1
Q
Abstraction
A
- ABSTRACT is a general term, meaning forms abstracted from nature
- There is an underlying tradition of abstraction in Western art from prehistoric times that was pushed below the surface with the dominance of the classical tradition which was revived with the Renaissance
- •NON-OBJECTIVE means pure abstraction. The work of art has no reference to any object outside of itself; the forms are not based in nature
2
Q
Bertram Brooker
A
- Canada seen its first solo exhibition of abstract and non-objective painting in 1927 from Brooker
- Brooker was a novelist art critic, script writer, dramatist and journalist
- very 1st paintings were abstract done under the influence of music
- uses colour volume and rhythm experienced while listening to music
3
Q
Brooker 2
A
- his paintings have musical connections
- Brooke was influenced by book painting
- very interested in colour & line
4
Q
A
BERTRAM BROOKER, UNTITLED (SOUNDS ASSEMBLING), 1928
5
Q
Lawren Harris
A
- interested in spiritualism
- read penskys work
member of international theosophical society
one of his non objective works
trees a progression
favourite rec activities was mountain climbing
doesn’t come to complete abstraction until late 19th century
6
Q
HARRIS 2
A
- after he left Canada for the US he takes a step into modernist practice in a series of nature based abstractions of the mid 1930s.
- influenced by Brooker’s paintings of the late 1920’s
- not until the late 1930s Harris shifted away from the spatial composition associated with his paintings of nature.
- In White Triangle he used the basic building blocks of geometric form the shallow space of Cubism and a Theosophy-inspired palette in which specific colours evoked specific spiritual states.
7
Q
A
LAWREN HARRIS,
PAINTING NO. 4, C. 1939
8
Q
Abstract Art & Harris’s third type of abstraction
A
- art composed only of formal elements with no message or predetermined idea.
- reflects the brief period in the late 1930s and early 1940s when several english canadians including Harris Taçon, turned to geometric non objective painting.
- They were familiar with Kandisnky, Bauhaus art and theory and New yorks museum of non objective art.
9
Q
Abstract art 2 & MAcdonald
A
- surrealism influenced english-canadian abstraction
- european artists who had taken refuge in North America introduced artists to their theories of surrealist automatism.
- Vancouver Jock Macdonald’s career changed when he met Grace Pailthorpe who used automatic painting in her clinical practice.
- Pailthorpe taught Macdonald how to use this technique.
10
Q
HANS HOFMANN
A
- German born artist, arrived in NYC 1932 to teach at art students league.
- central to his teaching was the importance of spiritual expression and the two dimensionality of painting.
- he argued that the paintings vitality depended on the tension between the two dimensional and three dimensional.
- he felt that this tension could be achieved by expliting the properties of colour to optically advance or recede in relation to the picture plane. This would result in a push-pull dynamic.
11
Q
A
HANS HOFMANN, CIRCUS, 1945
12
Q
Kathleen Munn
A
- influenced by Brooker
- 1st Canadian artist to exhibit pure abstract art in Canada around 1916
- she continued to experiment with cubist-based abstraction through the 1920s and into the early 1930s
- Paintings composition and untitled signal Harris’s abstractions of the mid 1930s and reflected a msytical search that parelleled that of Brooker.
13
Q
A
KATHLEEN MUNN, UNTITLED, C. 1926-28 (FIGURE 9.2) OIL ON CANVAS, 37 X 60 CM.
14
Q
EDNA TAÇON
A
- Montreal artist
- musician a violinist before painting
- influenced by music & Kendensky
- first solo exhibition in toronto 1941 titled the 1st Canadian exhibition for non-objective pictures
15
Q
Taçon
A
- worked in mixed media, non-objective Bauhaus idiom, creating paper plastics.
- often collaged decorative materials and employed textured grounds in her experimentation with the emotional and physical effects of colour and form.
- work was included in every Museum of non objective art group show from 1941-5 and became a spokeperson for non-objetive painting,
16
Q
A
EDNA TAÇON, FLEEING, 1946 (FIGURE 9.4)
OIL ON CANVAS BOARD, 48.1 X 45.1 CM.
