History of Abstract Art

                    Abstract art is a form of art in which an object or a form is developed in either a simplified way or an exaggerated manner. Abstract art is one of the major forms of art design which attracts a wide variety of people and art lovers. This form of art developed long back with a significant history comprising of various popular artists. Abstract landscape art, 3D abstract art, and fantasy abstract art are the most popular varieties of abstract art. The three major forms of abstract art are cubism, neoplasticism, and abstract expressionism. Several artists are credited with the foundations of abstract art. Among those artists, the most famous cubists were Pablo Picasso and Georges. Piet Mondrian's works are one of the best examples of neoplasticism. Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock are excellent examples of abstract expressionism. The history of abstract art involves more than 20,000 artists along with their interesting art backgrounds. Images and in-depth information of these artists are available in their biographies. History states that the abstract form of art design developed in the early 1900s. Neo-plasticism (1920-1940), abstract expressionism (1940-1955), conceptual art, contemporary realism, photorealism, and hyper realism (1960-1975), and neo-expressionism (1970-1990) are some of the major developmental stages in the history of abstract art. Post-Modernism is a stage which began around 1975, and still considered very famous in abstract art form. Ancient history reveals the truth that abstract art had been used in decorations for textiles and pottery, even in the early twentieth century abstract patterns. In the twentieth century, abstract art type was widely accepted. The first original abstract art form was developed by Wassily Kandinsky in 1910. In 1912, he wrote a theory based on abstract art called On the Spiritual in Art. This theory stated that portrayed art should be based on spiritual realm, and not just the things we see ordinarily as the visual world.

Abstract Art and Its Future

                    Precision is not reality, said Henri Mattisse the great artist. Thus the search for exactness begins and authenticity struggles. In art, everything is precise. That explains the genuineness of art in a broad scale. But art need not carry accuracy. The reason- there is no clear-cut rules. The rules in art depends on an artist's imagination, how he carries his dreams forward, what shape he gives to them, and how he reproduces the idea on to canvas with a brush dipped in paint. Abstract art is a form of art. As the name explains, the paintings come under it are abstract in nature. It is not related to anything, non representational, even though it is a clear representation of an imaginative mind. Abstract art can be divided basically in to two types. Figurative abstraction Emotional abstraction As the name suggests, figurative representation is the symbolic representation of situations or ideas in a way the artist conceptualizes. They are simplifying reality by avoiding unnecessary details. The essence is left for use. Emotional abstraction is the representation of emotion, spirituality or voice. The movement The movement of abstract painting emerged in the mid forties in New York. It gradually gained importance in American art. When artists like James McNiell began believing in the harmonious arrangement of colors in representing visual sensation rather than the depiction of objects, abstraction started gaining prominence. Later artists took up the movement in such a way that abstract painting gained much importance. The artists believed that the job of the artists was to deepen the mystery rather than revealing it. In abstraction only conception made a difference. The basic idea behind the idea remains the same. Stephen Wright once commented on abstract painting that he had been doing a lot of abstract painting without paint, brush and canvas, but just by thinking about it. Abstract expressionism This is the movement in which the artists rapidly applied paint on canvas without great care for detail, and thus showing emotions and feelings spread on the canvas. The works of abstract painters showed a sense of hastiness and an intervention of life situations like a risk or a chance in applying paint on canvas. Some abstract artists even took a mystical approach to subject matter, but by defining their objectives and intentions clearly on canvas. It was generally believed that the painters of abstract expressionism relied on the spontaneity of creativity and the representation of that flow on canvas in a scale broad and large. The expressive method of painting was considered important. Abstract expressionism did not focus on one topic; rather it focused on many themes or styles. It concentrated on many ideas. The artists of abstract expressionism valued individuality and spontaneous inventiveness. The painters who came to be called as abstract expressionists shared an outlook Characterized by the spirit of revolt. The movement of abstract expressionism can be divided in to two- Action painting Color Field painting Action painting Action painting is related to surrealism, which is the movement in visual art and literature that became popular in Europe between World Wars I and II. It emphasized on positive expression. Artists like Pollock Jackson with essence form surrealism, implied a technique different from the usual styles of painting that employed the method of dripping paint on to the canvas. Instead of brush, sticks and knives were used to manipulate the picture. This type of painting began to be called as action painting. Color field painting This abstract art movement started only in the 1960's. A type of abstract expressionism, color field paintings employed the use of solid color covering the whole canvas in such a way that the lyrical or atmospheric effects of color were seen in a vast canvas. The aesthetics of the color field artists were truly intellectual aesthetic. They dealt with two-dimensional spaces and their color tone was different and not modulated. Abstract expressionism presented within its large framework, a stylistic diversity that was not easily identifiable. Many artists explored various forms of painting in abstract expressionistic painting. Here more attention was paid to brushstrokes, texture and surface qualities. Thus abstract art gained much importance. Wassily Kandinsky came to be known as the father of abstract painting. Other artists who followed the path of Kandinsky were kasimir Malevich, Raoul Dufy, Paul Klee, Juan Gris, and Piet Mondrian. Thus abstract painting spread far and wide with an intellectual tone to the form of art in a style varied, specific and incomprehensible. The future of abstract painting With a fabulous history of abstract paintings done on landscape, floral art, people, and just emotions in various ways possible, abstract art grew on a canvas broad, but ambiguous. Artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrain came with newer conceptions and ideas representing the new form of art in an aesthetically well built canvas. There would definitely be a shift in style from the usually employed techniques like action painting and color field painting. Newer forms will take shape with styles which may take time to establish in the field of painting.

