UNIT - IV Art As Abstraction Of Reality.pdf

Unit 4
Art As
Abstraction of
Reality
MMES ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE
-AYISHA,ASWIN,THAYYIB, SUPRIYA

Art As Abstraction of Reality
Unit IV
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UNIT - IV
CONTENT:
● INTRODUCTION TO ABSTRACT AND REALISTIC ART
● A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ABSTRACT ART PERIOD
● EMOTIONAL ABSTRACT ART
● DEVELOPMENT OF ABSTRACT ART
● ARTIST'S PERCEPTION OF ABSTRACT ART
● EFFECT OF ABSTRACT ART ON VIEWERS
● FAMOUS ABSTRACT ART MOVEMENTS
● FAMOUS ARTIST OF ABSTRACT ART AND THEIR
PHILOSOPHY
INTRODUCTION TO ABSTRACT AND
REALISTIC ART
Over the last several hundred years, two specific forms of artistic
expression have dominated various styles all over the world—Realism and
Abstract art.
This concept changed to varying degrees throughout the centuries up until
the Renaissance and the overarching theme of art movements that were
based in Realism gradually shifted into new and unexplored avenues that
gave way to Abstract expressionism.
The main difference between Realism and Abstract art is that realism
represents the real world and how it is truthfully observed versus abstract
art that has no real composition and is separates itself from the subject

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REALISTIC ART
Realism, in which the subject of the painting looks much like the real thing
rather than being stylized or abstracted, is the style many people think of as
"true art." Only when examined close up do what appear to be solid colors
reveal themselves as a series of brushstrokes of many colors and values.
Realism has been the dominant style of painting since the Renaissance.
The artist uses perspective to create an illusion of space and depth, setting
the composition and lighting such that the subject appears real. Leonardo
da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is a classic example of the style.

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ABSTRACT ART
Abstraction is about painting the essence of a subject as the artist
interprets it, rather than the visible details. A painter may reduce the subject
to its dominant colors, shapes, or patterns, as Pablo Picasso did with his
famous mural of three musicians. The performers, all sharp lines and
angles, don't look the least bit real, yet there's no doubt who they are.
Or an artist might remove the subject from its context or enlarge its scale,
as Georgia O'Keeffe did in her work. Her flowers and shells, stripped of
their fine detail and floating against abstract backgrounds, can resemble
dreamy landscapes.
Abstract painting is viewed as a key style contained within the Modern Art
movement Abstract art is a departure from reality. It releases the creative
energy of people and provides them with the freedom to explore their
minds and emotions in a way that was impossible in traditional styles of art.
The abstract is an expression connecting the feelings and vibes. It is a
different perspective than the usual perception of realism. Abstract artworks
experiment with the use of texture, tone, and light perception. Through
abstract works, artists express their feelings rather than particular objects
or scenes.

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A Brief History of the Abstract Art Period
Abstract Art was an incredibly notable movement due to its complete
departure from reality. Images that were depicted were entirely non-
figurative and non-objective, as no concrete reference to anything remotely
real or representational was made in the artworks created. Within art
history, some earlier movements began to veer in the direction of
abstraction, including Romanticism, Impressionism, and Expressionism.
The artworks that were made in this era placed a greater focus on visual
sensation as opposed to the portrayal of objects.
Abstraction as an artistic style helped with the materialization of the
concept of “art for art’s sake”, which was the belief that paintings and
sculpture should free themselves from all external meanings. Thus,
Abstract artists created art with the notion that their works should exist
simply to be enjoyed for what they were. Concentration was placed on the
substance of art itself, as artworks emphasized the elements of material,
texture, line, tone, color, and composition over accurate depictions during
this era.
Emotional Abstraction Art
◆ Art showing emotion employs abstraction to represent nature, unlike
geometric art, which is entirely anti-nature.
◆ The painting that has been abstracted to express its essence or
emotional core
◆ Abstract paintings are the purest expression of an artist's mind and
emotions. The emotional objectivity of abstract art lies in the
9+characteristics of the colors and their interactions with one another.
◆ Dark colors and severe angles inspire a negative feeling, whereas
lighter colors and softer angles inspire a positive feeling.

