ABSTRACTIONISM

•The idea that the art comes from colors and geometric shapes rather than an idea

•Influenced by Fauvism, Cubism, and Music

•Wanted to change the process of making art from what you see, to the idea behind the art piece

HISTORY

•Began in early 20th century and into early WWII•Started around the time of the Russian Revolution

MAJOR ARTISTS

•WASSILY KANDINSKY•PIET MONDRIAN•KASIMIR MALEVICH

On White II, 1923

WASSILY KANDINSKY

• 1866-1944• Father of abstract

painting• President of the

avant-garde

“The tone of color, the musical tone and human movement themselves abstracted

from their outer meaning, will manifest their inner essence and their own sonority which

issues from it” -Kandinsky

Composition VIII , 1923

Accent on Rose, 1926

PIET MONDRIAN

• 1872-1944• “All painting- the

painting of the past as well as of the present-shows us that its essential plastic means we are only line and color”-Piet Mondrian

Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red 1921

Gray Tree, 1912

Broadway Boogie-Woogie, 1942-1943

KASIMIR MALEVICH

• 1878-1935• Apart of the Russian

avant-garde

“Only with the disappearance of a habit of mind which sees in pictures little corners of nature, Madonnas and shameless venuses,

shall we witness a work of pure living art” -Malevich

Suprematism, 1917

Black Relationship, 1924

Suprematist Composition: White on White, 1918

CRITICS

•Kandinsky failed to meet his own expectations • “his paintings do not achieve his goal of creating nonrepresentational works that would transcend mere decorations through their power to express ideas and emotions” •People didn’t accept his paintings or recognize it as art