The History of Abstract Art

The History of Abstract Art Related Information:

Abstract Art is also known as Nonrepresentational Art, which is art without figurative and recognizable representation. Abstract Art is typically in two styles; forms that have been ‘abstracted’ and inspired from nature but depicted in such a manner that they no longer reveal a predictable reality, and subjective, or ‘pure’ abstract art forms, which have no reference to reality to begin with. Let us take a look at the origins of this type of art.

Origins of Abstract Art

Till the end of the 19 th century, most art was representational art, meaning it depicted images and pictures that were very straightforward and easy to see and understand. This was the only type of art at the time and there was this need felt to create something different and unique. To satisfy this need of artists, a movement arose in 1870 in Europe, called ‘Impressionism’ which first introduced abstraction in paintings. Art, for the first time, did not represent images that were fully recognizable.

Artists, during this time, wanted to create art and images which represented the reality of nature as in the depths of water and the different effects of light on things and natural objects. Most paintings were done with the same subject but at different times of the day and during different seasons so as to show how the same thing could look different because of the changing effects of light.

At much the same time, the Neo-impressionism movement began, taking inspiration from the Impressionist movement. Art, during this time, was created using side by side dots to make shapes and images, which were again not wholly representational.

Later, in the 1890s, wanting to move away from the obsessions of changing light effects, which were prominent in impressionist works; a new movement started called the Post-Impressionist movement. This era saw a range of striking and unique paintings being created that were anything but representational and finally moved into the realm of ‘abstract’.

Thus, during the last couple of decades of the 19 th century, art had started moving from representational to abstract and the whole purpose of art took on new meanings. Up until the beginning of abstract art, the main aim of art and paintings was to portray images and objects, but abstract art created a new purpose for art, and that was to evoke emotions and feelings.

In the early 20 th century, abstract art started gaining importance as artists could now delve deeper into themselves and create art that was not just depicting things and objects as everyone saw them. Abstract art sprang up at around this time and in many places around the world almost simultaneously. Different variations of abstract art were developed and were known by different names; in Moscow and Petersburg (Rayonism, Constructivism), in Netherlands (De Stijl), in Paris (Cubism), and in Munich (The Bauhaus).

Then came the ultimate defining point in the history of art; and that was Abstract Expressionism. Up until this point, abstract art was mostly practiced in Europe, specifically in Paris. But in 1940, with the advent of Abstract Expressionism, the popularity of abstract art took the United States by storm. This form of abstract art emerged in New York in the 1940s and wasn’t so much a school of art as it was a new way of thinking. The abstract expressionists broke away from the conventions of the past and began creating art that was previously not deemed as ‘acceptable’ in the art world. Thus abstract art can be called a type of rebellion by artists of that time.

The history of abstract art can thus be seen as a process that evolved slowly but surely and reached its culmination with the emergence of Abstract Expressionism or true Abstract Art.