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How does abstract art relate to reality?
Figurative art is characterized by partial abstraction. Even realistic art can
have partial abstraction as well. But, all abstract artists use color, memory,
and visual sensation to show that reality is subjective – and that is probably
one of the most important characteristics of abstract movement.
Thoughts through Abstraction
“Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically
with his eyes... Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the
tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the
mind. It is an exploration into unknown areas.”

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Emotions Through Abstraction
An abstract art, which puts color and shape into its greatest
expressiveness. ... They want an abstract, sensitive and emotional
expressionism. With form, color, and line, the artist is free to express his
inner feelings, without relating them to the memory of the outside world.
DEVELOPMENT OF ABSTRACT ART
Abstract art is being able to put different colors, shapes, and textures
together to create a finished piece that represents something in particular.
When painting this form of art, many artists start different ways depending
on what they are feeling and how their imaginations work.
The main purpose of abstract art is to not tell the story directly but to
involve people in imagination and creativity. It is up to the viewer to
perceive what they understand from the art.
Abstract art is usually developed from simple elements like lines and
points, creating planes and other two-dimensional surfaces according to
their emotions and freedom. They are then involved in their art color and
texture, space and values, without the clashing of these elements.
An abstract artist’s skill lies in his or her ability to use colors and textures to

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their best visual strength and to create a sound composition from these
elements.
For example, the following abstract art of Pablo Picasso, The Weeping
Woman, depicts a woman crying indirectly.
ARTIST'S PERCEPTION OF ABSTRACT ART
The artists are aware of the tendency of the viewer's eyes to drift towards
the centers of the drawings. They accentuate the most important part of
their artworks in the center of the images so that their messages can be
conveyed.
The main elements that artists focus on while developing abstract art are
shapes, forms, and colors. Their inspiration serves as the foundation of the
elements they choose and can be derived from colors, emotions, music,
nature, etc.
Colour harmony plays a key factor in expressing emotions to the viewer's
eyes. When put together in the right manner, it creates balance and order.
In short, they imagine the overall picture in a way that conveys the overall
emotion that they wish to express.

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EFFECT OF ABSTRACT ART ON VIEWERS
Most viewers view abstract art as blurred images. They prefer more
symmetrical and balanced paintings. People prefer well-known artists and
their artworks since it gives a satisfactory effect upon viewing as they know
more about that particular artist.
These art pieces give the freedom to people to assign their meanings to the
images they see and perceive. Abstract art can also make people uneasy
because they do not know what the art is all about just by a cursory glance
or assuming that it does not look like anything.
Since the formal qualities of abstract art are about form, color, line, texture,
pattern, composition, and process, viewers need to understand these
qualities first and distinguish them to clearly understand the paintings they
see.
FAMOUS ABSTRACT ART MOVEMENTS
The first generation of Abstract expressionism flourished between 1943
and the mid-1950s. The movement effectively shifted the art world’s focus
from Europe to New York in the postwar years.
Three art movements which contributed to the development of abstract art
were
● Romanticism
● Impressionism
● Expressionism
Artistic independence for artists was advanced during the 19th century.

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● Political instability in Europe in the 1930s brought several leading
Surrealists to New York, and many of the Abstract Expressionists
were profoundly influenced by Surrealism's focus on mining the
unconscious. It encouraged their interest in myth and archetypal
symbols and it shaped their understanding of painting itself as a
struggle between self-expression and the chaos of the subconscious.
● Most of the artists associated with Abstract Expressionism matured in
the 1930s. They were influenced by the era's leftist politics and came
to value an art grounded in personal experience. Few would maintain
their earlier radical political views, but many continued to adopt the
posture of outspoken avant-gardists.
● Having matured as artists at a time when America suffered
economically and felt culturally isolated and provincial, the Abstract
Expressionists were later welcomed as the first authentically
American avant-garde. Their art was championed for being
emphatically American in spirit - monumental in scale, romantic in
mood, and expressive of rugged individual freedom.
● Although the movement has been largely depicted throughout
historical documentation as one belonging to the paint-splattered,
heroic male artist, there were several important female Abstract
Expressionists that arose out of New York and San Francisco during
the 1940s and '50s who now receive credit as elemental members of
the canon.

