Alma Mater Columbia
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Paint
1970s Abstract Abstract Prints
Lithograph, Offset, Other Medium
1940s Impressionist Nude Paintings
Oil
People Also Browsed
1960s Minimalist Abstract Prints
Lithograph
Vintage 1940s American Expressionist Paintings
Board
1970s Contemporary Interior Prints
Lithograph
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Cotton Canvas
2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Pigment
1970s American Modern Nude Photography
Silver Gelatin
1930s Impressionist Nude Paintings
Canvas, Paint, Oil, Gesso
1990s Contemporary Portrait Prints
Lithograph
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
Mid-20th Century Paintings
Paint
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Canvas
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Prints
Lithograph
Vintage 1980s French Modern Picture Frames
Metal, Sterling Silver
1970s American Modern Figurative Prints
Screen, Paper
1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
Lithograph
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1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Paint
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Prints
A Close Look at abstract Art
Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.
Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.
Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.
Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.
Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.
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