17
Q
Clement Greenberg
A
- In 1939 Clement Greenberg wrote an article entitled avant garde and kitsch that was published in the partisan review
- He began by attacking mass culture which he called kitsch for its link with mass politics
- he also felt that it encouraged conformity and thus masked the authenticity of the individual
- he said that the true artist must fight the influence of kitsch by focusing on his own medium
18
Q
Clement Greenberg 2
A
- painters must reject narrative content and three dimensionality and accept the physical or plastic character of the painting
- greenbergs ideas about the purity of art were immensely influential
- discovers Jackson Pollock
19
Q
Painters 11
A
- premised the creation of the group on the individualism and freedom of expression that had become symbolic of the free world.
- came together to find a common exhibition platform for abstract art.
- Hoffman’s theory of shallow pictorial space governed by the tension of push and pull remained central to their art.
- members glorified the act of painting as a means of transferring pure emotion directly onto the canvas.
20
Q
PAINTERS ELEVEN (1953-1960).
A
- The artists who formed this group brought abstraction to toronto.
- members: Alexandra Luke, Tom Hodgson, Harold Town, Kazuo Nakamura, Jock Macdonald, Walter Yarwood, Hortense Gordon, Jack Bush, Ray Mead, Oscar Cahén, William Ronald.
- first meeting as a group in 1953, about a decade later than the automatistes.
21
Q
Painters Eleven 2
A
- what is important about them is that they looked to new york city for their inspiration not France.
- reflect Canada’s and Ontario’s increasing economic ties to the U.S.
- following WWII these artists were therefore not directly influenced by french surrealism.
22
Q
Painters Eleven 3
A
- havent gone to France - goal was stylistic individuality, no doctrinal statements
- Called Painters 11 because thats how many members there was
- no political agenda/purpose
- felt if they exhibited together they have a bigger impact on art scene
23
Q
WHY ARE PAINTERS ELEVEN IMPORTANT FOR CANADIAN ART? DID THEY MAKE GOOD PAINTINGS?
A
- they produced no important landmark paintings equivalent, to the new york art school.
- in their art, there is little in the way of pure abstraction except for nakamura and bush.
- what is important is the mythology that surrounds their work
- they exhibited regularly thus kept in public eye
24
Q
Why are painters 11 important part 2
A
- most active in first four years
- their importance lies in the fact that through persistance, their advocacy for art, and thier notoriety they broke through the limited conservative and old-fashioned view of the visual arts that was prevalent in ontario especially toronto in the early 1950s.
- they presented a collective voice at a crucial time in the toronto art scene
- brought abstraction to toronto.
25
ALEXANDRA LUKE (1901-1967) (Painters 11)
- wealthy, married into the automobile manufacturing McLaughlin family
- important for bringing The group together
- spark very influential in promoting abstract art in Toronto
26
Luke
- spent summers at Hoffmans school for 5 years
- influenced by Hoffman and ideas of modern art
- studied under Jock Macdonald
- been painting abstracts since 1945
-
27
ALEXANDRA LUKE, JOURNEY, 1957 (FIGURE 9.5)
28
Oscar Cahén (Painters 11)
- Born in Copenhagen Denmark, to a German family.
- 1938 fled europe because of fathers anti-nazi views
- in Canadian internment camp from 1940 - 2
- studied design & painting in Europe
- worked for commercial art company in Montreal.
- early work is expressionist
- influenced by Picassos cubism
29
Cahén 2
- dark expressionist paintings based on organic forms and religious imagery, strongly influenced by the art of Graham Sutherland and Abraham Rattner.
- 1950s distinctive approach emerged in dynamic brilliantly coloured and boldly designed paintings often with flat areas of bounded colours.
30
OSCAR CAHÉN (1916-1956), ANIMATED ITEM,
C. 1955
(FIGURE 9.7)
31
Jock Macdonald (Painters 11)
- oldest of the painters eleven
- painted first abstract in 1934.
