Magazine

Paul Nash and History Within the Abstract

British painter Paul Nash is not normally mentioned in conversations about abstraction. But his Modernist, sometimes-surreal images reveal glimpses of the profound abstract concepts often lurking ...

What Can be Considered Abstract in Robert Rauschenberg's Artwork

An abstraction is a starting point. It is the seed of an idea that could, under the right contemplative circumstances, circumstances that require openness in order to manifest, grow into a forest ...

Bold Color and Geometry in the Painting of Gillian Ayres

The acclaimed British abstract artist Gillian Ayres has been making art professionally for nearly 70 years. Since graduating from Camberwell School of Art in London in 1950, she has never wavered ...

Guggenheim Exhibits 170 Modern Works for its 80th Anniversary

Over the years we have had the pleasure of attending many Guggenheim exhibits. But to our embarrassment we admit that we have displayed a rather cavalier attitude toward the provenance of the work...

The Week in Abstract Art – Our Universally Subjective World

It is easy to forget how differently each of us experiences the world. It is in our nature to seek conclusions, to make definitive statements. We want something to be true for everyone. But we are...

Abstract Photographers to Follow

Abstract photography has blossomed since the invention of digital cameras, especially since cameras merged with our mobile devices. Abstract photographers work in a form that demands experimentati...

Discover the Gouache Art You Can Collect

We have written before about gouache art, exploring its rich history and traditions in relation to abstraction. Gouache is a versatile paint medium that combines some of the most desirable traits ...

Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler was an immeasurably influential American abstract artist known for, among other things, kick-starting Post-Painterly Abstraction. She championed individuality and experimentati...

Color, Focus and Field in Kenneth Noland Paintings

A casual observer might confuse Kenneth Noland as a painter of designs. Indeed, the most memorable Kenneth Noland paintings express a limited range of shapes and patterns: circles, chevrons, diamo...

The Secret of Making the Perfect Pastel Drawing

Pastel is a versatile word. It can be a noun when referring to a pastel, a general term for a pastel drawing or a pastel painting. It can also be a verb, as in to pastel something, meaning the act...

What is Hidden Inside an Abstract Design of a Painting

We have written before about the elements of art, such as line, color, texture, etc. Design principles are what we use to describe the ways those elements collaborate within a visual composition. ...

Owning the Greatness - Pierre Soulages

Back in 2014, French President Francois Hollande traveled to a town called Rodez, in the south of France, to preside over the opening of the Musée Soulages, a new museum dedicated to the work of F...

The Week in Abstract Art – One Thing Leads to Another

Francis Picabia was a master of transforming what exists into something new. He was one of the first proponents of abstraction in France, and as quickly as he became known for it he abandoned it, ...

Op Art Artists to Follow

When it first emerged in the Mid-20th Century, Op Art made huge impact, not just on the art world but also on the culture at large. Something about the way Op Art artists challenged our visual and...

Bridget Riley and the Philosophy of Stripes

Our sensory experiences connect us to a world of emotion. When we see something, that sense, in itself, is a sort of feeling. But then we also feel things based on what we see. Those feelings are ...

Watercolor Paintings You Could Own Right Now

Watercolor paintings possess unique physical characteristics that often invite poetic associations. The medium is translucent, so past layers are always visible just below the surface. Watercolor ...

What Large Abstract Paintings Can Do for an Interior Space

Recently we were in a gallery admiring some large abstract paintings by the American artist McArthur Binion. A young couple was also in the gallery, and after a few minutes we overheard them comme...

The Week in Abstract Art – Written in Stone

We live in a precarious time. Our societies are changing, although that is nothing new. But our planet iQs also changing. Luckily, we know quite a bit about the various ways the planet has changed...

Outsider Artists Whose Work is Seen as Abstract

Outsider art is an all-encompassing term that describes artists working outside of the formal art world. Outsider artists tend to be self-taught. Sometimes they work in folk traditions. Other time...

Associative Abstraction of Howard Hodgkin - The Master of Color

Howard Hodgkin sees his paintings as offerings. He transforms the raw materials of memories and feelings into expressive objects that he hopes can be of use to others. It may sound heretical for a...

Abstraction and the Use of Different Types of Line in Art

Line is one of the formal elements of art. Along with elements like color, shape, texture and space, it is something aesthetic to contemplate aside from the subjective, interpretive components of ...

The Lyrical in the Art of WOLS

Whenever we think of lyrical abstraction in painting, we think first of the German artist Wols. Strangely, we do not think of Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze, the German citizen who, after his name w...

The Week in Abstract Art – Findings in the Making

Artists find things and make things. What they make out of the things they find is up to them. What we find within the things they make is up to us. Ever since Picasso first collaged a picture of ...

Cy Twombly in Paris

Some artists exude a singular, visionary energy. Through their efforts they not only create art, but also convey the power of all art. This week we had the pleasure of experiencing a retrospective...

