Inventing Abstraction 1910 - 1925 at MOMA

   It was another amazing experience in my life - Inventing Abstraction exhibition at MOMA. In this show, we could meet a lot of amazing abstract art works. Abstract art is a very powerful way to express artist's emotion or personality.
"Must we not then renounce the object altogether, throw it to the winds and instead lay bare the purely abstract?" - Vasily Kandinsky, 1911

Inventing Abstaction Exhibition website

Paul Strand 1890-1976

Porch Railing, Twin Lakes, Connecticut. 1916

Silver platinum print, 12 3/4 x 9 11/16" ( 32.4 x 24.6 cm )

Porch Shadows. 1916

Silver platinum print, 13 1/6 x 9" ( 33.1 x 22.9cm )

Porch Railing, Twin Lakes, Connecticut

Porch Shadows

   If I didn't read the title and wall text of these 2 photograph, It might be difficult to guess what these are. In the wall text, "He explored how to produce abstract photographs without resorting to tricks of process or manipulation." 

Theo van Doesburg 1883-1931

Studies for composition (The Cow). 1917

Pencil on paper, 4 5/8 x 6 1/4" ( 11.7 x 15.9cm ), 6 1/4 x 4 5/8" ( 15.9 x 11.7cm)

Gouache, oil and charcoal on paper, 15 5/8 x 22 3/4" ( 39 x 57.7cm ) 

Studies for composition (The Cow)

   This series of analyzing the form of a cow was what exactly I wanted to see. I'm always curious to know how abstract artists see objects in that way, what process they went through for unrecognizable final works, or how we understand abstract art works. This work could give me some answers about it. According to the wall text, "Van Doesburg turns it step by step into a group of rectangles, eliminating all the curved and triangular elements seen early on." I believe that an ability of seeing objects in unique, creative way is one of the most essential factors of an artist.



Georges Vantongerloo 1886-1965

Construction of volume relations. 1921

Mahogany, 16 1/8 x 5 5/8 x 5 3/4" ( 41 x 14.4 x 14.5cm )

Construction of volumetric interrelationships derived from the inscribed square and the square circumscribed by a circle. 1924

Cast cement with paint, 11 13/16 x 10 1/6 x 9 7/8" ( 30 x 25.5 x 25 cm )

Construction of volume relations

Construction of volumetric interrelationships derived
from the inscribed square and the square circumscribed by a circle

fig.1 - Frank Lloyd Wright

   In order to form a space that we are living in, fundamentally a horizontal line and a vertical line should be connected. I believe that this is one of fundamental theories of architecture, also after this theory is developed and applied, then we will be able to see astonished rounded or unique shape. Actually, many architects do study in this way like Frank Lloyd Wright.( fig.1 ) These sculptures probably are not to look attractive art works for everyone. However, for me, It was really interesting. Because these works are exactly showing us the language of horizontal and vertical relationship. When I was first semester of design class at Pratt, I tried to build a three-dimensional model that was inspired by Mondrian's two-dimensional painting. It was totally not simple project for me to create three-dimensional spaces using flat surface figures. According to the wall text, "He saw mathematics as a way to rationalize the relationships of the natural world and give them a universal expression."