At the beginning of the twentieth century, a new trend in art appeared - modernism. New postulates suggested the abandonment of some traditions of realism in painting. The wording that the "past is crowded" has become fashionable and in a fairly short time has gained many fans. The leading role in the ongoing changes belonged to abstractionism, which united a number of trends that arose on the basis of modernism, such as futurism, cubism, expressionism, surrealism and others. Abstractions in painting were not immediately accepted by society, but soon the new style proved its belonging to art.
Development
By the thirties of the twentieth century, the course of abstractionism gained strength. The founder of a new direction in the art of painting was Vasily Kandinsky, one of the most progressive artists of that time. A whole galaxy of followers was formed around the master, for whom the process of studying the state of the soul and internal intuitive sensations became the basis of creativity. Artists ignored the reality of the world and expressed their feelings in abstract art. It was impossible to understand some of the paintings of the early followers of the new genre. Paintings of abstractionism usually did not carry any information, and unprepared visitors to exhibitions and opening days were often at a loss. Attaching annotations to the paintings was not accepted then, and each connoisseur of pictorial art could rely only on his own vision.
Masters and founders
Among the most striking followers of the new trend were the famous abstractionists Vasily Kandinsky, Natalya Goncharova, Peter Mondrian, Kazimir Malevich, Mikhail Larionov. Each of them adhered to its own direction. Paintings of abstractionism performed by famous artists gradually became recognizable, and this contributed to the promotion of a new art form.
Kazimir Malevich worked in the mainstream of Suprematism, preferring a geometric basis for self-expression. The dynamics of his compositions on canvas proceeded from a messy at first glance combination of rectangles, squares, circles. The arrangement of the figures on the canvas did not succumb to any logic, and at the same time, the picture gave the impression of a strictly verified order. In the art of abstraction, there are enough examples that fundamentally contradict each other. The first impression when you get acquainted with the picture can leave a person indifferent, and after a while the canvas will already seem interesting.
Artists Natalya Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov followed the direction of rayism, the technique of which was to unexpectedly intersect straight ray-shaped lines of different colors and shades. The colorful play in the picture was mesmerizing, fantastic combinations of intersecting rays alternated in endless combinations, and the canvas radiated a stream of energy.
Tashism
Abstract artists Delaunay and Kupka presented their own art. They tried to achieve maximum effect by rhythmic intersection of colorful planes. Representatives of tashism, a picturesque picture obtained as a result of the chaotic application of large strokes in the absolute absence of a plot component, expressed their artistic credo in this way. Oil abstract in the style of Tashism is the most complex, painting in this genre can be perceived in an infinite number of interpretations, and each will be considered true. However, the final word still remains with critics and art historians. Moreover, the style of abstractionism itself is in no way limited by any framework or conventions.
Neoplasticism
And while the paintings by Robert Delaunay were an example of meaninglessness, the Dutch abstract painter Peter Mondrian introduced a strict system of interaction between large figures with right angles, which contrasted with each other on the canvas and at the same time somehow combined in an incomprehensible way into one. Mondrian’s work is called "neoplasticism." It gained the greatest distribution in the twenties of the last century.
The Czech Frantisek Kupka created paintings dominated by round and rounded figures, truncated circles and circles cut off on one side, which suddenly continued with black broken lines, causing alarm and concern. Canvases Kupka could be considered for hours and find in them all new nuances.
Creating his paintings, an abstract artist tries to move away from familiar images. At first, the unrecognized surreal works of Kandinsky, Malevich, Mondian and others subsequently caused heated debate among opponents and fans of the new art.
Expression
Another example of abstraction in painting is expressionism, the style of quick drawing on a large canvas using emphasized neo-geometric strokes applied with wide flute brushes, while large drops of paint can fall on a spread canvas, anyhow. Expression of this method is the main and only sign of belonging to art.
Orphism is one of the areas of French painting, developed in the twenties of the last century. Artists adhering to this trend tried to express their aspirations by rhythmic movement and conditional musicality, while they widely used the technique of mutual penetration of colors and intersection of contours.
Pablo Picasso
Cubism, as a reflection of abstraction in painting, is characterized by the use of geometric forms, not indicated explicitly, but with a certain degree of conventionality. Irregular circles, broken lines, angles and kinks - all this could be arranged according to a certain logical scheme and at the same time with glaring chaos. The brightest representative of cubism was and remains the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973), who is considered to be the ancestor of this trend in painting.
Color experiments (blue period, pink period) smoothly switched to a change in form, deliberate deformation and destruction of nature. An example of such paintings can be considered the painting "Avignon Maidens", written in 1907, when abstractions in painting were just beginning to gain strength. Thus, the work of Picasso led some artists of that time to a completely new genre that completely rejected the traditions of naturalism and the cognitive value of visual art.
Distant past
The paintings of abstraction artists of the early twentieth century made a revolution in painting of that period, in the wake of numerous trends and directions of artistic creativity, brush masters appeared who were able to prove that abstraction is a completely independent type of fine art, part of culture.
Modern abstractionism
Currently, abstractionism has taken several other forms, different from those that were during the heyday of this rather controversial kind of fine art. The modern language of abstraction today is white. Famous artists such as Andrei Pelikh, Valery Orlov, Marina Kastalskaya, Andrei Krasulin, invest in him ideas about the spiritual at the level of metaphysics, and also use the optical laws of light reflection in a palette of white shades.
Higher tension of color is possible only in a white hypostasis, this color is the basis of all foundations. In addition to the color aspect, in modern abstraction there is also a semantic factor. Signs and symbols arising from the depths of consciousness carry signs of archaic. Abstract artist Valentin Gerasimenko uses images of ancient manuscripts and manuscripts in his paintings, which allow a wide interpretation of the theme of the distant past.