- experimented with automatic/surrealist painting in watercolour and ink in vancouver in 1941.
- went to Toronto to teach at the OCA 1947
- 1st living Canadian other than the group of 7 to be given a retrospective exhibition at the art gallery of toronto
32
Macdonald 2
- studied with Hoffmann in the summer of 1948-9
- french surrealist advised him to paint in oil
- 1956 started to mix lucite 44 with his oil paints
- this gave him the fluency of watercolour and solved his problem with spontaneity
- MacDonald never completely abandons illusionistic space
33
J.W.G. (JOCK) MACDONALD, RUSSIAN FANTASY, 1946 (FIGURE 9.3). WATERCOLOUR/GOUACHE AND INK ON PAPER, 21.7 X 35.7 CM. (AUTOMATIC/SURREALISM)
34
J.W.G. (JOCK) MACDONALD, FLEETING BREATH, 1959. OIL AND LUCITE ON CANVAS, 122.2 X 149.2 CM.
35
J.W.G. (JOCK) MACDONALD, FAR OFF DRUMS, 1960 (FIGURE 9.6)
OIL AND LUCITE ON CANVAS, 91.3 X 106.6 CM
36
ABSTRACTION AFTER 1950
37
Jack Bush (1909-1977), (Painters 11 member)
- already part of the Canadian art establishment by 1959 - shown regularly
- worked in commercial design and advertising
- experimented with abstract expressionism in the early 1950s. (next slide)
- - revelled in the liberating of gestural abstraction, using the New York abstract expressionists, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Jackson Pollock as role models.
38
JACK BUSH, MAY, 1955, OIL ON CANVAS, 43.2 X 55.9 CM
## Footnote
- high keyed saturated colours
- painterly gestures
- cubist grid
39
JACK BUSH (1909-1977), YESTERDAY, 1947
- WORK IN THE 1940S IS ECLECTIC AND ROOTED IN THE ONTARIO TRADITION (THIS SLIDE)
40
Know why Clement Greenberg was so important for the artistic development of Jack Bush
- the turning point in Bush's art was the visit of clement greenberg to his studio in 1957.
- Bush began a life long friendship with the critic.
- Bush showed Greenberg his work in which he criticized his work for having hotlicks of abstract expressionism Greenberg responds by advising him to paint simpler and thinner.
- Bush also advised him to return to the freedom of his watercolours for inspiration
- Bush took his advice, mature works show colour, shapes, defined by an edge and a balancing of colour forms, the space between the elements began to breathe.
41
JACK BUSH, SPOT ON RED, 1960,OIL ON CANVAS,
USES THE COLOUR SCHEMATICS OF MATISSE – COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS
42
JACK BUSH, ABSTRACTION, 1964
43
JACK BUSH, ZIG-ZAG, 1967, ACRYLIC AND POLYMER ON CANVAS, 172.8 X 269.8 CM. (FIGURE 11.5)
44
KAZUO NAKAMURA (1926-2002) (Painters 11 member)
- Born in Vancouver
- family immigrates from Japan / Japanese - Canadian
- after the war moved to Hamilton
- studies commercial art in Toronto
- meets Painters 11 members
- very interested in science & geometry
45
Nakamura
- Japanese calligraphy
- expressing unseen patterns of science
- unique form of creating doesn't use traditional canvas but cardboard & razor blades
- his white on white string paintings evoke infinity in their irregular repeititons of almost horizontal lines.
46
Nakamura 3
- least likely member of Painters Eleven
- his art of the mid 1950s visibly references nature
- subtle and elegant these almost monochromatic paintings are reinforced by grid-like linear patterns.
- they combine Nakamura's concern with underlying structures and his almost impressionistically romantic relationship to nature.
- Nakamura would later turn completely away from painterly to geometric form and eventually to numerical calculations as embodiments of the essential and the universal.
