Abstract geometric art has long enthralled artists for centuries. Its pioneers, including Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich, pushed its limits through pure form, geometric shapes, and vibrant hues.
Geometric abstraction was an art style explored by numerous artists during its heyday, producing works characterized by geometric forms. Artists like Carmen Lomas Garza and Josef Albers incorporated dynamic artworks that explored geometric forms against negative space to create dynamic pieces; Sarah Morris and Mai Braun used vibrant patterns that included overlapped geometric figures into their works.
Geometric abstraction emerged as a response to over-emotional paintings with visual representations, such as those dominated by emotional subjects or representations that were visually overwhelming. This artistic inquiry focused on simplifying objects into geometric figures that lived in surreal spaces without any connection to reality; while adhering to "cold" rules of nature and science.
Geometric abstraction emerged in France during the 1920s Art Deco movement and later adopted by Paris' Cercle et Carre group. Likewise in America, artists experimented with nonrepresentational geometric abstraction - including Agnes Martin who created series of meditative geometric pieces; Virginia Garcia Costa and Georgia Nassikas also explored nonrepresentational geometric pieces focused on balance, proportion and scale.
Geometric abstraction continues to push artistic boundaries today. Below, discover five of the most notable geometric abstraction artists.
Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian was an influential artist in the development of geometric abstract art. He became widely acclaimed for his use of grids and primary colors in his paintings, which have inspired designers and architects alike to craft sleek modernist lines in their own designs and architecture projects.
Mondrian was born and educated in the Netherlands before turning his attention towards art. In 1892 he enrolled at Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten or Royal Academy of Visual Arts in Amsterdam to hone his art skills by replicating Old Masters paintings as well as genre pieces while beginning to experiment with abstraction in his works.
His paintings entitled Composition with Yellow Patch demonstrated his shift away from representational art and toward pure abstract styles; by breaking up landscape into horizontal and vertical lines with colored accents such as reds, yellows and blues in place of natural hues and eliminating all references to depth he marked the start of his journey towards mature styles of pure abstraction.
Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was one of the foremost innovators of modern geometric abstract art and founded Suprematism. His concept for Suprematism included breaking away from natural forms and subject matter in order to reach "the supremacy of pure feeling and spirituality".
Malevich explored various styles, from Impressionism and Fauvism through Fauvism and Cubism, until he ultimately settled on neoplasticism - exploring geometric forms with pure geometric forms as his signature style. His famous grids of vertical and horizontal black lines combined with primary colors were key features of his non-representational paintings.
Sonia Delaunay
Sonia Delaunay was an artist and designer whose work bridged art and design. Her geometric abstractions often included bold patterns and shapes inspired by her Ukrainian heritage; her unique approach to color and form had a lasting influence on modern art.
Josef Albers
Geometric abstraction is the pictorial language resulting from Cubist reformulation of conventional form and space. The language features basic geometric forms combined into non-illusionistic compositions. While figurative art depicts people and things as they would appear, geometric abstract art depicts them without structure in an unstructured space.
Georgia Nassikas
Georgia Nassikas weaves together art and design in her geometric abstract paintings, featuring bold color combinations and dynamic compositions that capture tradition while at the same time being visually stimulating. Georgia Nassikas takes her cue from both earth and sky in creating luminescent encaustic paintings.
Conclusion
Geometric abstraction continues to inspire contemporary artists. Josef Albers' spherical lines and Georgia Nassikas' nested squares continue to excite. These 5 painters push the limits of geometric abstraction by producing visually arresting artworks that provoke thought and provoke contemplation.
Geometric abstraction is one form of abstract art, which is defined as visual imagery that does not accurately reproduce reality; instead it seeks to elicit emotions or concepts through distortion of objects found in nature" (Exploring Art). De Stijl was an artistic movement which took this concept one step further by forgoing traditional elements like perspective and physical reality in favor of primary colors, flatness, studied grids/patterns/strict composition.
