Piet Mondrian: Neo-Plasticism

Piet Mondrian - Lozenge Composition with Red, Gray, Blue, Yellow, and Black, 1924-25, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (click photo for larger image)Neo-Plasticism is a Dutch movement founded (and named) by Piet Mondrian. It is a rigid form of Abstraction, whose rules allow only for a canvas subsected into rectangles by horizontal and vertical lines, and colored using a very limited palette. Neo-Plasticism was somewhat influential on Russian Constructivism. Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) was an artist who carried abstraction to its absolute limits. He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement (Dutch, for style, and also known as Neo-Plasticism) whose proponents advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and color. 

Seymour Lipton: Abstract Organic Forms

Seymour Lipson - Imprisoned Figure - 1948 - Wood and sheet lead - 7’ 3/4" x 30 7/8" x 23 5/8" (215.2 x 78.3 x 59.9 cm) - Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) New YorkSeymour Lipton (1903-1986) American sculptor known for his forceful, metal sculptures of abstract organic forms. The play between external and internal forms dominates Lipton’s later work. His characteristically massive, textured pieces twist, curve, and seem frozen on the verge of opening. They are frequently suggestive of and titled after animals and plants.

Mark Tobey: Complex Abstractions

Mark Tobey - Ritual - 1973 - Color lithograph - 12 1/2 x 10 in. - Gift of Everett A. Lowe, Jr., 1978 - The Phillips Collection, Washington, DCMark Tobey (1890-1976) was an American painter who created complex, abstract compositions. Although his work resembles Abstract Expressionism, Tobey was not philosophically aligned with that group. He traveled extensively and was had a strong interest in Eastern religions. Tobey was a founder of the Northwest School, an art movement based in the Seattle area of the state of Washington.

Frantisek Kupka: Czech Abstraction

Franz (Frantisek) Kupka (1871-1957) was a Czech avant-garde painter who lived in Paris. He was a major figure of modernism, and is considered to be among the first practitioners of abstract art. He is highly regarded (and valued) across the globe—except perhaps in his native Czechoslovakia.

Tricks of the Eye

M.C. Escher - Drawing Hands - Lithograph - 1948 - Public collection (click photo for larger image)Optical Art (more commonly known as “Op Art”) is a mathematically-themed form of Abstract art, which uses the repetition of simple forms and colors to create vibrating effects, moiré patterns, foreground-background confusion, an exaggerated sense of depth, and other visual effects. One of the style’s remarkable practioners was Dutch illustrator, M.C. Escher (1898-1972).