7.13b
|
spacebar . . . redraw
|
|
|
Mondrian's paintings were never rigorously planned; they were always done intuitively and somewhat improvisationally. Theories came later. What's more, no painting was really considered "finished": Mondrian constantly revised and re-worked. He might keep revising a painting for years, and finally decide to simply move a single line and inch or so.
The natural world was the stimulus for Mondrian throughout much of his career; even some of the most abstract works are depictions of natural subjects. Later, the urban landscapes of Paris and New York served as subjects. (New York and the virtual world are the inspiration for my work here.) This parallels Mondrian's philosophy that as mankind progresses from physical/natural states to more spritual/abstract ones, the natural becomes more "automatic" (journal p.28). This concurs with positivist anthropological theories of Mondrian's time, which categorized "primitive" and "advanced" societies. This also mirrors psychological constructs, like Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs," which viewed individuals progressing from having basic survival needs, to those of love and companionship, up to "self-actualization" states. As a longtime anthropological saying goes, "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny." That is, the evolution of the species is reflected in the growth of the individual. Similarly, Mondrian's painting style progressed through nearly all the styles of painting, before arriving at his ideal (self-actualized) style of the New Plastic. |
Mondrian subscribed to the principles of Theosophy, which holds that there are constant, fundamental laws which are usually invisible, but are occasionally uncovered by special, gifted visionaries. Naturally, Mondrian and his peers saw themselves as having sufficient vision to see and make clear these universal truths. They believed that humanity evolves from physical to spiritual levels of being, and related the spiritual with the abstract. Art was seen as a means for facilitating the evolution of mankind (p.18), because all art was, more or less, a direct aesthetic expression of the universal (p.41). Indeed, Mondrian saw his Abstract-Real art as so highly evolved that it tended toward non-art: it was the beginning of the end of art itself. Some art historians agree with this view, but the fact is, many other artists of Mondrian's time and later, proclaimed that their own art was the ultimate art or the end of art. They must be seen in historical context: we must remember that socialism and communism were on the rise in Europe during the 1920s and 30s, and one can detect in Mondrian's writings a wish to abolish all individuality in favor of a single style of art (Mondrian's), and a celebration of "universal" values over specific or individual ones.
Mondrian seems to stand for the 20th century. He saw increasing abstraction in all fields, including machinery (with more complex machines and social systems, more removed from natural resources), and fashion (with its intensification of color). Like current generations, Mondrian's reacted against positivism and materialism. What would Mondrian think of computers, of the Internet? |