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What is the purpose of abstract art?
The main purpose of abstraction in art is not to tell a story, but to
encourage involvement and imagination.
This art form has as its main objective to provide viewers with an intangible
and emotional experience, being completely different for each individual,
depending on their personality and mood.
Western art was, from the Renaissance until the mid-19th century,
supported by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce visible
reality. At the end of the 19th century, many artists felt the need to create a
type of art that encompassed the fundamental changes in technology,
science, and philosophy,
They were against formal teachings and started to create art that did not
necessarily refer to objects in the real world. The sources from which
individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse and
reflected social and intellectual concerns in all areas of Western culture at
the time.
The approaches found in abstract painting span many movements,
including German expressionism, fauvism, cubism, and abstract
expressionism. Emphasizing the formal qualities of a work of art on the
representational subject, abstract artists experimented with new
techniques, such as the use of vivid and arbitrary colors, the reconstruction
of shapes, and the rejection of the realistic three-dimensional perspective.

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What are the characteristics of abstract art?
The main characteristics of abstractionism are:
● Opposition to the Renaissance Model and Figurative Art;
● Non-Representational Art;
● Subjective art;
● Absence of Recognizable Objects;
● Valuation of Shapes, Colors, Lines, and Textures.
Abstract artworks may contain elements related to emotion, as a way of
liberating the need for verisimilar representation.
Thus, the artist is not committed to transmitting reality. In this sense,
another striking feature of abstract art is freedom, one that serves both the
artist and the lover. In other words, he has the freedom to interpret the work
as he likes, without any real commitment.
Therefore, for not committing to the representation of reality, the main
characteristic of abstractionism is to be a counterpoint to the concept of
realistic art. Thus, abstract works are more conceptual and depart
completely from what was considered classic art.

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How is Abstract Art Created?
Abstract art is an independent composition, free from representations and
illustrations. In abstract art it is not simply a process of creating landscapes
or objects, it is a process of exploring. It does NOT need to have a singular
meaning, narrative, or explanation.
In abstract art, we put different colors and shapes together to create a
piece that represents each particular admirer
To create an abstract picture, takes imagination and a sense of creativity.
The main purpose of abstraction is not to tell a story, but to encourage
involvement and imagination.
This art form has as main objective to provide viewers with an intangible
and emotional experience, being completely different for each one, which
can vary completely according to the mood, with the feeling that the
particular work gives you, with your artistic repertoire at the moment.
What are the types of Abstract Art?
● Sensitive or informal Abstractionism
● Tachisme
● Geometric Abstraction
● Action Painting

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Famous Artists Of Abstract Art And Their
Philosophies
Sensitive or informal Abstractionism
Feelings and emotions predominate. Colors and shapes are created freely.
In Germany comes the movement called “Der blaue Reiter” (The Blue
Knight) whose founders are the Kandinsky, Franz Marc among others.
An abstract art, which puts color and shape into its greatest
expressiveness.
These artists delve into chromatic research, achieving spatial and formal
variations in painting, through the tones and hues obtained. They want an
abstract, sensitive and emotional expressionism.
With form, color and line, the artist is free to express his inner feelings,
without relating them to the memory of the outside world. These elements
of the composition must have a unity and harmony, just like a musical work.

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Best Abstract Artists:
Wassily Kandinsky 1866-1944
Russian painter, considered by many historians to be the “Father of
Abstract Painting”, but before abstractionism he participated in various
artistic movements such as impressionism also went through a short fauve
and expressionist phase.
He wrote books, as in 1911, on the spiritual in art, in which he sought to
point out symbolic correspondences between the inner impulses and the
language of shapes and colors, and in 1926, from the point and the line to
the surface, a more technical explanation of the construction and
inventiveness of your art.
Dozens of his works were confiscated by the Nazis and several of them
were exhibited in the “Degenerate Art” exhibition.
Franz Marc 1880-1916

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Abstract Art Franz Marc
A German painter, passionate about the art of primitive people, children
and the mentally ill, Marc chose animal studies as his favorite themes, met
Kandinsky, under the influence of him, convinced himself that the essence
of beings is revealed in abstraction.
The admiration for Italian futurists gave a new dynamic to Marc’s work,
which started to use shapes and masses of bright colors typical of Cubist
painting.
Tachisme
Tachisme appeared in the post-World War II period, in Europe, with the
intention of breaking with previous models of art. The movement’s name
comes from the French tache, which means stain.
Formed by spots created impulsively with all the freedom or emotional
effusion of the artist. Lyrical Tachismo shows luminous, transparent and
spontaneous tones. Dramatic Tachism has dark, serious, passionate tones.
The paintings of that period value spontaneous gesture, the artist’s instinct
at the time of production.
It is possible to imagine, when looking at the painting, the movements that
the artists made. An important artist who represents this type of painting is
Hans Hartung.

