.

(Left) MONDRIAN’S Chrysanthemum (1906), oil on canvas, 41.5 x 38.5cm., Cleveland Museum of Art; and (right) VAN GOGH’S Post-Impressionist Irises (c. 1890).

(Left) MONDRIAN’s Haystacks (1908); and (right) MONET’s Haystacks (c. 1890s).

MONDRIAN, Piet. Chrysanthemum (1908), crayon on paper, 36.5 x 50.3 cm., Private collection; and (right) VAN GOGH’s Post-Impressionist Irises (c. 1890).

(Left) Mondrian’s Still-life w/ Gingerpot #1 (1911) Oil on canvas, 25 3/4 x 29 1/2 in., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and (right) Mondrian’s Still-life w/ Gingerpot #2 (1912), Oil on canvas, 37 1/2 x 47 1/8 inches.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

(Left) MONDRIAN’s Red Tree (1908), Oil on canvas, 30 7/8 x 42 3/8 in., Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; and (right) MONDRIAN’s Gray Tree (1911), Oil on canvas, (30 7/8 x 42 3/8 in., Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague.

IMAGE INDEX •

Slide 9:

•

Slide 10:

•

Slide 11:

•

Slide 12:

•

Slide 13:

(Left)) MONDRIAN’s Gray Tree (1912); and (right) MONDRIAN. Composition in Line and Color (1913), Oil on canvas, 34 5/8 x 45 1/4 in., Riksmuseum, the Netherlands.

MONDRIAN, Piet. Composition No. VII (1913), Oil on canvas, 41 1/8 x 43 3/4 in., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

MONDRIAN, Piet. Composition VIII (1914), Oil on canvas, 37 1/8 x 21 7/8 in., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

MONDRIAN, Piet. Composition in Gray and Ochre (1918), oil on canvas, 80.5 x 49.5 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. MONDRIAN, Piet. Composition in Red, Yellow, and Blue (c.

1920), Oil on canvas, 20 1/2 x 23 1/2 in., Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

9

2/3/2014

IMAGE INDEX •

Slide 14:

•

Slide 15:

MONDRIAN, Piet. Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray (1921), Oil on canvas, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in., Vertical axis 33 1/4 in., The Art Institute of Chicago; and (right) Fox Trot; Lozenge Composition with Three Black Lines (1929), Oil on canvas, 30 3/4 x 30 3/4 in., Vertical axis 43 1/4 in., Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT. MONDRIAN, Piet. Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942-43), Oil on canvas, 50 x 50 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

10