previous instalments | introduction

continuing the series | part 2 | composition II with black lines | by revad

Piet Mondrian, Composition II with Black Lines, 1930, oil on canvas, 50.5 x 50.5 cm.

Although painted (in oil) the lines in this work bare direct comparison to the qualities of a drawn line, variation in both width and length being the most obvious, but placement to create a strong composition is also very significant. Directness, simplification and abbreviation have been taken to the extreme and Mondrian has expressed his creative speculation, exploration and experimentation by aspiring to the purest form of his idea.

This emphasis in the use of the drawn line in Mondrian’s work came out of the relationship he had with the two cubist artists Picasso and Braque while in Paris in the early 20th century. Mondrian took a basic shared idea and moved off in a direction more suited to his own avenue of exploration.

Mondrian wrote about his idea in 1937 in his essay Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art, where he describes his principles in some detail. I make no attempt here to research these principles further, suffice to say that his work is his attempt to communicate with his audience.

Composition II with Black Lines is just one image from a long series of works exploring compositional ideas and visual rhythms, each work can be considered a record of experimental outcomes used to communicate with both himself and his audience. And of course the connection with [my] engineering is reinforced by the architectural nature of Mondrian’s work and in particular the austere minimalist nature of this specific image.

next time | part 3 | boundary functions

© copyright 2008 by revad