Adherents of Similar Tendencies of Development in Modern Art - Assignment Example

Visual Analysis Paper: Stella, Rothko, Malevich, Kandinsky and Mondrian Introduction As the new century came, of the society had undergone certain changes. Historical events and overall social tendencies produced great impact on culture and art. For the 20th century, art history was marked by general reconsideration and rethinking of basic concepts in visual art, particularly, in painting. Abstract art came to replace or – at least – arrest much attention along with traditional “classical” canons. Abstractionism in painting is a way of world perception, implying no identifiable images or discernable combinations of lines and shades. Having emerged around 1910 in Europe, abstractionism disrupted the idea of classical beauty and aesthetics in art. It believed that the first steps towards new concept of abstractionism were made by Vasily Kandinsky, a remarkable painter of Russian descent, who created his abstract watercolors around 1910. Naturally, two world wars made a great contribution to changes in perception of painting and use of abstract concepts in visual art. Abstractionism ran through the works of such prominent innovators of the 20th century as Kazemir Malevich, Mark Rothko, Vasily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian (and his De Stijl group) and Frank Stella. The core of their legacy is represented by the basic principles of abstractionism, though their styles and perceptions of reflecting the reality in painting differ in certain aspects (for instance, Malevich’s special philosophy of suprematism). Specifically, the two most visible approaches seen in paintings of these artists are surely color field technique and hard-edge painting. Moreover, there are tendencies of minimalism that could be traced in their styles. Among the mentioned artists, Frank Stella’s period of activity began later (which isn’t surprising as the author was born in 1936) and has endured until nowadays. The artists seems to have absorbed influence of abstractionist school and embodied key concepts in his works. The set of directions preferable for Stella includes hard-edge painting, minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. The latter presupposes distinct edges, harmony or contrast of simple forms and monumentality. Post-painterly abstraction finds its reflection in many works of this prolific painter, and – notwithstanding new elements in the style – it is clear from Stella’s paintings that this style is based mainly on traditions of abstract expressionism, lavishly cultivated by Malevich, Rothko, Kandinsky and Mondrian. It could be stated that Stella’s way of self-expression through abstract paintings has certain common features with that of earlier abstractionist artists, and it could be proved with help of comparison. In this paper, I would like to pay closer attention to Stella’s work from Diderot series of paintings created in 1974. In order to reveal elements of earlier abstractionist tendencies in aesthetic of this painting, the latter will be compared with Composition VIII (Kandinsky, 1923), Airplane flying (Malevich, 1915), Orange and Yellow (Rothko, 1956) and Broadway Boogie Woogie (Mondrian, 1943). Artwork description The artwork under consideration belongs to Diderot series of paintings created by Frank Stella in 1974. The title of the work is “Le Neveu de Rameau”. As it is typical for post-painterly abstractionism, the painting is characterized by monumentality, being painted on a large-scale canvas (a side is 11 feet 3 inches) with acrylic paint. Similar to his previous series, for instance, the one devoted to Holocaust, Frank Stella resorted to concentric squares in this painting. Thereby, the painting’s composition consists of a number of concentric squares bearing a certain combination of colors. The colors used in the painting are rather exuberant in comparison to earlier paintings involving depiction of concentric squares: purple, yellow, orange, black, green etc. The title of the artwork directly alludes to Diderot’s philosophic dialogue of the same name, which gives one a reason to consider Stella’s painting a kind of visual “reading” of the dialogue. Diderot’s work revolves around the issue and essence of the world spirit in his times, showing the conversation between a philosopher and Rameau’s nephew, who displays his perceptions of society and concepts of good and evil. In reflections of this young man, philosophers see a “quirk” of public conscience. Conscience of the world spirit isn’t “solid”, it consists of fragments – various ideas, impressions etc. Moreover, one can see intertwinement of virtues and vices in the words of Rameau’s nephew. All this forms a kind of fragmented conscience. Keeping this in mind, I would assume that Stella wanted to reflect this state of public conscience in the contemporary society and interchange of colors in the squares (and colors themselves) could signify intertwinement of those “fragments”. However, certain orders is seen in these gradations: the elements of the painting aren’t merely scattered in a chaotic way, but arranged carefully, with straight and distinct lines and edges. Color Comparing Stella’s picture with other four works, I would say that all the artists felt rather free in using color. Stella’s painting is characterized by vivid interplay of colors, and colors are arranged in a systematic way. In Malevich’s Airplane Flying – as in most of his works of that period – huge significance is given to color, as the painter chose to deny all the representational traditions in art for the sake of pure abstraction. Color is rather important as it creates necessary accents. Thus, the way his abstract composition were painted was far more principal than sense that could potentially underlie them. Similarly, color holds significant place in the chosen artworks of Mondrian, Kandinsky and Rothko, yet functions of color in their paintings might differ. In Rothko’s paintings, color acquires the function of a universal instrument of expression; the painter communicates transient shades of feelings and emotions. His Orange and Yellow is a specimen of color field painting, unfolding the idea of color use to not only convey emotions, but to evoke emotions in people. In Kandinsky’s Composition VIII, color serves to add dynamics to interplay of geometric figures, emphasize composition and geometry of the piece. Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie deploys color and hue to create dynamic properties of the composition reflecting perpetual motion of the large city. Moreover, the painting uses primary set of colors, complying with principles of De Stijl philosophy and power of simplicity. I would also mention that the works of Malevich and Mondrian contain of primary colors with no composite shades – and this is dictated by their longing for simple and elemental means of expression. On the other hand, Kandinsky, Rothko and Stella feel rather free to use composite colors and shades like two shades of orange in Rothko’s painting or brown, green and orange in Stella’s work. Lines In terms of lines, Stella’s artwork has much in common with those of Mondrian, Malevich or Kandinsky. Lines of his painting are sharp and distinct – an example of hard-edge painting tendencies. All squares are separated with thin yet sharp white lines. In Broadway Boogie Woogie, lines maintain two directions – vertical and horizontal, they are distinct and sharp. However, their widths vary, whereas Stella’s painting shows lines of regular widths: it’s always thin white “edges” and even lines of squares. Similar to these two, Malevich granted much importance to accurate sharp lines: in combination with color, wide red and blue lines add visual accents and dynamics. In Kandinsky’s Composition VIII, lines are used in a freer way, to my mind: in order to add more chaotic dynamics to this postwar picture, Kandinsky used vertical, horizontal, diagonal and even arched lines. However, Stella’s picture differs a lot from Rothko’s one in terms of lines’ use, because Rothko’s work deploys color field technique, which uses no sharp edges at all. The edges between the rectangles in Orange and Yellow are blurred and indistinct. Composition and space It should be mentioned that – contrasted to other four works, Stella’s painting turns out to be rather innovative and daring in terms of space use. Rothko’s, Malevich’s, Mondrian’s and Kandinsky’s pictures are characterized by two-dimensional space use, spaces of all these compositions are flattened, yet Kandinsky’s depiction of space is a little more complex because of layered colors and slight gradations in the background (the picture acquires more volume). Meanwhile, Le Neveu de Rameau fascinates with its perfect illusion of depth and volume. Owing to wise and skillful color and shape use, the picture acquires three-dimensional space organization. The range of squares with conceptually arranged colors seems to be a kind of room leading one to the point in the end. Thus such spatial organization almost hypnotizes. Composition of these paintings also has certain common and distinctive features. Le Neveu de Rameau’s composition is carefully arranged, regular and dynamic – these effects are achieved with regular lines and special color arrangement. However, neither of other paintings has regular composition. Malevich granted little attention to regularity, yet paid much attention to shapes’ interplay and colors creating dynamics. Thus, it could be stated that composition of “Airplane Flying” is dynamic. Rothko sought to maintain equilibrium of colors and their places in the picture, but the composition is rather static, enlivened by the illusion of light and interplay of colors. Composition of Mondrian’s works is irregular, too, but highly dynamic and dynamics is ensured by arrangement of lines and different color blocks. Finally, dynamics is traced in Composition VIII and ensured by intertwinement of lines and shapes (color isn’t as important for composition), but the composition is rather chaotic. Thereby, one could say that some parallels are drawn between Le Neveu de Rameau and other four paintings, yet none of them matches Stella’s picture completely in terms of composition and space organization. Conclusion Having compared and contrasted these five artworks, one could state that Frank Stella’s Le Neveu de Rameau has much in common with works of artists belonging to earlier periods of the 20th century. Despite specific differences in functions of such aspects as light, composition, color, shape or space, the current painting still conveys major (basic) traditions of general style all these artists belong to – abstractionism. There’re, naturally, distinctions between the narrower trends and genres these artists worked in, but they all preserve the general tendency of making abstract images a center of pictoral composition and abandoning canons of representational art. Furthermore, although Frank Stella has his own individual style of presenting shapes, colors and space, he has obviously adopted elements of general style from his colleagues. Moreover, it is clear that use of color is similarly meaningful in most of these paintings – that contributes to the statement that this range of artists have been working in the same environment of postwar society, experienced its influence and are adherents of similar tendencies of development in modern art. Read More