Abstractionism emerged in the late 19th/early 20th centuries led by artists like Kandinsky, Malevich, and Mondrian who moved away from realistic representations towards geometric shapes and colors to represent emotions/ideas rather than physical objects. Key movements included Suprematism founded by Malevich using basic shapes without context, and De Stijl founded by Mondrian using only primary colors and horizontal and vertical lines. Mondrian's style evolved from Cubism into his signature grid-based geometric compositions divided by black lines and primary colors which came to define geometric abstractionism.

1. Prithvi, Natalie, Jason 3rd Hour
Piet Mondrian, Composition with Yellow,
Blue, and Red, 1937–42,

2. What is Abstractionism?
 Based largely around 3 artists-
Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir
Malevich, and Piet Mondrian
 Time period is approximately
from late 1800’s into the early
1900’s, intertwined with many
other time periods.
 Influences: chemistry, physics, Kandinsky Red Oval
psychology, philosophy,
poetry, and music

3. Meaning
 Abstractionism is a departure from reality
 Relationships of forms and colors
 Forms: institutional, emotional, organic,
curvilinear, decorative, romantic, or focuses on the
mystical
 Artists draw their inner world

4. Meaning
 Pure abstraction is non
objective and non
representational
 Figurative abstractions
represent non visual things-
sound emotion, spiritual
 Figurative abstractions
simplifications of reality,
where detail is eliminated
from recognizable objects
leaving only some degree of
recognizable form.
A Peasant In The Field (1928)
Malevich

5. De Stijl Movement
 Movement within the
abstractionism era
 Founded by Theo van Doesburg, a
Dutchman, in 1917
 Believed that artists should give off a
depersonalized feeling
 Used only primary colors and
straight lines to convey elements of
nature
Red and Blue Chair designed by Gerrit
Rietveld in 1917

6. De Stijl Movement
 Connected to geometric
abstractionism, all
decoration except color
was eliminated
 Piet Mondrian was a part
of this movement
 Influenced the Bauhaus
movement of the 1920’s
Composition with Yellow, Blue, and
Red, 1937–42, Piet Mondrian

7. De Stijl Movement
Theo van Doesburg, Arithmetische
Compositie (1924).

8. Kazimir Malevich
 He was Born on February 23,
1973 in Russia
 He studied at the Moscow
School of Painting, Sculpture
and Architecture from 1904 to
1910 and in the studio of Fedor
Rerberg in Moscow (1904–1910).
 In 1915, Malevich laid down the
foundations of Suprematism
 Pioneer of geometric
abstractionism

9. Suprematism
 Art movement focused on
fundamental geometric forms
(in particular the square and
circle and cross)
 Founded by Malevich
 This movement in artistic
expression came when Russia
was in a revolutionary state,
ideas were in ferment, and the
old order was being swept
away
Suprematist Painting: Eight Red Rectangles,
1915

10. Suprematism
 Malevich created this in order to
defy normal reason and to
search for the zero degree,
where something is no longer
art- circle, square, cross
 The variety of shapes, sizes and
angles creates a sense of depth
in these compositions, making
the squares, circles and
rectangles appear to be moving
in space
Suprematist Composition, 1916

11. Paintings by Malevich
Black Square (Malevich, 1913), State Russian
Museum, St. Petersburg
Female half figure

12. Paintings by Malevich
The wedding (1907) Peasant woman, dynamic

13. Abstractionism Facts
 Abstractionism takes more though than bright colors.
 It doesn’t relate to anything external or try to “look
like” something.
 It’s a type of art that is non-objective or non
representational.
 Represents things that aren’t visual, such as an
emotion, sound, or spiritual experience.

14. Black and Violet (1923)

15. Composition VIII (1923)

16. Abstractionism Facts Continued
 Eliminated from recognizable objects, leaving only
essence or some degree of recognizable form.
 Artists in this theory use a simpler combination of
colors, including black, muted grays, yellow, red, and
green.
 Yellow, red, and green are used to make small shapes
stand out.

17. Wassily Kandinsky
 Born December 16th, 1866
 Influential Russian painter and
art theorist.
 He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract
works.
 Was one of the fathers of abstract art.
 The man who eliminated the object.