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This type of abstraction is also called informal abstraction, in the sense that
it does not have a defined shape.
The raw material used for the painting was also explored. Some artists
gave more priority to gesture and others to research the material, creating
textures, layers and using new materials.
Jean Dubuffet 1901 – 1985
French painter who was inspired by the art of children and crazy people.
Abstract Art Jean Dubuffet
His works had irregular shapes and simple designs.
He went in search of new art forms and found what he called raw art: made
by people who are not part of the artistic environment, who do not have
cultural and historical references about art and seek ideas and themes
within themselves, such as children, crazy and lonely people.

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Geometric Abstraction
It is the geometric abstract art that had a lot of influence from the cubist and
futurist movements. This is due to the use of geometric shapes and with a
more rational and hard feature in the representations. Therefore, the lines
and colors are organized in a way that results in a mostly geometric
composition.
As this aspect emerged shortly after the formal discoveries of cubism, it
had several currents, some that deserve to be highlighted. Among them:
Suprematism; Constructivism; Neoplasticism or De Stijl, Concretism,
Neoconcretism.
Piet Mondrian 1872-1944
Dutch pioneer of abstract art, who developed from the beginning of the
landscape to abstract geometric works of the most rigorous type. His
canvases were painted from pure, vivid colors and straight lines.
The painter’s desire was to obtain as much clarity as possible and, for that,
he sought that the canvases reflected the mathematical laws of the
universe. It was not by chance that the patterns of the painting were always
regular, precise and stable. He moved to New York in 1940, where he
began to develop a more colorful style, with colored lines. and syncopated
rhythms.

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Action Painting
It is production of improvised and gestural ‘drip paintings’, placing your
canvas on the floor and pouring paint over it from the can or dragging it by
brush or stick.
This type of painting does not have previous schemes, and appeared in
New York, in the 1940s, under the influence of surrealist automatic painting
processes.
Jackson Pollock 1912-1956
He is an American painter, he introduced a new modality in the technique,
dripping the paints that drip from punctured containers intentionally, in a
fast execution, with abrupt and impetuous gestures, spraying, staining,
painting the chosen surface with extraordinary and fantastic results,
sometimes realized before the public.
He developed research on aromatic painting
In the last works in this line, the artist used materials such as nails, shells
and pieces of canvas, mixed with the layers of paint to give relief to the
texture. He often used industrial paints, many of which are used in car
painting.

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Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
He was a Dutch painter who left Holland at the age of 22 on board a
freighter, started his life as a carpenter and wall painter.
Unlike his avant-garde colleagues, who abolished the figurative
representation of his paintings, female figures – the mark of difference in
his work.
In the late 1940s, along with Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky and Mark
Rothko, revolutionary American painting, founding the abstract
expressionist avant-garde.
Famous Art Work
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and
stage designer considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of
the 20th century. Born: 25 October 1881,Died: 8 April 1973,Picasso is
credited, along with Georges Braque, with the creation of Cubism.

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Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian, original name Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, (born March 7,
1872, Amersfoort, Netherlands—died February 1, 1944, New York, New
York, U.S.), painter who was an important leader in the development of
modern abstract art and a major exponent of the Dutch abstract art
movement known as De Stijl (“The Style”).
Art name-Yelllow Spring News
wassily kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter and printmaker in the 20th
century!Born: 16 December 1866, Died: 13 December 1944, He is one of
the artists who helped people change how they look at art, and start to
appreciate abstract works. He was a very smart man who played many
instruments, studied many subjects, and created revolutionary works of art!
Art name-Manhattan Art

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Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe, (born November 15, 1887, near Sun Prairie,
Wisconsin, U.S.—died March 6, 1986, Santa Fe, New Mexico), American
painter who was among the most influential figures in Modernism, best
known for her large-format paintings of natural subjects, especially flowers
and bones, and for her depictions of New ...
Art name-A Force Of Nature
Monuments in abstract
A skyscraper in Taipei

