Abstract Art

by Anna Moszynska

Overview

An exceptionally clear, thorough, and well- illustrated introduction to abstract art since 1900.

Since the early years of the twentieth century, Western abstract art has fascinated, outraged, and bewildered audiences. Its path to acceptance within the artistic mainstream was slow. This revised edition traces the origins and evolution of abstract art, placing it in broad cultural context.

Well-respected scholar Anna Moszynska examines the pioneering work of Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, and Piet Mondrian alongside the Russian Constructivists, the De Stijl group, and the Bauhaus artists, contrasting European geometric abstraction in the 1930s and '40s with the emphasis on personal expression after World War II. Op, kinetic, and minimal art of the postwar period is discussed and illustrated in detail, and new chapters bring the account up to date, exploring the crisis in abstraction of the 1980s and its revival—in paint, fabric, sculpture, and installation—in recent decades.

The first edition of Abstract Art, published in 1990, was acclaimed by reviewers. Revised with extensive updates, this book includes new chapters on recent trends and offers fully global coverage of art produced in North and South America, Europe, China, Korea, and the Middle East. Now in full color and comprehensively revised, it will serve as the best introduction to abstract art for a new generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780500204450
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	04/14/2020
Series:	World of Art
Edition description:	Second
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	445,884
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Anna Moszynska has written books and contributed to journals, including Tate Etc., Apollo, Art Review, Times Literary Supplement, and Art Monthly.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Chapter 1 Observing the World: Paths to Abstraction 1910-14 12

Chapter 2 Looking Inwards: Investigations 1912-20 41

Chapter 3 Social Ideals: Constructing the Future 1920-39 66

Chapter 4 Abstractions in Europe: 1939-56 111

Chapter 5 Focus on Expression: USA 1939-56 132

Chapter 6 Objective Approaches: Abstract Art 1956-78 161

Chapter 7 Crises in Abstraction: 1979-89 196

Chapter 8 Extending the Canon: Diffusions of Identity and Place since 1990 209

Chapter 9 Abstraction in the Expanded Field: The Twenty-first Century 231

Bibliography 253

List of Illustrations 259

Index 267