Abstraction in creative endeavors has existed since prehistoric times, and abstract art is the origin of all art. Human beings did not start out making two- and three- dimensional creations with markings of pristine realism. Of course, when we think of abstract art today, we think of The Abstract Art Movement at the beginning of the 20th century. The truth is, abstraction exists in all art, even the most exacting realism. An artist must see each part of realism as non- objective, or purely as line, tone, and hue in relationship to one another. Whether the realist does this consciously or unconsciously, this abstraction process exists in all art.
An excellent definition of abstract art is as follows: “Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.”[i] Another definition of abstract art: “having only intrinsic form with little or no attempt at pictorial representation or narrative content,”[ii] or as “having an intellectual and affective artistic content that depends solely on intrinsic form rather than on narrative content or pictorial representation: abstract painting and sculpture.”[iii] One of the best, simplest descriptions of abstract art is this: “it is artist[s] working towards an 'objectless state.'”[iv]
The seeds of The Modern Abstract Art Movement in the early part of the 20th century really started with Pablo Picasso. While he is known as a cubist, not an abstract artist, his Cubism was a strong abstraction of form in the physical world. His borrowing, or in some views, appropriation of, African Art, created a door for greater freedom of expression. The Modern Abstract Art Movement began very shortly after The Cubist Movement. Cubism began in 1907, with the painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Picasso, and by 1911, artists were crossing into creative worlds without boundaries. Wassily Kandinsky is one of the originators of The Modern Abstract Art Movement, painting works like First Abstract Watercolor and Improvisation 7 in 1910. Even before Cubism and Modern Abstract Art, greater freedom of expression was the basis of Expressionism and Impressionism. Salons and galleries offered a new road for artists wanting to move away from the demands of religious and wealthy patrons, for abstract art gave a new freedom of expression unexplored in the modern world.
As the decades pass, Modern Abstract Art continues to have a strong hold in the art world. Specific styles of abstract art include, but are not limited to geometric abstraction, lyrical abstraction, minimalism, abstract expressionism, action painting, assemblage abstraction, post painterly abstraction, and color field painting. There are various degrees of abstraction in Modern Abstract Art. Complete abstraction has no resemblance to anything recognizable, having no reference to anything in the known material world. A primary example of a great artist who worked in this manner is Mark Rothko, who started creating abstract art of this nature in the late 1940s. Since abstraction gives such great freedoms to artists, exploration, coupled with explanations of findings and experiences during these creative travels, continues to build on itself. The more explored abstract human experience is, like the worlds of emotion and sensation, the wider the field opens in the abstract art excavated by the abstract artist.
