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Abstract art

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Art

   Black square by Kazimir Malevich
   Black square by Kazimir Malevich

   Abstract art is now generally understood to mean art that does not
   depict objects in the natural world, but instead uses colour and form
   in a non-representational way. In the very early 20th century, the term
   was more often used to describe art, such as Cubist and Futurist art,
   that depicts real forms in a simplified or rather reduced way—keeping
   only an allusion of the original natural subject. Such paintings were
   often claimed to capture something of the depicted objects' immutable
   intrinsic qualities rather than its external appearance. The more
   precise terms, "non-figurative art," "non-objective art," and
   "non-representational art" avoid any possible ambiguity.

History

   Non-objective art is not an invention of the 20th century — humans have
   made non-objective art since they first drew pictures in the dirt. In
   the Islamic religion the depiction of humans is not allowed, and
   consequently the Islamic culture developed a high standard of
   decorative arts. Calligraphy is also a form of non-figurative art.
   Abstract designs have also existed in Western culture in many contexts.
   However, Abstract art is distinct from pattern-making in design, since
   it draws on the distinction between decorative art and fine art, in
   which a painting is an object of thoughtful contemplation in its own
   right.

   Constructivism (1915) and De Stijl (1917) were parallel movements which
   took abstraction into the three dimensions of sculpture and
   architecture. The Constructivists believed that the artist's work was a
   revolutionary activity, to express the aspirations of the people, using
   machine production and graphic and photographic means of communication.
   Some of the American Abstract expressionists are purely abstract and
   include: Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Jackson
   Pollock, Franz Kline, and Hans Hofmann although they were at times
   inspired by myth, figuration, architecture, and nature. Op Art (1962)
   and Minimalism (1965) were two recent idioms. It is, at present
   possible that an artist's work is seen as an individual entity rather
   than part of a movement.

Gallery

   Composition no. 16 by Jackson Pollock

   Reflection by R.Buckley

   Abstract created from a digital photograph and image manipulation

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_art"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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