Brice Marden and the Calligraphic Treatment of the Line

In addition to traditional paint brushes, spread out on a table in the New York studio of Brice Marden are dozens of sticks. Just ordinary sticks off the branches of trees, except each stick is co...

Defining the Lyrical Abstraction

Lyrical Abstraction is a seemingly self-defining term, and yet for generations its origin and meaning have been debated. The American art collector Larry Aldrich used the term in 1969 to define th...

Here are Some Brilliant Examples of Cubist Sculpture

In painting, Cubism tends to flatten space, so at first glance perhaps the idea of Cubist sculpture may seem like a contradiction. But the theory behind Cubism isn’t about dimensionality so much a...

How Abstraction Served Avant-Garde Art

Most politicians today ignore avant-garde art. They see it as a harmless bastion for intellectuals trading in esoteric aesthetic philosophies. But that was not always the case. In the not so dista...

The Week in Abstract Art – Immerse Yourself

Sometimes we just want to completely inundate our senses with art. It is like a form of immersion therapy, through which we forget our troubles by focusing intently on a something we love. Someti...

Decorating a Small Living Room with Abstract Art

Every interior design philosophy comes down to one overarching idea: you should feel comfortable inside your home. Abstract art can play an important role in creating that perfect interior space w...

Jean-Paul Riopelle and the Expression Between Layers of Color

Each nation, like each person, possesses a unique character. Nations express their character through culture, and culture is influenced by art. By challenging how people perceive of their societie...

Is Art Brut Essentially Abstract or Rather a Figurative Movement?

Before we begin, we have to admit that analyzing whether Art Brut should be read as figurative or abstract is a bit of a folly. By definition, Art Brut designates art that exists beyond the scope ...

Clarity of Tone and Form in Barnett Newman Paintings

The iconic zip paintings of Barnett Newman, featuring thin, luminous vertical bands surrounded by immersive fields of color, are considered some of the most emotive and powerful works of the 20th ...

The Week in Abstract Art – The Feminine Gesture

Abstract art can be an excellent intermediary between people and their preconceived notions. By inviting us into a space of contemplation, it gives us a chance to address the eternal what, as in, ...

Abstract Expressionist Artists You Need to Know

Abstract Expressionism holds a special place on a list of iconic American cultural innovations, along with Jazz, the electric guitar and television. Many contemporary artists still explore its ten...

The Most Famous Abstract Paintings of Women

There is potentially so much more to a painting than what it reveals to our eyes. For example, what does it reveal to our minds? Some of the most famous realistic artworks are paintings of women. ...

Juan Gris on the Verge of Abstraction

The two artists most commonly associated with Cubism are Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Rightfully so, since it was they who invented the style, and most passionately pursued its expressive pos...

What We Need to Know About Alexander Calder Paintings

Alexander Calder is most commonly associated with the introduction of the mobile to fine art. His whimsical, kinetic sculptures sway in the slightest breeze, transforming themselves into innumerab...

The Week in Abstract Art – What Our Future Holds

Every Thursday we highlight a selection of abstract art exhibitions going on around the world. We try to approach this weekly article from a unique perspective, tying the selected shows to a commo...

Ten Unforgettable Examples of Abstract Drawing

Drawing is one of the simplest and most accessible ways to make in art. Almost anyone can do it. All it takes is a writing implement and a flat surface. Yet as simple as the medium can be, some of...

Cubism of Sonia Delaunay and the Exploration of Color

Much could be, and has been written about the professional accomplishments of Sonia Delaunay. She was one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century. In her 20s, her visionary approach to...

Illusion and the Abstract in the Works of Jesus Rafael Soto

The difference between reality and illusion can sometimes be subjective. While a student at the School of Fine Arts and Applied Arts in Caracas, Venezuela, Jesús Rafael Soto tried studying Impress...

A Cocktail of Abstract Thoughts in Paris

October definitely was the month of contemporary and modern art in Paris. In addition to FIAC (International Contemporary Art Fair, the most famous event) about 30 significant other exhibitions an...

The Week in Abstract Art – The Primacy of Pure Feeling

Thirteen years after painting his masterwork Black Square, Kazimir Malevich published The Non-Objective World: A Manifesto of Suprematism. In it, he described the experience of arriving at his ico...

The Importance of Color in the Art of Hans Hofmann

It would be difficult to name a more influential 20th Century painter than Hans Hofmann. The biographies of hundreds of important artists, teachers and innovators would not be complete without men...

True Nature of Wolf Kahn Art

Two observations have often been made about the paintings of Wolf Kahn. First, it has frequently been mentioned that Kahn paints landscapes that reference the scenery around his homes in Vermont a...

Gutai Group - Gestural Abstract Movement from Asia

Written in 1956, the Gutai Art manifesto reads, in part, “We have decided to pursue enthusiastically the possibilities of pure creativity. We believe that by merging human qualities and material p...

The Complex Minimalism of Robert Mangold

The magic in art is personal. It begins when someone is transformed through an aesthetic experience, and becomes inspired in turn to transform the world. Many viewers perceive the art of Robert Ma...