MAPE1Acuario, Karen D. WRITTEN REPORT BEEDMr. Eric C. Marasigan 1/13/15

Abstract and Pointillism I.Abstract

VocabularyAbstraction – begins in reality. Seeks the essence of an object. May be expressed through simplification, stylization, fragmentation, re-assembly, and/or distortion. Refer to artists such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, David Hockney, early Wassily KandinskysampleNon-objective abstraction –Abstraction which does not refer to an object. Refer to artists such as Jackson Pollack, Hans Hoffman, Mark Rothko, later Wassily Kandinsky.Texture – refers to the sense of touch. Simulated texture looks like it feels a certain way. Actual texture really does feel a certain way.Rhythm – repetition, but not exact as in pattern, of an object. Helps move the eye through an image.Movement – refers to the path the eye takes through an image. May be achieved through repetition of line, shape, color, texture.Unity – pulls different elements of a composition together. May be achieved with effective movement and rhythm in an image.

Definition and MeaningThe term 'abstract art' - also called "non-objective art", "non-figurative", "non-representational", "geometric abstraction", or "concrete art" - is a rather vague umbrella term for any painting or sculpture which does not portray recognizable objects or scenes. However, as we shall see, there is no clear consensus on the definition, types or aesthetic significance of abstract art. Picasso thought that there was no such thing, while some art critics take the view that all art is abstract - because, for instance, no painting can hope to be more than a crude summary (abstraction) of what the painter sees.

In abstract art, the artist uses a visual language of shapes, forms, lines and colors to interpret a subject-matter, without necessarily providing the viewer with a recognisable visual reference point.

What is the Idea Behind Abstract Art?The basic premise of abstraction - incidentally, a key issue of aesthetics - is that the formal qualities of a painting (or sculpture) are just as important (if not more so) than its representational qualities.

Let's start with a very simple illustration. A picture may contain a very bad drawing of a man, but if its colours are very beautiful, it may nevertheless strike us as being a beautiful picture. This shows how a formal quality (colour) can override a representational one (drawing).

On the other hand, a photorealist painting of a terraced house may demonstrate exquisite representationalism, but the subject matter, colour scheme and general composition may be totally boring. The philosophical justification for appreciating the value of a work of art's formal qualities stems from Plato's statement that:

"straight lines and circles are... not only beautiful... but eternally and absolutely beautiful."

In essence, Plato means that non-naturalistic images (circles, squares, triangles and so on) possess an absolute, unchanging beauty. Thus a painting can be appreciated for its line and colour alone - it doesn't need to depict a natural object or scene. The French painter, lithographer and art theorist Maurice Denis (1870-1943) was getting at the same thing when he wrote: "Remember that a picture - before being a war horse or a nude woman... is essentially a flat surface covered with colours assembled in a certain order."

Types of Abstract ArtTo keep things simple, we can divide abstract art into six basic types:

• Curvilinear • Colour-Related or Light-Related• Geometric• Emotional or Intuitional• Gestural• Minimalist

Some of these types are less abstract than others, but all are concerned with separating art from reality.

Curvilinear Abstract ArtThis type of curvilinear abstraction is strongly associated with Celtic Art, which employed a range of abstract motifs including knots (eight basic types), interlace patterns, and spirals (including the triskele, or the triskelion). These motifs were not original to the Celts - many other early cultures had been utilizing these Celtic designs for centuries: see for instance the spiral engravings at the Neolithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange in Co Meath, created some 2000 years before the appearance of the Celts. However, it is fair to say that Celtic designers breathed new life into these patterns, making them much more intricate and sophisticated in the process.

Colour-Related or Light-Related Abstract ArtThis type is exemplified in works by Turner and Monet, that use colour (or light) in such a way as to detach the work of art from reality, as the object dissolves in a swirl of pigment. Two instances of Turner's style of expressive abstraction have already been mentioned, to which we can add his Interior at Petworth (1837, Tate Collection).

Geometric AbstractionThis type of intellectual abstract art emerged from about 1908 onwards. An early rudimentary form was Cubism, specifically analytical Cubism - which rejected linear

perspective and the illusion of spatial depth in a painting, in order to focus on its 2-D aspects. Geometric Abstraction is also known as Concrete Art and Non-Objective Art. As you might expect, it is characterized by non-naturalistic imagery, typically geometrical shapes such as circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, and so forth. In a sense - by containing absolutely no reference to, or association with, the natural world - it is the purest form of abstraction.

Emotional or Intuitional Abstract ArtThis type of intuitional art embraces a mix of styles, whose common theme is a naturalistic tendency. This naturalism is visible in the type of shapes and colours employed. Unlike Geometric Abstraction, which is almost anti-nature, intuitional abstraction often evokes nature, but in less representational ways. Two important sources for this type of abstract art are: Organic Abstraction (also called Biomorphic abstraction) and Surrealism.

Gestural Abstract ArtThis is a form of abstract expressionism, where the process of making the painting becomes more important than usual. Paint may be applied in unusual ways, brushwork is often very loose, and rapid.

Minimalist Abstract ArtThis type of abstraction was a back-to-basics sort of avant-garde art, stripped of all external references and associations. It is what you see - nothing else. It often takes a geometrical form, and is dominated by sculptors, although it also includes some great painters.

Abstract art timeline:±1850 - 1907 : Philosophical debate calls into question the established values of classical art.1905 - 1915 : Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques create cubism and Henri Matisse's fauvism serves as a bridge between post-impressionism and expressionism. Before the advent of cubism, Picasso's 1907 painting Les Demoisselles d'Avignon already inspires many artists to abstractism (Kandinsky, Léger).1910 : First signs of pure abstract art: Kandinsky, Mondrian.1912 - 1925 : Piet Mondrian and Russian abstract artists, led by Kasimir Malevich's suprematism and Vladimir Tatlin's constructivism, complete the creation of pure abstract art. Modigliani sets benchmark for abstract portraitism.1925 - 1945 : Period characterised by geometric abstraction (De Stijl) and painterly automatism (Joan Miró).1945 - 1960 : Painterly automatism becomes more radical in abstract expressionism and art informel, while some artists combine automatism with geometric abstraction (Rothko).1960 - 1980 : Introduction of abstract art with design characteristics, as in Op Art, Pop Art and contemporary geometric abstraction.1980 - NOW : Postmodernism - artistic inability to innovate or lack of social acceptance of innovation?

II. PointillismIn fine art, the term "pointillism" (from the French word "point" meaning "dot") describes a technique of Neo-Impressionism painting, in which hundreds of small

dots or dashes of pure colour are applied to the canvas, or other ground, in order to create maximum luminosity. That is, instead of mixing colour pigments on a palette and then applying the mixture onto the painting, the Pointillist applies small dots of pure unmixed colour directly onto the picture and relies on the eye of the viewer to mix the colours optically. Viewed at the right distance, (supposedly three times the diagonal measurement) the dots of colour give a richer and more subtle effect than can be achieved by conventional techniques. Pointillism (actually an offshoot of Divisionism) was the most influential style of Post-Impressionist painting (1880-95) and was practised by Post-Impressionist painters from a number of different schools. Italian Divisionism, led by Vittore Grubicy De Dragon (1851-1920), was especially active.

Who Invented Pointillism?The founder of Pointillism was Georges Seurat (1859-91), a model student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. A traditional, and conventional classical painter, he rejected Impressionism, a style of painting and colour based on the subjective responses of the individual artist, in favour of a more scientific method which he developed around 1884 and called Chromoluminarism. Based on the scientific colour theory of the French chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul (Law of Simultaneous Colour Contrast, 1839), and the American physicist Ogden Rood (Modern Chromatics, 1879), the method was used to a degree by the Impressionist painters, but only on an ad hoc basis, and it was not developed systematically until Seurat.

Seurat's main disciple was the former Impressionist Paul Signac (1863-1935). A coastal landscape artist, Signac was strongly attracted by the scientific method behind Pointillism and Divisionism and, after Seurat's death in 1891, he became the leading exponent of the Neo-Impressionist movement. In addition to oil paintings and watercolours, he also produced a number of lithographs, etchings and pen-and-ink sketches composed of tiny, laboriously laid out dots. A strong supporter of younger artists within the Post-Impressionism movement, Signac was reportedly the first person to buy a painting from Henri Matisse.

Who Are The Greatest Pointillist Painters?Seurat and Signac remain the greatest exponents of Pointillism. As well as them, the Impressionist Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was also an active member of the school, as was Henri-Edmond Cross (1856-1910), and Maximilien Luce (1858-1941) who portrayed industrial society and working-class scenes. Other artists associated with the idiom include: the Fauvist leader Henri Matisse (1869-1954); Albert Dubois-Pillet (1846-90), a self-taught artist who adapted Pointillism to landscape scenery and naturalist subjects; Charles Agrand (1854-1926), who was more of a lyrical painter; Giuseppe Pelizza da Volpedo (1868-1907), the leading Italian Pointillist; and Theo van Rysselberghe (1862-1926) the founder of Les Vingt, a group of progressive Post-Impressionists. Even Van Gogh (1853-90) painted occasionally in a Pointillist style.

Famous Pointillist Paintings

The three most famous works of Pointillism are probably: Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-86, Art Institute of Chicago), and

Bathers at Asnieres (1884, National Gallery, London), both by Georges Seurat; and The Papal Palace, Avignon (1900, Musee d'Orsay, Paris) by Paul Signac. Other notable examples include the following:

Georges SeuratThe Suburbs (1882-83) Museum of Modern Art, TroyesFishing in The Seine (1883) Museum of Modern Art, TroyesThe Labourers (1883) National Gallery of Art Washington DCLe Bec du Hoc, Grandcamp (1885) Tate, LondonView of Fort Samson (1885) Hermitage Museum, St PetersburgThe Models (1888) Barnes Foundation, Merion, PAGrey weather, Grande Jatte (1888) Philadelphia Museum of ArtEiffel Tower (1889) California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco

Paul SignacThe Town Beach, Collioure (1887) Metropolitan Museum of Art New York CityThe Jetty at Cassis (1889) Metropolitan Museum of Art New York CityWomen at the Well (1892) Musée d'Orsay, ParisThe Port of Saint-Tropez (1901) The National Museum of Western Art, TokyoGrand Canal, Venice (1905) Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio

Theo van RysselbergheMadame Maus (1890) Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts, BrusselsFor other Dutch luminists, see: Post-Impressionism in Holland (1880-1920).

Henri-Edmond CrossNocturne (1896) Petit Palais, Geneva

Maximilien LuceThe Foundry (1899) Kroller-Muller Museum, The Netherlands

Camille PissarroSelf-Portrait (1903) Tate, London

Henri MatisseLuxe, Calme Et Volupte (1904-5) Musee d'Orsay