ABSTRACT ART

GROUP: FAROOQ NADEEM

TALHA HANIF
KAWISH HANIF
ALI RAZA
SHAHRUKH KHAN

What is Abstraction?
The term 'abstract art' - also called "non-objective art

", "non-figurative", "non-representational",

"geometric abstraction", or "concrete art" - is a
rather vague umbrella term for any painting or
sculpture which does not portray recognizable
objects or scenes. However, as we shall see, there is
no clear consensus on the definition, types or
aesthetic significance of abstract art.

Picasso thought that there was no such thing, while

some art critics take the view that all art is abstract.

What is the Idea Behind Abstract Art?

The basic premise of abstraction - incidentally, a key issue of aesthetics -

is that the formal qualities of a painting (or sculpture) are just as

important (if not more so) than its representational qualities.
Let's start with a very simple illustration. A picture may contain a very bad
drawing of a man, but if its colours are very beautiful, it may nevertheless
strike us as being a beautiful picture. This shows how a formal quality
(colour) can override a representational one (drawing).
On the other hand, a photorealist painting of a terraced house may
demonstrate exquisite representationalism, but the subject matter, colour
scheme and general composition may be totally boring.
The philosophical justification for appreciating the value of a work of art's
formal qualities stems from Plato's statement that:
"straight lines and circles are... not only beautiful... but eternally and
absolutely beautiful."

Timeline
1. Prehistoric
2. Egyptians
3. Christianity
4. Islamic
5. Renaissance
6. Baroque/Rococo
7. Impressionism
8. Fauvism
9. Expressionism
10. Cubism
11. Abstract Art
12. Dada
13. Surrealism
14. Abstract Expressionism
15. Pop Art
16. OP art

Abstraction in Prehistoric Art

Two pieces of rock engraved with abstract

geometric patterns, found in the Blombos
Cave in South Africa

The Man Wounded by Spears

A rare picture of a human figure.
Pech Merle Cave, Lot, France.
Note the Placard-type abstract symbol
(aviform) above/left of his head.

Abstraction in Egyptian Art

Eye of horus

Wall paintings

Abstraction in Early Christianity.

Geometric abstraction -Gives a

glimpse of of God and divinity
-Inscription at the bottom says this
is how the Birth of Christ came
about

Islamic Abstraction

Fauvism Painting

Women with a hat

It depict Matisses wife Amelie.
Henri Matisse
1905
Oil on Canvas
80.65cm*59.69cm

German Expressionism

Women Greeting Death

Kollwitz
1934

 This work shows a woman frail, weak, and defeated

extending her hand to Death. Having exhausted her

determination and her strength in a desperate struggle for
survival, she now acknowledges defeat and quietly
surrenders herself and her children to the inevitable. Too
weak even to show fear, she reaches out with one hand
while gently pushing her children forward with the other.
One child, terrified, turns away, but the other stares directly
at Death. Perhaps he is too young to recognize the stranger
who takes his mothers hand and will soon reach out for his.

Cubism 1906-1914

The Musicians
Pablo Picaso
1923
Pieces of coloured paper, wall-paper,

newspaper, cloth, imitation wood grain

and the like, were collaged onto the
picture. The colours became brighter and
the background less complex.

Abstract Art
1940-1950

Chief, 1950
(Artist)
Franz Kline
(Medium)
oil on canvas

Dadaism
1916-1924

Untitled (Squares Arranged according to the Laws of Chance) (1917)

(Artist)
Hans Arp
Collage
Work

Surrealism
1924-1966

The Face of War 1940

(Artist)
Salvador Dali

bstraction in the 21st century

Abstract Expressionism
Color Field
Pop Art
Op Art

Abstract Expressionism
(1940s 1950s)

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM IS A POSTWORLD WAR

II ART MOVEMENT IN AMERICAN PAINTING,
DEVELOPED IN NEW YORK IN THE 1940S. IT WAS THE
FIRST SPECIFICALLY AMERICAN MOVEMENT TO
ACHIEVE INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE AND PUT NEW
YORK CITY AT THE CENTER OF THE WESTERN ART
WORLD, A ROLE FORMERLY FILLED BY PARIS.
ALTHOUGH THE TERM "ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM"
WAS FIRST APPLIED TO AMERICAN ART IN 1946 BY THE
ART CRITIC ROBERT COATES, IT HAD BEEN FIRST USED
IN GERMANY IN 1919 IN THE MAGAZINE DER STURM,
REGARDING GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM. IN THE UNITED
STATES,ALFRED BARR WAS THE FIRST TO USE THIS
TERM IN 1929 IN RELATION TO WORKS BY WASSILY
KANDINSKY.

1. Jackson Pollock
2. Willem de Kooning
3. Mark Rothko
4. Clyfford Still

Jackson Pollock
(Number 11, 1952)

Dimensions: 2.10 m x 4.9 m.

No title, only number.
Blue Poles, originated from Pollock himself.
Contains shoe and footprints.
Shards of glass embedded in canvas.
He employed the blue lines to unite disparate parts of the large picture.
Enamel and aluminum paint with glass on canvas.

Color Field
Color Field painting is a style of abstract painting that

emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. It

was inspired by European modernism and closely related
to Abstract Expressionism, while many of its notable early
proponents were among the pioneering Abstract
Expressionists. Color Field is characterized primarily by
large fields of flat, solid color spread across or stained into
the canvas creating areas of unbroken surface and a flat
picture plane.
1. Mark Rothko
2. Clyfford Still
3. Helen Frankenthaler
4. Kenneth Noland

Kenneth Noland
Birth (1961)

Noland painted three

concentric circles in
complementary colors: yellow,
magenta, and red.

Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid-

1950s in Britain and the late 1950s in the United

States. It was the art based on modern popular
culture and the mass media, especially as a critical or
ironic comment on traditional fine art values.

1. Andy Warhol
2. Roy Lichtenstein
3. James Rosenquist
4. Claes Oldenburg

Andy Warhol
Campbell's Soup Cans (1962)

Op art
Artists have been intrigued by the nature of
perception and by optical effects and illusions for
many centuries. They have often been a central
concern of art, just as much as themes drawn
from history or literature. But in the 1950s these
preoccupations, allied to new interests in
technology and psychology, blossomed into a
movement.
1. Victor Vasarely
2. Bridget Riley
3. Frank Stella
4. Jesus Rafael Soto

Bridget Riley
Blaze (1964)

The zigzag black and white lines in Blaze create the perception of a circular decent.
As the brain interprets the image, the alternating pattern appears to shift back and
forth. The interlocking lines add depth to the form as it rhythmically curves around
the center of the page.