Abstraction-Création

Auguste Herbin - Jour (Day) - 1953 - Gouache on paper - 13 1/8 x 10 1/2" (33.4 x 26.6 cm) - Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) - New YorkAbstraction-Création was a group of abstract artists based in Paris from 1931-1936. Their goal was to revive abstract art--which had seen a decline in the late 1920s. One of their member was Auguste Herbin (1882-1960) who was a marvelous draftsman, as well as a keen practitioner of Cubism. His studio was situated directly next to Braque's and Picasso's, which afforded him a close study of their Cubist experiments. Herbin bridged modern movements through his keen understanding of them--and his fine talents 

American Proto-Pop Artist Stuart Davis

Stuart Davis, The Mellow Pad - 1945-51 - Oil on canvas, 26 x 42 in; Brooklyn Museum, New York (click photo for larger image)Stuart Davis  (1894-1964, New York, New York) was an American abstract artist whose idiosyncratic Cubist paintings of urban scenes anticipated the use of commercial art and advertising by the Pop artists of the 1960s. He was heavily influenced by the Synthetic Cubism of the early Modern period--but interpreted that visual language in unique ways. Davis’ works are characterized by wit and joy, which provided a sharp (and to some, welcome) contrast to the melodrama of Abstract Expressionism.

The Magic of Miró

Joan Miró - Spanish, 1893 - 1983 - Shooting Star - 1938 - oil on canvas - Overall: 65.2 x 54.4 cm (25 11/16 x 21 7/16 in.) framed: 87 x 77.4 x 5.7 cm (34 1/4 x 30 1/2 x 2 1/4 in.) Gift of Joseph H. Hazen - National Gallery of Art - Washington, D.C.

Joan Miró was a Catalan painter who combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy. His mature style evolved from the tension between his fanciful, poetic impulse and his vision of the harshness of modern life. He worked extensively in lithography and produced numerous murals, tapestries, and sculptures for public spaces.

"He was never closely aligned with any movement and was too retiring in his manner to be the object of a personality cult, like his compatriot Picasso, but the formal and technical innovations that he sustained over a very long career guaranteed his influence on 20th-century art. A pre-eminent figure in the history of abstraction and an important example to several generations of artists around the world, he remained profoundly attached to the specific circumstances and environment that shaped his art in his early years. An acute balance of sophistication and innocence and a deeply rooted conviction about the relationship between art and nature lie behind all his work and account in good measure for the wide appeal that his art has continued to exercise across many of the usual barriers of style." (SOURCE: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS)