Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective (non-representational) compositions. Although the genre was popularized by avant-garde artists in the early twentieth century, similar motifs have been used in art since ancient times.

History

Geometric abstraction is present among many cultures throughout history both as decorative motifs and as art pieces themselves.

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide r ...

, in its prohibition of depicting religious figures, is a prime example of this geometric pattern-based art, which existed centuries before the movement in Europe and in many ways influenced this Western school. Aligned with and often used in the architecture of Islamic civilations spanning the 7th century-20th century, geometric patterns were used to visually connect spirituality with science and art, both of which were key to Islamic thought of the time.

Scholarly analysis

Piet Mondriaan, 1939-1942 - Composition 10

Throughout 20th-century art historical discourse, critics and artists working within the reductive or pure strains of abstraction have often suggested that geometric abstraction represents the height of a non-objective art practice, which necessarily stresses or calls attention to the root plasticity and two-dimensionality of painting as an artistic medium. Thus, it has been suggested that geometric abstraction might function as a solution to problems concerning the need for modernist painting to reject the illusionistic practices of the past while addressing the inherently two dimensional nature of the picture plane as well as the canvas functioning as its support. Wassily Kandinsky, one of the forerunners of pure non-objective painting, was among the first modern artists to explore this geometric approach in his abstract work. Other examples of pioneer abstractionists such as Kasimir Malevich and

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...

have also embraced this approach towards abstract painting. Mondrian's painting "Composition No. 10" (1939–1942) clearly defines his radical but classical approach to the construction of horizontal and vertical lines, as Mondrian wrote, "constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm." Just as there are both two-dimensional and three-dimensional geometries, the abstract sculpture of the 20th century was of course no less affected than painting by geometricizing tendencies.

Georges Vantongerloo Georges Vantongerloo (24 November 1886, Antwerp – 5 October 1965, Paris) was a Belgian abstract sculptor and painter and founding member of the De Stijl group. Life From 1905 to 1909 Vantongerloo studied Fine Art at the Fine Art Academies in ...

and Max Bill, for example, are perhaps best known for their geometric sculpture, although both of them were also painters; and indeed, the ideals of geometric abstraction find nearly perfect expression in their titling (e.g., Vantongerloo's "Construction in the Sphere") and pronouncements (e.g., Bill's statement that "I am of the opinion that it is possible to develop an art largely on the basis of mathematical thinking.") Expressionist abstract painting, as practiced by artists such as

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a ho ...

, Franz Kline, Clyfford Still, and Wols, represents the opposite of geometric abstraction.

Relationship with music

Abstract art has also historically been likened to

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

in its ability to convey emotional or expressive feelings and ideas without reliance upon or reference to recognizable objective forms already existent in reality. Wassily Kandinsky has discussed this connection between music and painting, as well as how the practice of classical composition had influenced his work, at length in his seminal essay ''Concerning the Spiritual in Art''.

Selected artists

Artists who have worked extensively in geometric abstraction include: * Nadir Afonso * Josef Albers * Richard Anuszkiewicz * Mino ArgentoThe Archives of American Art, Smithsonian, Betty Parsons Gallery Papers, Reel 4087–4089: Exhibition Records, Reel 4108: Artists Files, last names A-B. * Hans Arp * Rudolf Bauer * Willi Baumeister * Karl Benjamin * Max Bill * Ilya Bolotowsky * Patrick Henry Bruce * Kenneth Wayne Bushnell * Norman Carlberg * Ilya Chashnik * Joseph Csaky * Nassos Daphnis * Ronald Davis * Robert Delaunay * Sonia Delaunay *

Tony DeLap Tony DeLap (November 4, 1927 – May 29, 2019) was a West Coast artist, known for his abstract sculpture utilizing illusionist techniques and meticulous craftsmanship. As a pioneer of West Coast minimalism and Op Art, DeLap's oeuvre is a testa ...

* Jean Dewasne * Burgoyne Diller *

David Diao David Diao (born 1943) is a Chinese American artist and teacher based in New York City. Background Diao 刁德谦 was born in Chengdu, in China. Several years of his childhood were spent in Hong Kong, at the moment of the revolution in October ...

* Ding Yi * Theo van Doesburg *

Thomas Downing Thomas Downing may be: * Thomas Downing (restaurateur) (1791–1866), American abolitionist and restaurateur * Thomas Downing (athlete) (1883–1943), Irish middle distance runner *Thomas Downing (painter) (1928–1985), American painter *Thomas N. ...

