June 23, 2004

Auto Mondrian.
posted by dng 20 years ago
  • There's so much more to Mondrian than this.
  • I know. (via rllmuk, I should have said in the post, too)
  • If you look at these paintings up close, you see that they are made rather clumsy. Lots of old tape is visible and the paint is very badly put on the canvas, cracked etc. And you see all the revisions he made during the (long process) of making his paintings. IMHO the reproductions are much cleaner and convey Mondriaan's vision much better. I'm sure if he had lived today he would use computers to make his art. Or maybe not. We'll never know, unless they invent time travel.
  • Curious Piet: Is there any maths in Mondrian??? I've often wondered if there was some reason, artistic or mathematical, which influenced the shape of the rectangles which formed his paintings ...
  • "IMHO the reproductions are much cleaner and convey Mondriaan's vision much better." IMHO the paintings are far better with the bits of tape, the globs of paint & obvious revisions. If Mondrian hadn't wanted the paintings to be seen like this, I'm sure he wouldn't have allowed them to be. The working on the works is really part of the artistic expression; what the paintings mean, which is why for my mind prints never convey the same impact as the actual canvas, whether you're talking about Mondrian, Braque, VanGogh or whoever.
  • But Mondriaan didn't want you to view his paintings from so close that you can see the bits of tape, the globs of paint & obvious revisions. I still think the lack of good materials (and maybe technique) in his time caused this. BTW Why is Mondriaan called Mondrian in English speaking countries? Did he officially change his name? He only lived in London and New York for 6 years. And Mondriaan is still pronounceable by English speakers (unlike my name; but I'm not changing it) so why is this? (No troll: I just want to know.)
  • So... If I take screenshots of this, I can sell it for big bucks, right?
  • Mondrian's earlier work and transitional work is pretty amazing too, everyone should have a look at that. He did some really fantastic watercolors of flowers, and after that you can see his work move more and more towards the pure abstraction. The in between period is his best.