Cubism and Abstract Art

Alfred H. Barr, Jr.

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429602443
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: History of Art

Originally published in 1936, in this classic account of the development of abstract art Alfred Barr analyses the many diverse abstract movements which emerged with bewildering rapidity in the early years of the twentieth century, and which had an impact on every major form of art.

Barr traces the history of nonrepresentational art from its antecedents in late nineteenth-century painting in France – Seurat and Neo-Impressionism, Gauguin and Synthetism, and Cézanne – through abstract tendencies in Dada and Surrealism. He distinguishes two main trends in abstract art: the geometrical, structural current as it developed in Cubism and later in Constructivism and Mondrian, and the intuitional, decorative current running from Matisse and Fauvism through Kandinskt and, later, Surrealism. He shows how individual movements influenced one another, and how many artists experimented with more than one style. Barr also discusses the involvement of a number of abstract movements in architecture and the practical arts – the Bauhaus in Germany, de Stijl in Holland, Purism in France, and Suprematism and Constructivism in Russia.

Catalog

Painting and Sculpture	Nos. 1–273
African Negro Sculpture	Nos. 274–277A
Photography	Nos. 278–282
Architecture	Nos. 283–312
Furniture	Nos. 313–326
Typography and Posters	Nos. 327–357A
Theatre	Nos. 358–380
Films	Nos. 381–386

Painting and Sculpture; Drawings, Constructions

ARCHIPENKO, Alexander. Sculptor and draughtsman. Born Kiev, Russia, 1887. Studied Kiev, 1902–05; Moscow, 1905–08; Paris, 1908. Associated with Cubist painters. First Cubist sculpture, 1911. In Nice during War; Berlin, 1921; New York, 1923. Lives in Hollywood, California.

*1. Hero, 1910 Gilded terra cotta, 33 inches high Collection Mrs. Alexander Archipen-ko, Hollywood, California Figure 92

*2. Walking woman, 1912 Terra cotta, 27 inches high Collection Mrs. Alexander Archipenko, Hollywood, California Figure 93

*3. Boxing 1913 Terra cotta, 30 inches high Collection Mrs. Alexander Archipenko, Hollywood, California Figure 94

4. Statuette, 1914 Terra cotta, 28 inches high Collection Mrs. Alexander Archipenko, Hollywood, California

*5. Bather (sculpto-painting), 1915 Wood, metal and paper, 20⅛ × 11½ inches Collection Mr. and Mrs. Walter C. Arensberg, Hollywood, California Figure 95

6. Woman dressing her hair, 1915 Bronze, 12⅞ inches high Collection Weyhe Gallery, New York

ARP, Hans. Sculptor and painter. Born Strasburg, 1888. Studied painting at Weimar, 1907. Visits to Paris. Switzerland, 1911–12. Munich, 1912, associated with Kandinsky and Der Blaue Reiter. One of founders of Dada, Zurich, 1916: Cologne, 1920. Member of Surrealist group, Paris, 1924. Lives at Meudon, near Paris.

*7. Composition, 1915 Collage, 35 × 27 inches Collection the artist, Meudon-val-Fleury, France Figure 57

*8. Head 1924–25 Painted wood, 11 inches high Collection Société Anonyme, Museum of Modern Art, 1920 Figure 207

*9. Relief 1930 Painted wood, 23½ × 17¾ inches Collection Mrs. George Henry Warren, Jr., New York Figure 208

*10. Human concretion, 1935 Plaster, 20 inches high Collection the artist, Meudon-val-Fleury, France Figure 209

BALLA, Giacomo. Painter. Born Turin, 1871. Original member of Italian Futurist group, 1910. Lives in Rome.

*11. Dog on leash, 1912 Oil on canvas, 35⅝ × 43¼ inches Collection the artist, Rome Figure 42

*12. Progressive lines + dynamic sequences (The swifts), 1913 Oil on canvas, 38⅜ × 47⅝ inches Collection the artist, Rome Figure 44

BELLING, Rudolf. Sculptor. Born Berlin, 1886. Berlin Academy, 1911–12. Moved to New York, 1934.

*13. Head 1923 Bronze, 15 inches high Collection Weyhe Gallery, New York Figure 161

BOCCIONI, Umberto. Sculptor and painter, Born Reggio Calabria, Italy, 1882. Rome, 1901. Through Balla, influenced by Neo-Impressionism. Paris and Russia, 1904–05. Met Marinetti, Milan, 1909. Wrotemanifesto of Futurist painters, Milan, 1910. Leader of Futurist painters, 1910–14. First Futurist sculpture, 1911. Exhibited in Futurist painting exhibition, Paris, 1912; sculpture, 1913. Knew Picasso and Braque. Died at Verona, 1916.

*14. Development of a bottle in space, 1912 Bronze, 16 inches high Collection The Gallery of Modern Art, Milan Figure 47

*15. Unique forms of continuity in space 1913 Bronze, 40 inches high Collection The Gallery of Modern Art, Milan Figure 49

BRANCUSI, Constantin. Sculptor. Born Roumania, 1876. Studied art, Bucharest, until 1902. To Paris, 1904. Studied with Mercié at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but left on advice of Rodin, 1906. Worked in Rodin’s atelier. First exhibition, Paris, 1906. Lawsuit, 1926, over Bird in Space, which U. S. Customs held was not a work of art. Lives in Paris.

16. Sleeping muse, 1910 Bronze, 11 inches high Collection The Art Institute of Chicago

*17. The new-born 1915 Brass, 8¼ inches long Collection Julien Lew Gallery, New York Figure 106

*19. Leda 1920 Marble, 24 inches high Collection Miss Katherine S. Dreier, New York Figure 108

20. Male torso, 1922 Bronze, 18⅜ inches high Collection The Brummer Gallery, New York

21. The chief, 1925 Wood, 21 inches high Collection S. N. Behrman, New York

*21A. Bird in space, c. 1925 Brass, 54 inches long Collection The Museum of Modern Art, New York Figure 107

BRAQUE, Georges. Painter. Born Argenteuil, France, 1882. Studied at Le Havre where he met Friesz. Paris, 1904, studying at Académie Julian. Joined Fauves, 1905–07. Early work influenced by Signac, van Gogh, Matisse, Friesz, then, 1907–08, by Cézanne. With ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Foreword
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction
• Two main traditions of abstract art
• From Impressionism to Fauvism
• Analytical Cubism
• Futurism
• Abstract Expressionism in Germany
• Abstract painting in Paris
• Synthetic Cubism
• Cubist sculpture
• Brancusi
• Abstract painting in Russia
• Constructivism
• Abstract art in Holland: de Stijl; Neo-Plasticism
• Post-War Germany : the Bauhaus
• Purism
• Abstract films
• Abstract photography
• Abstract Dadaism
• Abstract tendencies in Surrealist art
• The younger generation
• Catalog
• Bibliography