Abstract Art Painting Studios - From Primitive Caves to Modern Lofts

                    Have you ever tried to remember the first time when you found yourself looking at an abstract art or an abstract painting? Do you remember the thoughts or feelings you had about what you were looking at? This article is a reflection of some of my own personal and subjective viewpoints and realities as an artist about abstract art with certain references to facts that are in agreement with what I believe myself as to the nature, birth, growth and the evolution of the abstract art outside the boundaries of the esoteric terms of the art academia. To have a basic and fundamental look at the subject, we should first understand what the word abstract means before we could tackle the understanding of "abstract art" itself; and we learn that abstract in this sense and as a verb means to extract or remove and surprisingly as an adjective means not easy to understand; abstruse. And as a transitive verb it means to take away, remove. It's origin is from Latin abstrahere 'draw away' or 'draw from.' Thus, we can conclude that abstract, is generally viewed as a form of art that does not depict anything that resembled the objective or material world; instead it represented new creations that very subjectively were expressions of the inner substance and the spirit of the artist and often through a profound spontaneity that brings out the inner world of the artist. So, abstract art, being the product of this very natural, uninhibited and unpremeditated impulse in the absence of any external stimulus, is intrinsic and belongs to the very basic nature and the make up of the artist, as the true influence behind his creations. As I evolved through my own representational art and became more acquainted with the history of art, I learned that abstract art had its roots in the very early dawn of human history when man began to draw on the walls of his cave. These early abstract arts, abstract drawings and abstract paintings - sometimes embellished with organic dyes - often attempted to capture the essential nature and the quality of the objects rather than the actual appearance of them. As the art historians and art critics formulated their opinions and ideas into prints, more esoteric terms spun off the subject under "non-objective art," "non-representational art," and "non-figurative art." In the field of aesthetics, since none of the principles of creating art have been precisely formulated, this particular branch of humanities has its critics galore with many schools of divergent opinions and thoughts, where esoteric lectures and opinions are listened to with open jaws in lieu of reason, personal expressions suffers under the cloud of confusion. Centuries long before the birth of abstract expressionism in America, highly figurative arts had existed in the East, namely in the Islamic culture, where calligraphy also as a non-figurative art is taught as a subject starting sometimes as early as in primary schools, as great emphasis is placed upon the pupils' acquiring and developing skills in calligraphy, as the art of handwriting. In the Western culture, abstract designs are found in many forms. But abstract arts are uniquely distinguished in composition form in relation to decorative art and fine art, where in abstract art, the results of creation, are spontaneous snapshots of the artist's thoughts, emotions, and the introspection by which he creates his work of abstract art. Abstract Expressionism, as we know it today, was born in America in the mid 20th century following a massive exodus of the European avant- garde artists to New York City, making the city the center of the art world; a title that used to be held by Paris. The contemporary American artists were immensely influenced by the influx of this new talent that brought forth the very welcoming freedom of personal expression through the vehicle of spontaneity in the absence of the boundaries and limitations of conventional forms. The arrival of abstract expressionism in New York was the dawn of a new peaceful artistic revolution by which the artist began to rebel overtly against the status quo. He began a new era where he could freely create towards the future and change the existing scene for a better tomorrow. Some of the pioneers in abstract expressionism, such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, became synonymous with New York School and action painting as they played a significant role in what became deservedly known as avant-garde; a new realm of freedom for the artist to create and construct with an impulse that surmounted any rational and objective realm of reason.