Abstract Art: A Global History
A leading authority on the subject presents a radically new approach to the understanding of abstract art, in this richly illustrated and persuasive history, updated with new content and now available in paperback.

In his fresh take on abstract art, now available in paperback and expanded to include sixteen new contemporary artists from six continents, noted art historian Pepe Karmel chronicles the movement from a global perspective, while embedding abstraction in a recognizable reality. Moving beyond the canonical terrain of abstract art, the author demonstrates how artists from around the world have used abstract imagery to express social, cultural, and spiritual experience.

Karmel builds this fresh approach to abstract art around five inclusive themes: body, landscape, cosmology, architecture, and man-­made signs and patterns. In the process, this history develops a series of narratives that go far beyond the established figures and movements traditionally associated with abstract art. Each narrative is complemented by a number of featured abstract works, arranged in thought-­provoking pairings with accompanying extended captions that provide an in-­depth analysis. This wide-ranging examination incorporates work from Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America, as well as Europe and North America, through artists ranging from Wu Guanzhong, Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock, to Hilma af Klint, and Odili Donald Odita. Breaking new ground, Karmel has forged a new history of this key art movement.

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Abstract Art: A Global History
A leading authority on the subject presents a radically new approach to the understanding of abstract art, in this richly illustrated and persuasive history, updated with new content and now available in paperback.

In his fresh take on abstract art, now available in paperback and expanded to include sixteen new contemporary artists from six continents, noted art historian Pepe Karmel chronicles the movement from a global perspective, while embedding abstraction in a recognizable reality. Moving beyond the canonical terrain of abstract art, the author demonstrates how artists from around the world have used abstract imagery to express social, cultural, and spiritual experience.

Karmel builds this fresh approach to abstract art around five inclusive themes: body, landscape, cosmology, architecture, and man-­made signs and patterns. In the process, this history develops a series of narratives that go far beyond the established figures and movements traditionally associated with abstract art. Each narrative is complemented by a number of featured abstract works, arranged in thought-­provoking pairings with accompanying extended captions that provide an in-­depth analysis. This wide-ranging examination incorporates work from Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America, as well as Europe and North America, through artists ranging from Wu Guanzhong, Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock, to Hilma af Klint, and Odili Donald Odita. Breaking new ground, Karmel has forged a new history of this key art movement.

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Abstract Art: A Global History

Abstract Art: A Global History

by Pepe Karmel
Abstract Art: A Global History

Abstract Art: A Global History

by Pepe Karmel

Paperback

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Overview

A leading authority on the subject presents a radically new approach to the understanding of abstract art, in this richly illustrated and persuasive history, updated with new content and now available in paperback.

In his fresh take on abstract art, now available in paperback and expanded to include sixteen new contemporary artists from six continents, noted art historian Pepe Karmel chronicles the movement from a global perspective, while embedding abstraction in a recognizable reality. Moving beyond the canonical terrain of abstract art, the author demonstrates how artists from around the world have used abstract imagery to express social, cultural, and spiritual experience.

Karmel builds this fresh approach to abstract art around five inclusive themes: body, landscape, cosmology, architecture, and man-­made signs and patterns. In the process, this history develops a series of narratives that go far beyond the established figures and movements traditionally associated with abstract art. Each narrative is complemented by a number of featured abstract works, arranged in thought-­provoking pairings with accompanying extended captions that provide an in-­depth analysis. This wide-ranging examination incorporates work from Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America, as well as Europe and North America, through artists ranging from Wu Guanzhong, Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock, to Hilma af Klint, and Odili Donald Odita. Breaking new ground, Karmel has forged a new history of this key art movement.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780500298381
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Publication date: 11/11/2025
Pages: 360
Product dimensions: 8.00(w) x 10.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Pepe Karmel is professor at the department of art history, New York University. He is the author of Picasso and the Invention of Cubism, and Looking at Picasso. Karmel has written widely on art for museum catalogs as well as The New York Times, Art in America, and other publications. He has curated and cocurated numerous exhibitions, including Jackson Pollock (MoMA, 1998) and Dialogues with Picasso (Museo Picasso Málaga, 2020). Karmel was the associate curator of Museo Picasso Málaga.
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