Sophie Tauber Arp
Mid-20th Century Dutch Expressionist Paintings
Canvas
Late 20th Century Dutch Modern Drawings
Paper
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1940s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Oil
People Also Browsed
Vintage 1970s German Modern Paintings
Acrylic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Steel, Metal, Copper
1940s Modern Still-life Prints
Lithograph
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Stainless Steel
Early 20th Century Belgian Belle Époque Paintings
Gesso, Wood, Paint
2010s Contemporary Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
Vintage 1940s American Art Deco Drawings
1980s Contemporary More Art
Screen
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Stainless Steel
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern More Desk Accessories
Chrome
Vintage 1940s American Art Deco Paintings
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
Mirror, Teak
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Dinner Plates
Porcelain
Antique Early 19th Century European Grand Tour Drawings
Glass, Wood, Paper
Mid-20th Century Italian Brutalist Dining Room Tables
Glass, Walnut
Vintage 1920s Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Paint
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20th Century Abstract More Art
Wool
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1960s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
Mid-20th Century Dutch Expressionist Paintings
Canvas
1970s Abstract Prints
1970s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Photography
Silver Gelatin
Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
Lithograph
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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