47
KAZUO NAKAMURA (1926-2002), INNER VIEW, 1954, OIL ON MASONITE,
48
KAZUO NAKAMURA, BLOCK STRUCTURE, 1956, OIL AND GRAPHITE ON MASONITE, 111.8 X 152.3 CM. (FIGURE 11.6)
49
KAZUO NAKAMURA, WAVES, 1957. OIL OVER STRING ON CANVAS, 94.1 X 101.7 CM.
- A MONOCHROMATIC STRING PAINTING
- STRING IS LAID OUT IN PARALLEL ROWS AND FIXED ON MASONITE, THEN OVERLAID WITH TWO OR THREE COATS OF TITANIUM WHITE PAINT
- THE RAISED STRINGS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A NATURE EXPERIENCE
50
GUIDO MOLINARI (1933-2004)
- In 1955 molinari proposed that Montreal Automatisme was still linked to a three-dimensional structure.
- he called for a further advance in the creation of pictorial space which he called "colour-light"
- in an attempt to break the traditional 3D structure of illusionistic space, he produced some radical black and white paintings.
- - focused on structural properties of colour and made two dimensional space his primary objective.
51
Molinari 2
- became an able polemicist for formalist abstraction
- begun a series of paintings in which a reduced number of angular planes were held in dynamic tension on the surface of the canvas.
- first montreal painter to introduce a smooth flat hard eged surface in black and white paintings in 1956
- contrast between black and white; between light and its absence.
52
Molinari 3
- Molinari and Borduas shared an understanding of advanced American painting that set them apart from the european aesthetics precedents of both the automatistes and early plasticiens.
- molinari's encounter with Mondrian was fundamental to the direction his art took over the next several years.
- His analysis of Mondrian's spatial structure led him to exclude any notion of figure and ground from his own work.
53
GUIDO MOLINARI, ANGLE NOIR, 1956, 152.4 X 182.9 CM.
- angle noir is reductive and geometric
54
GUIDO MOLINARI, HUIT BLANC, 1958, ANILINE-BASED PAINT ON CANVAS, 126.9 X 152.5 CM. (FIGURE 11.3)
55
GUIDO MOLINARI,
MUTATION RHYMIQUE NO.9,
1965, 203.2 X 152.4 CM
56
CLAUDE TOUSIGNANT
- series of forms set on a background , thought placement carefully
- forms are compromising abstraction
- claude studied at school of design
- really developed abstract
57
Tousignant 2
- shared with Molinari a belief in Mondrian's importance and a respect for contemporary American painting.
- developing the theoretical implications of Mondrian's work the paintings, sculptures, and three-dimensional reliefs that Tousignant made until the early 1960s emphasize complex internal structures based on the right angle, which held intersecting planes of pure color in dynamic equilibrium
- focused on structural properties of colour and made two dimensional space his primary objective.
58
CLAUDE TOUSIGNANT, ACCÉLÉRATEUR CHROMATIQUE, 1967, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 244.7 CM. (FIGURE 11.1)
SHAPED CANVAS
SERIES OF COLOURS MOVING THROUGH SEQUENCES OF RELATIONSHIPS
PAINTING IS PURE SENSATION
59
CLAUDE TOUSIGNANT, ŒIL DE BOEUF, 1964, 181 X 88.9 CM.
HARD-EDGED FORMS AND STRONG COLOURS
moving away from traditional rectangle
visual sensation
blues & reds constrast each other
60
CLAUDE TOUSIGNANT (B. 1932), LES TACHES, 1955
61
Difference between Molinari and Tousignant
- where Molinaris paintings of the same period invite visual analysis and contemplation Tousignant;s give colour an expressive intensity that assaults the senses with its accelerated visual impact.
