Colorized Studio Views, 26 Rue Du Départ, Paris
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colorized studio views, 26 rue du départ, paris 2 The documents of modern art • Director, Robert Motherwell plastic art and pure plastic art 1937 and other essays, 1941-1943 piet mondrian Wittenborn Art Books, Inc. San Francisco, 2008 3 The publishers and editor acknowledge their in- debtedness for aid to Mr. Valentine Dudensing, Mr. A. E. Gallatin, Miss Peggy Guggenheim, and Mr. Harry Holtzman. Copyright, 1945, by Harry Holtzman Manufactured in the United States of America for: Wittenborn Art Books 1109 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94109 415.292.6500 www.art-books.com ISBN 10: 0-8150-0101-0 ISBN 13: 978-0-8150-0101-0 First edition 1945 Second edition 1947 Third edition 1951 Fourth edition 2008 Cover and typography by Paul Rand 4 contents page 6: preface 8: list of illustrations 9: bibliography 10: introduction 11: toward the true vision of reality 18: a new realism 29: abstract art 32: pure plastic art 39: liberation from oppression in art and life 51: plastic art and pure plastic art 5 introduction Culture produces relative consciousness of the changeable expression of reality. When this consciousness is attained, a revolt takes place: the beginning of the deliverance from that expression of reality. Destruction of its limitation follows. The culture of intuitive faculties has conquered. A clearer perception of constant reality is possible. A new realism appears... Piet Mondrian: A New Realism Piet Mondrian’s art represents the most revolutionary contribution of our time to the historical development of plastic perception in relation to reality. The vitality of his expression contains profound implications for our understanding of the past and future, as well as of the present. Around his work exist the most significant aesthetic controversies, revealing the strength and stimulus of Mondrian’s connection with all fundamental advances in the evolution of culture. These arguments reflect difficulties in comprehending the nature of the new plastic structure and its opposition to the terms and limitations of past art, even toward other movements since Cubism. But primarily, the difficulties occur when this new plastic structure is seen only in its apparent opposition to the old familiar conceptions of plastic reality, and not seen in relation to the dynamic func- tions of the means of plastic expression: line, plane and color. Thus it can be unper- ceived and neglected that the new plastic structure represents historic trans formation, that it is the real consequence of the whole culture of plastic expression. Even from the standpoint of the old conceptions (including the symbolic, repre- sentational, etc.), the plastic equivalence of art to the structure of reality is seen to be dependent upon intrinsic structure, upon what might be called dynamic unity. In this way all art attains “realism.” But obstacles to greater perception remain as long as old terms, old uses, “associations,” the old “manner of speaking,” are pre dominant. These obstacles are restrictions which sustain unconsciousness of the universal functions of expressive means and their reasons for being. Aesthetic perception can be readily understood by everyone to be historically constant, universal. But each epoch evolves into its own unprecedented terms, and problems. Therefore it is never easily comprehended just how the cultural functions of both the individual and the means of expression become essentially transformed. The plastic appearance of historical transformation is especially marked since Cubism – most clearly realized in Mondrian’s painting. The perception of this trans- formation, being based upon the growth of intuitive freedom, necessitates a parallel experience of plastic values within the individual. In these relationships, Piet Mondrian’s writings are also a unique and extraordi- nary document. His life and his art are at the core of the evolution of art; the essays are the authentic formulation of his verbal terms for precisely this experience. The essays in English comprise approximately a fourth of Mondrian’s writings on art. They are presented now, apropos the memorial exhibition to be held at the Museum of Modern Art-in New York, March 20 – May 13, 1945. The other essays, written in Dutch and French, are being translated. Including the original texts, and his notes, the collected writings will be published in a forthcoming volume. New York, December, 1944. Harry Holtzman 10 Composition with Grid 4: Lozenge Composition, 1919 Compositie (Composition), 1916 Composition No. 111, with Red, Blue, Yellow, and black, 1929 14 plastic art and pure plastic art figurative art and non-figurative art 51 part one Although art is fundamentally everywhere and always the same, nevertheless two main human inclinations, diametrically opposed to each other, appear in its many and varied expressions. One aims at the direct creation of universal beauty, the other at the aesthetic expression of oneself, in other words, of that which one thinks and experiences. The first aims at representing reality objectively, the second subjectively. Thus we see in every work of figurative art the desire, objec tively to represent beauty, solely through form and color, in mutually balanced rela tions, and, at the same time, an attempt to express that which these forms, colors and relations arouse in us. This latter attempt must of necessity result in an individual expression which veils the pure representation of beauty. Nevertheless, both the two opposing elements (universal – individual) are indispensable if the work is to arouse emotion. Art had to find the right solution. In spite of the dual nature of the creative inclinations, figurative art has produced a harmony through a certain coordination between objective and subjective expression. For the spectator, however, who demands a pure representation of beauty, the individual expression is too pre- dominant. For the artist the search for a unified expression through the balance of two opposites has been, and always will be, a continual struggle. Throughout the history of culture, art has demonstrated that universal beauty does not arise from the particular character of the form, but from the dynamic rhythm of its inherent relationships, or – in a composition – from the mutual rela- tions of forms. Art has shown that it is a question of determining the relations. It has revealed that the forms exist only for the creation of relationships; that forms create relations and that relations create forms. In this duality of forms and their relations neither takes precedence. The only problem in art is to achieve a balance between the subjective and the objective. But it is of the utmost importance that this problem should be solved, in the realm of plastic art – technically, as it were – and not in the realm of thought. The work of art must be “produced,” “constructed.” One must create as objective as possible a representation of forms and relations. Such work can never be empty because the opposition of its constructive elements and its execution arouse emotion. If some have failed to take into account the inherent character of the form and have forgotten that this – untransformed – predominates, others have overlooked the fact that an individual expression does not become a universal expression through figurative representation, which is based on our conception of feeling, be it classical, romantic, religious, surrealist. Art has shown that universal expression can only be created by a real equation of the universal and the individual. Gradually art is purifying its plastic means and thus bringing out the relationships between them. Thus, in our day two main tendencies appear: the one maintains the figuration, the other eliminates it. While the former employs more or less com- plicated and particular forms, the latter uses simple and neutral forms, or, ultimately, the free line and the pure color. It is evident that the latter (non-figurative art) can more easily and thoroughly free itself from the domination of the subjective than can the figurative tendency; particular forms and colors (figurative art) are more easily exploited than neutral forms. It is, however, necessary to point out that the definitions “figurative” and “non-figurative” are only approximate and relative. For every form, even every line, represents a figure; no form is absolutely neutral. Clearly, everything must be relative, but, since we need words to make our concepts understandable, we must keep to these terms. 52.