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Beijing National Stadium
Aldar Headquarters Building in Abu Dhabi
Palm Islands in Dubai
Lotus Temple in New Delhi

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4 Famous Abstract Artists of India
❖ S.H.Raza
Born in 1922 in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, Sayed Haider Raza
was one India’s most important abstract artist of the 20th century.
Considered a primer on the Indian Modernist, he is acclaimed world-wide
for his richly coloured canvases which fused Western avant-garde ideas
with the spirituality and sensibilities of his homeland.
Inspired by expressionism and later by geometric abstraction, Raza
experimented with a variety of Modernist painting styles. It was in 1970 that
he was hit upon the ‘bindu’ (full circle) as a motif and appeared regularly in
his paintings thereafter. Eventually, this motif was regarded as Raza’s
trademark.
“It’s the centre of my life”- S.H.Raza on ‘ Bindu

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More than a dozen of Raza’s abstract paintings have surpassed the
$1million mark at auctions world-wide. His acrylic on canvas abstract
paintings- ‘Saurashtra’ (image below) and ‘Tapovan’ fetched staggering
amounts at international auctions setting a record not only for the artist but
for any modern Indian artist.
❖ Tyeb Mehta
Born in 1925 in Kapadvanj, Gujarat. Initially working as a film editor, Mehta
stayed and worked in Mumbai for much of his life.
He was part of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group and left for London
in 1959, where he worked and lived till 1964. During the years spent in
London, his painting style was strongly influenced by the expressionist
works of Francis Bacon, while his works in New York came to be
characterised by elements of minimalism.
Mehta’s signature painting style showcased human form broken into
irregular shapes of solid colour bordered by black lines. He later on created
the ‘Diagonal’ series with canvases featuring streak running from top-right
corner to the lower left, attempting to bisect the scenes of figures with
horrified expressions.

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Through the 1980s, his paintings grew bolder in style wherein he used the
ancient concept of mythological imagery in a powerfully modern way. He
painted a series of abstract paintings highlighted by the depictions of royal
blue form of goddess Kali and demon Mahishasura.
His most famous acrylic on canvas, often described as dramatic and
disturbing art, ‘Kali’ fetched $4 million at international auction.
❖ MF Husain
Born in September, 1915 in Pandharpur town of Maharashtra, Maqbool
Fida Husain was considered the godfather of contemporary Indian art.
Maqbool Fida Husain,
India's most prolific, controversial, abstract artist, Husain was a founding
member of Bombay Progressive Artists' Group.
His brightly coloured narrative paintings were created mainly by employing
a modified Cubist style, but it was his irreverent art subjects that always
pushed the limits of censorship in India.

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The artist’s later abstract artworks stirred controversy for hurting religious
sentiments and led to filing of several lawsuits against him and later his
exile, including nude portrayals of Hindu religious deities, and Bharat Mata.
“I think you don't do work for controversy alone, and whenever you
do new work which people don't understand and they say it is done to
create controversy,”- M.F.Husain
One of the most renowned abstract paintings of Husain which auctioned for
Rs.6.5 crores in the international art markets is oil-on-canvas-diptych, titled
‘Battle of Ganga and Jamuna’ (image below).
❖ Ram Kumar
Born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, Ram Kumar was described as one of
India's foremost and prolific abstract artists.
He was associated with the Progressive artist's group and worked along
with great Indian abstract artists including M.F. Hussain, Tyeb Mehta, S.H.
Raza. This deeply influenced his early work and he created paintings
featuring human condition mixing and tensing both figurative and abstract
art.

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He was the first Indian artist who gave up figurativism and chose the
conceptual technique of abstraction as his form of narrative. With buoyant
golden and blue strokes to melancholic, earthy sweeps of ochre, his
canvases bespoke of stories replete with visual metaphors that are
transcendental in expressions and yet deep rooted in his artistic journey.
His abstract art commands high prices in the art global market wherein his
abstract painting titled ‘Vagabond’ (image below) was sold for $1.1 million
at Christie's, setting another world record for this Indian Modernist master.

UNIT - IV Art As Abstraction Of Reality.pdf

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