Caminos a lo absoluto: Mondrian, Malevich, Kandinsky, Pollock, Newman, Rothko y Still

by Golding John

Conquistada por diferentes caminos en la década de 1950 e incoporada, con su propia sintaxis plástica, al acervo común, la abstracción tiene una historia apasionante como idea y como objetivo cumplido por algunos de los más grandes artistas del siglo pasado. Esta historia es la que cuenta el crítico y pintor John Golding a partir de la obra de los pioneros de la abstracción Mondrian, Malévich y Kandinsky, así como la de sus sucesores, los norteamericanos Pollock, Newman, Rothko y Still.

El libro reconstruye, de manera rigurosa y accesible, el viaje recorrido por cada uno de ellos desde el arte figurativo hasta el abstracto, un viaje en el que la búsqueda espiritual y la experimentación artística se hicieron inseparables. A pesar de sus diferentes técnicas y formas de pensar, todos compartieron, en algún momento de sus trayectorias, la sensación de encontrarse "en el camino hacia un verdad pictórica fundamental, hacia un absoluto visual".

Genres: Art

237 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2000

Reviews

[Peyton Barnes]

“They are unique elements in a unique situation. They are organisms with volition and a passion for self assertion. They move with mental freedom, and without need to conform with or to violate what is probable in the familiar world. They have no direct association with any particular visual experience, but in them one recognizes the principles and passion of organisms.” - Rothko on his new forms

[Zo]

Read about 2/3 of this (the sections on Malevich, Kandinsky, and Rothko). Tons of good information on all three artists coupled with interesting formal analysis. I would've been interested to see if the book could have connected the stories comparatively even more than it did, but maybe that would have been intellectually dishonest. Didn't provoke the same emotion as "About Rothko" or provide as in-depth analysis, but maybe that's a product of differing mindsets at time of reading? Hard to say, but a stimulating read either way.

[Mitchel Granados]

Buen análisis en la evolución y el trayecto técnico y narrativo de cada artista, con buena representación de las obras más importantes.

[Chris Hall]

Very good.

[Martin Read]

This is a book I have been reading, on and off, for a while. I originally got it because of my love of Kandinsky and a desire to understand more of what was happening at the turn of the C19 to create such an upheaval in artistic endeavour.

[Eamonn Barrett]

A great introduction to masters of modern art.