18. Early-period work, Munich-Schwabing with the Church of St. Ursula
(1908)

19. Blue Rider Period (1911-1914)
 Kandinsky's paintings from this period are large,
expressive colored masses evaluated
independently from forms and lines.
 His writing in The Blue Rider Almanac and the
treatise "On the Spiritual In Art" (which was
released around the same time) were both a
defense and promotion of abstract art and an
affirmation that all forms of art were equally
capable of reaching a level of spirituality.

20. Der Blaue Reiter (1903)

21. Return to Russia Continued..
 He painted little during this period.
 His spiritual, expressionistic view of art was ultimately
rejected by the radical members of the Institute as too
individualistic and bourgeois.

22. Composition VII—according to Kandinsky, the
most complex piece he ever painted (1913)

23. The Bauhaus (1922–1933)
 Kandinsky taught the basic design class for beginners
and the course on advanced theory at the Bauhaus.
 Geometrical elements took on increasing importance
in both his teaching and painting—particularly the
circle, half-circle, the angle, straight lines and curves.

24. Composition X (1939)

26. Geometric Abstractionism
 Geometric Abstractionism
is characterized by non-
naturalistic imagery,
typically geometrical shapes
such as circles, squares,
triangles, rectangles
 In a sense - by containing
absolutely no reference to,
or association with, the
natural world - it is the
purest form of abstraction.
Kazimir Malevich, Black Circle, 1913

27. Geometric Abstractionism
 Important Aspects of
Geometric Abstractionism
 Simple geometrical Shapes
 Triangles
 Rectangles
 Squares
 Circles
 Lines
 No natural forms
 Repetition
 Patterns
 Distinct colors
 Flat picture plane
(no perspective)
Auguste Herbin, Alphabet Plastique II,
1950

28. Piet Mondrian (1872–1944)
 The main creator and the
most important
proponent of geometric
abstractionism was Dutch
Artist Piet Mondrian.
 A member of the De Stijl
(the Style) group which
also included Theo van
Doesburg, Bart van der
Leck, and Vilmos Huszár.

29. Piet Mondrian
 Mondrian's work was
intended to convey
"absolute reality”. He
portrayed the world as
the pure underlying
geometric forms and
related according to the
vertical-horizontal
principle of straight lines
and pure spectral colors.

30. Piet Mondrian
 Mondrian's developed his
signature geometric style
between 1915 and 1920.
 He erased of all references
to the real world, choosing
to focus on the geometric
division of the canvas
through black vertical and
horizontal lines of varied
thickness, which he
complemented by blocks of
primary colors, particularly
blue, red, and yellow.

31. Cubism to Abstractionism
Piet Mondrian, Red Tree, 1908 Piet Mondrian, Gray Tree, 1912
 Mondrian’s paintings evolve logically and illustrate clear periods
of influence art movements such as Impressionism, and especially
Cubism.

32. Piet Mondrian, Composition A: Composition with Black, Red, Gray,
Yellow & Blue - 1920
 Mondrian
believed that his
art represented
the essence of
spiritual energy.
 Mondrian aimed
to show through
his art the balance
of forces that
governs nature
and the universe.

33. Piet Mondrian, Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow,
1930
 Mondrian
attempted to
represent the world
through vertical and
horizontal lines
which to him
represented the two
opposing forces: the
positive and the
negative, the
masculine and the
feminine, the
dynamic and the
static.

34. Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1943
 After moving to New
York, Mondrian
became more
adventurous with
use of various
squares of colors to
form his lines which
previously were
distinctly black. He
also began painting
unbounded squares
of colors as well as
overlapping squares.

35. Legacy
 Mondrian is known as the
father of geometric
abstractionism, and is very
famous for his numerous
distinct red, blue, and
yellow paintings with black
lines.
 His concept has become
very successful
commercially. His designs
are widely imitated in Piet Mondrian – Nike Dunk Low SB
advertising and
commercial design.

36. Legacy
 Mondrian’s work influenced
many artists who worked with
geometric abstractionism
including Theo van Doesburg,
Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir
Malevich, Barnett Newman,
Kenneth Noland, Bridget
Riley, and Alexander
Rodchenko.
 Geometric abstractionism
significantly influenced the
op art movement.
Mosaic