Abstract art has many definitions—essentially it is art that chooses not to depict its subject as it appears in reality, but through a more visually exploratory idiom of colour, shape, form and line that is often considered non-representational. Up until the 19th century, art in Europe was rooted in Classical Realism, with emphasis laid on providing an illusion of reality to recognisable objects in nature. With art movements like Impressionism and Art Nouveau gaining momentum during the late 1800s, artists had begun to distance themselves from the academic style of painting to find newer methods of expression. The precursors to abstract art – from Claude Monet’s “Water Lily” series of Impressionist paintings, to Henri Matisse’s Fauvist art works during the early 1900s, which employed loud, dissonant colours that greatly veered from its subject’s natural form – ushered in a new era of modern art in Europe.
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In the sphere of abstract art, Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky was considered one of the pioneers of this form of artistic expression. He believed that a work of art should contain a synthesis of form and colour of such profundity, that it engaged the audience on a sensory and emotional level. For Kandinsky, spirituality was paramount, and realism fell short in evoking the feeling of going beyond the physical, that he sought in art. In his own words: “Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colours, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential..
Around the same time, artists like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque started experimenting with a new form of art, later termed as Cubism. It began as a reaction against the florid style of Impressionism and influenced interdisciplinary arts like sculpture, architecture, music and literature, eventually spawning off secondary art movements. This avant-garde movement rejected the realistic principles of three-dimensional perspective and spatial depth, for a flat, multiplicitous and reassembled style of representing reality..
Among the Indian artists to be influenced by the international Abstract Art Movement was Syed Haider Raza, one of the foremost Modernist painters in India and a member of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group. While nature has been a long-standing preoccupation in his artwork, Raza was initially inspired by the metropolis of Bombay where he studied art during his formative years. When he moved to Paris to further pursue his passion, the images of his adopted city returned in the form of abstract expressionistic works of landscapes and cityscapes, much in the Cubist style. Gradually, his aesthetics evolved into gestural art, with loose, rapid brushwork that came to evoke his nostalgia for the forests of Madhya Pradesh, where he grew up. In the ‘70s, Raza eschewed landscapes for geometric abstraction. At the centre of his paintings was the bindu, the “seed bearing the potential of all life”, according to him. This black dot of concentrated energy ushered in an era of spirituality in the artist’s life and art..
Among Raza’s contemporaries, many adopted Abstract Art and its various forms of expression in their own work. Jehangir Sabavala, in particular, known for muted, subdued colour palettes, created landscapes that were, in his own words, “a mixture of academic, impressionist and cubist texture, form and colour”. Similarly, many Modernists followed the Abstract Art tradition: Akbar Padamsee, who first coined the term “metascapes” for his unique brand of art that employed vibrant colours and textures; Ganesh Haloi, whose visions of nature were expressed through fluid dots, dashes and lines; Ram Kumar, who turned from figurative art to sweeping, panoramic views of cityscapes; to name a few. Also noteworthy is V.S. Gaitonde, whose paintings have achieved record prices in the last few years. Gaitonde’s works are characteristic for their feeling of the sublime—silent spaces tempered by subtle colours and brushwork..
StoryLTD’s collection of abstract art works feature paintings and prints by many Modern and Contemporary artists. From spiritual abstractions to geometric patterns, there’s a painting for every mood. .
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