* Lorser Feitelson * María Freire *

Günter Fruhtrunk Günter Fruhtrunk (1 May 1923 – 12 December 1982) was a German geometric abstract painter and printmaker whose work relates to op art. Born in Munich, Fruhtrunk studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule in Munich, which he gave u ...

* Albert Gleizes * Frederick Hammersley * Erwin Hauer * Mary Henry * Gottfried Honegger *

Bryce Hudson Bryce Hudson (March 29, 1979, Rabat, Morocco) is a Moroccan-American Neo-plasticist (De Stijl) painter. Hudson's early geometric paintings explore race and stereotypes through means of the Geometric abstraction style. Later in his career, inf ...

* Al Held * Auguste Herbin * Carmen Herrera * Hans Hofmann * Budd Hopkins * Wassily Kandinsky * Ellsworth Kelly * Hilma af Klint * Ivan Kliun * František Kupka *

Pat Lipsky Pat Lipsky is an American painter associated with Lyrical Abstraction and Color Field, Color Field Painting. Education Lipsky grew up in New York City. She graduated with a BFA from Cornell University in 1963, receiving an Master of Fine Arts, MF ...

* El Lissitzky * Michael Loew * Peter Lowe *

Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Severinovich Malevich ; german: Kasimir Malewitsch; pl, Kazimierz Malewicz; russian: Казими́р Севери́нович Мале́вич ; uk, Казимир Северинович Малевич, translit=Kazymyr Severynovych ...

* Agnes Martin *

Kenneth Martin Kenneth or Ken Martin may refer to: * Kenneth Martin (English painter), English painter and sculptor * Ken Martin (Australian sculptor) * Kenneth Martin (judge), Australian judge * Kenneth Martin (cricketer), New Zealand cricketer * Ken Martin (a ...

* John McLaughlin *

Peter Hugo McClure Peter Hugo McClure (born August 19, 1947) is a British artist, poet and architect who is classified as a Geometric abstractionist. History Peter was born in an RAF hospital in Venice, Italy to a Scottish Father and Serbian Mother. He studied Ar ...

* László Moholy-Nagy * Vera Molnár *

François Morellet François Morellet (30 April 1926 – 10 May 2016) was a French contemporary abstract painter, sculptor, and light artist. His early work prefigured minimal art and conceptual art and he played a prominent role in the development of geometrical ...

* Aurélie Nemours * Barnett Newman * Kenneth Noland *

Alejandro Otero Alejandro Otero (El Manteco, Bolívar, March 7, 1921 — Caracas, August 13, 1990) was a Venezuelan painter of Geometric abstraction, a sculptor, a writer and a cultural promoter. He was a founding member of the Los Disidentes group. Early lif ...

* Rinaldo Paluzzi * I. Rice Pereira * Francis Picabia * Ad Reinhardt * Jack Reilly * Bridget Riley *

Ivo Ringe Ivo Ringe (born July 5, 1951) is a German artist, who is classified as a concrete art painter. He is also a docent and a curator of international group exhibitions. Life and work In 1972 Ringe began studying sculpture at the Kunstakademie D ...

* Alexander Rodchenko * Morgan Russell * Sean Scully *

Victor Servranckx Victor Servranckx (26 June 1897 – 11 December 1965) was a Belgian abstract painter and designer. He was born in Diegem (Machelen) and studied from 1913 to 1917 at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. There, in 1916, he met Re ...

Leon Polk Smith Leon Polk Smith (1906–1996) was an American painter. His geometrically oriented abstract paintings were influenced by Piet Mondrian and he is a follow er of the Hard-edge school. His best-known paintings constitute maximally reduced forms, c ...

* Henryk Stażewski * Jeffrey Steele * Frank Stella *

Adam Szentpétery Szentpétery Ádám (; born 24 February 1956) is a Hungarian artist in Slovakia and the Department Head/Professor of the Studio of Contemporary Image at the Faculty of Arts at the Technical University of Košice, Slovakia. He is known primarily ...

* Sophie Taeuber-Arp * Leo Valledor *

* Victor Vasarely *

Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart (November 17, 1899, Osnabrück, Germany – December 19, 1962, Ulm) was a German Neo-plasticist (De Stijl) painter. He was one of the first painters to work for his entire career within an abstract style. ...

* Charmion von Wiegand * Zanis Waldheims * Gordon Walters * Neil Williams * Stanton Macdonald-Wright *

Larry Zox Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment *Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone, ...

References

External links