1st Edition

Meanings of Abstract Art Between Nature and Theory

Edited By Paul Crowther, Isabel Wünsche Copyright 2012
300 Pages 70 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

310 Pages 70 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

310 Pages 70 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Traditional art is based on conventions of resemblance between the work and that which it is a representation "of". Abstract art, in contrast, either adopts alternative modes of visual representation or reconfigures mimetic convention. This book explores the relation of abstract art to nature (taking nature in the broadest sense—the world of recognisable objects, creatures, organisms, processes,... Read more

Selected Contents: 1. Life into Art: Nature Philosophy, the Life Sciences, and Abstract Art Isabel Wünsche  2. Mondrian’s First Diamond Composition: Spatial Totality and the Plane of the Starry Sky Marek Wieczorek  3. Man, Space and the Zero of Form: Kazimir Malevich’s Suprematism and the Natural World Christina Lodder  4. The Role of Mathematical Structure, Natural Form and Pattern in the Art Theory of Wassily Kandinsky: The Quest for Order and Unity Christopher Short  5. "We want to produce like a plant that produces a fruit": Hans Arp and the "Nature Principle" Astrid von Asten  6. Natural Forces and Phenomena as Inspiration and Meaning in Early American Abstraction Herbert R. Hartel, Jr.  7. Jackson Pollock: The Sin of Images Elizabeth Langhorne  8. Clyfford Still’s Regionalist Shamanism Stephen Polcari  9. "Man is Present": Barnett Newman’s Search for the Experience of the Self Eva Ehninger  10. Nature, Entropy, and Robert Smithson’s Utopian Vision of a Culture of Decay John G. Hatch  11. Embodied Nature: Isamu Noguchi’s Intetra Fountain Dominika Glogowski  12. The Arte Povera Experience: Nature Re-Presented Laura Petican  13. Nature’s Hand: Writing Abstraction in the Work of Henri Michaux Birgit Mersmann  14. Abstract Art and Techno-Nature: The Postmodern Dimension Paul Crowther  15. Art, Beauty, and the Sacred: Four Ways to Abstraction Karsten Harries  16. The Complexities of "Abstracting" from Nature Andrew Inkpin  17.Meaning in Abstract Art: From Ur-Nature to the Transperceptual Paul Crowther

Biography

Paul Crowther is Chair of Philosophy at the National University of Ireland, Galway

Isabel Wünsche is Professor of Art and Art History at Jacobs University, Bremen