Description
Book SynopsisOffers an approach to understanding the evolution of abstractionism by looking at the personal artistic development of seven of its practitioners. This book explores the works and concerns of three European abstract painters - Mondrian, Malevich, Kandinsky - and then those of their American successors - Pollock, Newman, Rothko, and Still.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2002 Mitchell Prize "[A] sensitive survey of seven of art's most influential abstract painters... "--The Sunday "A beautifully designed, superbly illustrated volume ... "--Carter Ratcliff, Art and Auction "[Golding] argues that the best abstract art is about something and that its meaning comes partly from the artist. The modernists he discusses were drenched in ideas, especially of better or hidden worlds."--The Economist "Seldom has an art movement been so misunderstood, yet so instrumental in shaping the direction of art in so many ways... Golding's excellent work brings the reader from an artistic cloud of unknowing into expert mode with beauty and precision."--Booklist "The skill of Golding's style is that it draws together considerations of art-historical significance, aesthetic value ... and personal opinion into a provocative amalgam."--Matthew Reynolds, Times Literary Supplement "The restraint, subtlety, and intellectual rigor of John Golding's Paths to the Absolute ... are especially timely."--The New York Review of Books "Short, lucid, and written in a wonderfully jargon-free prose."--Michael White, Burlington Magazine "Whether writing of Mondrian's quest for the purity of art, Pollock's search for the symbol, or Rothko's abstract sublime, the author eloquently conveys the deep spiritual impulses of such art in vivid and learned analyses."--Virginia Quarterly Review "John Golding beautifully handles the thorniest of subjects... The narrative maintains what was indeed the tenor of the talks themselves a shrewd selectiveness allied to insights of a discretion that almost belies their profundity... It is the extraordinary rightness of the perceptions running throughout Paths to the Absolute which makes it finally so memorable."--David Anfam, Apollo
Table of ContentsPreface 7 1. Mondrian and the architecture of the future 9 2. Malevich and the ascent into ether 47 3. Kandinsky and the sound of colour 81 Pollock and the search for a symbol 113 Newman, Rothko, Still and the reductive image 153 Newman, Rothko, Still and the abstract sublime 195 Notes on the text 233 List of illustrations and sources 235 Index 239