62
Shadbolt 3
- constantly surrounded by First Nations art - says theres x-ray images in their art
- becomes very interested in Native culture & abstraction
- decided to apply his own experiences to his own art
- graduated from the Vancouver school of Art, travelled and studied in NY, London and Paris during the 1930s’
63
Shadbolt
- Born in England
- saw surrealist work
- in his travels he had a great deal of experience first hand of art movements
- enlisted in 1942 Post in England - an administrative officer for art
- Shadbolt witnessed destruction - in his job had to study photos of the aftermath of the bombings
- "Says theres an afterimage" - refers to this as the process of abstracting
64
Jack Shadbolt 1909 - 98
- represented different aspects of Vancouver modernism.
- his expressive nature derived abstractions are more usually associated with the West Coast school.
- he was his generations counterpart to his mentor emily carr, in his engagement with the vitality of nature and his spiritual indebtedness to the first nations of the northwest coast.
- his approach to abstraction was closely connected to British contemporary art.
65
Shadbolt 4
- Shadbolt was impressed by images in First Nations Art
- was interested in the figure of the shaman
- interest in the Shaman’s interaction with the spirit world and altered states of consciousness.
- carving of the eagle
- early 20th century photo of a shaman
- intermediary between the real world & spiritual world
connects with the spirits known for going to the spiritual state
66
Jack Shadbolt, heraldic forms 1951.
67
JACK SHADBOLT, PRESENCES AFTER FIRE, 1950, WATERCOLOUR AND GOUACHE WITH PEN AND BLACK INK ON WOVE PAPER, 68.5 X 93.5 CM.
- Shadbolt creates a series of works linked to First Nations
- watercolour
- uses influences from Europe - cubism & surrealism
68
JACK SHADBOLT, WINTER THEME, NO. 7, 1961, 108 X 128.9 CM., Oil and Lucite on canvas
TRANSFORMATION OF FORMS – FROM BOATS TO BEETLES TO SEED PODS
- Shadbolt influenced by ideas of transformation & incorporates them into his art
- inspired by boats -\> lights @ harbour
- the boat transforms into a beetle then another transformation
- First Nations colours
69
Tanabe 2
- Born in Vancouver parents from Japan
- 1942 Japan joined Germany in WWII
- Large Japanese Canadian population
- after attack there was a rise of anti asian riots etc
- thus gov't set up interment camps - Japanese Canadians
70
Tanabe 3
- were told had to move to them - internment camps only could take what they could carry
influenced by Hanz Hoffman
Up until 1973 his work had been non-representational
1960s concentrates on landscape painting & space
71
Takao Tanabe
- in reference to poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Tanabe represents another dimension of Vancouver painting in the 1950.
- Tanabe's work is less heavily painted and less reliant on the grid than is that of most of his colleagues.
- studied with LL Fitzgerald in Winnipeg in 1940s and Hoffman in New York in 1951
- travelled to Japan to studi sumi-e drawing
- following decades his abstractions would continue to reflect his engagement with the spirit of both Japanese and modern North American expression.
72
Takao Tanabe A region of Landlocked Lakes 1958
73
TAKAO TANABE, THE LAND, 1973, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 84 X 139.7 CM.
Studies realistic landscape emphasizes the vastness of the landscape
can tell the landscape extends
74
Emma Lake Workshops 1955 - 1961
- Kenneth Lochhead was the driving forced behind these two week study sessions developed to compensate for the isolation of artists on the Prairies.
- each year the school invited an artist to lead the session.
- the purpose was to give professional artists the opportunity to work under the leadership of a major figure in the art world.
- the 1959 visit of Barnett Newman was the most influential for the artists who became known as the Regina Five.
- 1962 visit of Clement Greenberg was the most controversial.
75
Emma Lake workshops 2
- Doug Morton credited the American workshop leaders at Emma Lake for his engagement with total abstraction.
- he experimented with new materials and methods of paint application
- from bloors perspective the emma lake workshops of the 1950s spawned an indigenous art practice in Regina.
76
Kenneth Lochhead 1926 - 2006 (Regina 5/Emma Lake)
- Greenberg urged him to simplifly his paint handling and give priority to colour by adopting a reductive approach to form.
- was a figurative painter until turning to gestural informally structured abstract style little more than a year earlier with *Left of Centre* 1962.
