Of course you already know this.
Just as the dictionary says, abstraction means
to summarize, to edit and simplify, to show
the essence of a material thing, or of an idea.
Now, mind you, contrary to the myth
that abstract art was born in the modern age,
abstraction actually preceded realism in art.
Art has evolved in stages from the simple
to the complex. Prior to the rise of realism
in art there was no need at all to define works
as abstract.
Also, we should bear in mind
that the most abstract among all
the visual arts is pottery. Its history
reaches back to the Stone Age. For example,
the ceramic figurine of the valuptuous Venus of
Dolni Vestonice, discovered in the Czech Republic,
and pottery vessels discovered in Jiangxi, China,
are approximately 20,000 years old.
Furthermore, the Paleolithic animal paintings
at the Chauvet Cave and in the Lascaux caverns
in France foreshadow Picasso’s bulls.
They are estimated to be between 17,000 and
32,000 years old.
Arabesque abstract geometric patterns
form an intrinsic part of Islamic Art
and they had been used in ancient Persia,
Greece and Rome as well.
Furthermore, the abstract aesthetic qualities
of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy
have inspired a number of Western artists,
including Hans Hartung and Georges Mathieu.
In the history of modern art
the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky
is often credited for creating
the first fully abstract painting.
Inspired by Monet and Cézanne, around 1910
Kandinsky declared that the gist of painting was
dynamic brushstrokes of expressive colors
on a flat surface. He envisioned an art without
discernible reference to recognizable objects
and saw colors as analogous to music.
However, modern abstract art evolved through
the contributions of many early pioneers.
The industrial and political revolutions
broke up the fabric of traditional society
and artists were reacting to the shock waves.
Working in Paris,
Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque
during the 1910s revolutionized
modern art in developing Cubism.
The new style abandoned perspective
and conventional forms of representation,
discarding the tradition of artistic realism.
It came close to total abstraction.
Preceding Kandinsky by a few years,
the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint
painted an abstract image in 1906.
Like Kandinsky and a group of other
early pioneers of abstract art,
among them Piet Mondrian and
Kazimir Malevich, Klint was inspired by
the Theosophical Movement of
Madame Blavatsky. These artists had embraced
the spiritual ideals of Theosophy, including
the premise of the universal brotherhood
of humanity. They searched for
new aesthetic forms of artistic expression
immersed in occultism, Cabala, philosophy
and science.
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