Some people love abstract art paintings while others could be said to hate them. The term covers a whole gamut of artistic styles but the simplest explanation is that they do not try to represent what you see in reality. The artist may claim to be painting a man or a dog or a tree, but not everyone will agree as the painting will not reproduce the man, dog or tree as it can be seen by looking out of the window.
The genre evolved somewhere around the end of the 19th century. Until then portraits, landscapes and the like in oil or water colors were about the only kind of painting the world thought it had known. However early so-called primitive painting has probably influenced the breakaway from the traditional form. Cave dwellers and other early inhabitants of this planet all scratched their symbols after all and they could easily be ascribed to the abstract school.
The use of vibrant color and the discarding of the normal manner of representation may all have been indicators of the turmoil that was beginning to confound the world and rock the very principles that the society of the day had been founded on. Revolutions and counter-revolutions were gathering force. They all claimed a desire to tear down the present and rebuild it with a better future. Culture mirrors the society in which it subsists and so art, music, literature and public morality were all due for drastic change. Jazz music and the flappers of the 1920s were just as abstract as the cubism of Picasso and the post-impressionist work of Gauguin.
And the upheaval continued all over Europe. Russian artists who had come to the fore with the Revolution fled to Germany as they felt threatened. Soon again with their German contemporaries it was time to make another dash for freedom, this time to Paris and hence to London. Carrying their art schools and art circles in their heads or on their backs they finally found safe haven in New York.
Seventy years on and there has been another revolution which has once again changed the way artists and the public view their work. The impact of computers and the internet is hard to quantify. It has made art, all types of art, easily accessible. Picture galleries are there online and all the old masters can be viewed. You no longer have to travel to Rome if you want to see Michelangelo's ceiling at the Sistine Chapel.
New artists can not only display their work online but they can sell it. What is more they can sell the original, they can sell prints and they can even sell greeting cards and calendars. The latter are all bread and butter to the struggling artist nowadays.
Once upon a time there were paintbrushes. Now those are only used for painting walls. To create his vision on paper, board or even driftwood, the artist uses a wide variety of seemingly outlandish implements. Even the palette knife with which large dollops of oil paint can be applied is rather old hat. Forks and sponges which used to be confined to the kitchen are now in the studio.
Spray painted graffiti can also be considered abstract art paintings. There are no boundaries. Familiar terms are cubism, impressionism and post-impressionism which all denote a phase of development in this awe inspiring art.
The genre evolved somewhere around the end of the 19th century. Until then portraits, landscapes and the like in oil or water colors were about the only kind of painting the world thought it had known. However early so-called primitive painting has probably influenced the breakaway from the traditional form. Cave dwellers and other early inhabitants of this planet all scratched their symbols after all and they could easily be ascribed to the abstract school.
The use of vibrant color and the discarding of the normal manner of representation may all have been indicators of the turmoil that was beginning to confound the world and rock the very principles that the society of the day had been founded on. Revolutions and counter-revolutions were gathering force. They all claimed a desire to tear down the present and rebuild it with a better future. Culture mirrors the society in which it subsists and so art, music, literature and public morality were all due for drastic change. Jazz music and the flappers of the 1920s were just as abstract as the cubism of Picasso and the post-impressionist work of Gauguin.
And the upheaval continued all over Europe. Russian artists who had come to the fore with the Revolution fled to Germany as they felt threatened. Soon again with their German contemporaries it was time to make another dash for freedom, this time to Paris and hence to London. Carrying their art schools and art circles in their heads or on their backs they finally found safe haven in New York.
Seventy years on and there has been another revolution which has once again changed the way artists and the public view their work. The impact of computers and the internet is hard to quantify. It has made art, all types of art, easily accessible. Picture galleries are there online and all the old masters can be viewed. You no longer have to travel to Rome if you want to see Michelangelo's ceiling at the Sistine Chapel.
New artists can not only display their work online but they can sell it. What is more they can sell the original, they can sell prints and they can even sell greeting cards and calendars. The latter are all bread and butter to the struggling artist nowadays.
Once upon a time there were paintbrushes. Now those are only used for painting walls. To create his vision on paper, board or even driftwood, the artist uses a wide variety of seemingly outlandish implements. Even the palette knife with which large dollops of oil paint can be applied is rather old hat. Forks and sponges which used to be confined to the kitchen are now in the studio.
Spray painted graffiti can also be considered abstract art paintings. There are no boundaries. Familiar terms are cubism, impressionism and post-impressionism which all denote a phase of development in this awe inspiring art.
About the Author:
If you are interested in abstract art paintings take a look at www.mcleodartcompositions.com. To view the resume and portfolio of the artist, go to http://www.mcleodartcompositions.com today.