- - moved away from surrealist prairie landscapes to the abstracted and expressive figure ground compositions that characterizd his work in the early 1960s.
77
Locchead 2
- 1950-1964 – DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF ART AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
- 1964-1973 – PROFESSOR IN SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
- 1973-1975 – PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL ARTS, YORK UNIVERSITY
- 1975-1989 – PROFESSOR IN DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA
78
Kenneth Locchead Left of Centre 1962
## Footnote
- influence of McKay and Greenberg
- loosely geometric shape of an innersquare that echoes that of the panel
the paintings finely delineated shapes combine geometric and biomorphic forms rendered in a complex colour palette.
79
KENNETH LOCHHEAD, ORANGE CORNER, 1967
80
Ronald Bloore 1925 - 2009
- rejected the imposition of Grenberg;s linear account of modernism
- more comfortable with Barnett Newman's conviction that abstract art was a visual language that not only could but should communicate human values.
- - - In his severe paintings of the 1960s and 70s he built up the layers of paint with the meticulousness of a craftsman
81
Bloore 2
- Bloore's conceptual approach his vocabulary of geometric forms and the ordered structure and reductive appearnce of his paintings place his work in the broad path of 20th century geometric abstraction.
- important source is nature, Kandinsky, Miro, and ancient art & architecture of middle east
- emphasis on line and imagery rather than colour plane and pictorial space situates him outside the orthodoxies of both hard-edge and colour field painting of the 1960s.
82
Painting No.11 1965 Ronald Bloore
## Footnote
- formal pattern and symbol while the elimination of all colour but white unifies the spatial field and evokes metaphorical associations with light and purity
- idea of beginning with a preconcieved image goes against the idea of intuitive expression of abstract expressionists for hwom activity of painting was a determining factor int he outcome of the work
- work is limited in colour, a constructed abstraction with a simpler range of geometric forms.
83
Kiyooka 2
- Born in Saskatchewan
- Japanese Canadian interned during WWII
- attended emma lake workshops
- taught under Lochhead at the school of art in regina in 1956
- by the end of 1960s disillusioned with modernist art and devote himself to performance, art film music sculpture
- went to Mexico study Mexican modern art
- minimal painting, hard-edged
84
Roy KIYOOKA 1926 - 94
- around 1964 Kiyooka found a shape that fascinated him for the rest of the decade.
- this was the ellipse, a mathematically defined plane curve; metaphorically however it was an egg , the typical life form.
- while living in Montreal his paintings of ellipses became simpler and less intellectual
- work had nothing regional about it, his sense of place was a spiritual confrontation that could take place anywheree.
85
Roy Kiyooka *Pleiades* 1967
86
ARTHUR MCKAY (1926-2000)
- came to Regina in 1952 - teacher
- persuaded by Newman to eliminate bright colours and compose through pure intuition
- Newman challenges McKay to go farther thus he threw away his colour & tried to compose w pure emotion / feeling
- McKay is relating his work to nature -
87
ART MCKAY, EFFULGENT IMAGE, 1961, LATEX, STOVEPIPE ENAMEL, AND RETAIL PAINT ON HARDBOARD,
122 X 122 CM. (FIGURE 9.10)
88
The Regina 5
- 1960 Bloore organized an exhibition to show the work of five Regina painters, Kenneth Lochhead, Art McKay, Ted Godwin, Doug Morton, and Bloore (himself)
- the exhibition was circulated throughout Canada as Five painters from Regina
- like the painters eleven they did not have a common program.
- came together because of where they lived and worked (Regina) and because they all were experimenting with Modernism.
89
90
Abstract artists in English canada 1915- 1961
Bertram Brooker
Kathleen Munn
Lawren Harris
Jock Macdonald
Clement Greenberg
Painters 11
91
Abstract artists in French Canada and English after 1950
Claude Tousignant
Guido Molinari
Jack Bush
Kazuo Nakamura
Kenneth Locchead
Ron Bloore
Ron Kiyooka
