Abstract Art Glossary

Abstract Art - A broad category of art that uses visual elements like colour, form, line, and texture to create compositions that do not attempt to represent external reality or recognizable objects. This fundamental approach to creating art emerged in the early 20th century and encompasses numerous movements and styles united by their departure from representational imagery.

Abstraction - The departure from accurate representation of forms in favour of simplified, distorted, or completely non-representational imagery, pioneered by Wassily Kandinsky around 1910-1913. This fundamental concept encompasses various degrees of removal from recognizable subject matter.

Analytical Cubism - The early phase of Cubism (c. 1908-1912) developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, characterized by the fragmentation and geometric analysis of forms. Objects are broken down into overlapping planes and viewed from multiple perspectives simultaneously.

Bauhaus - German art school (1919-1933) founded by Walter Gropius that integrated fine arts, crafts, and industrial design while promoting geometric abstraction. The school's influential teachers included Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and László Moholy-Nagy, who advanced abstract art through systematic study of form, colour, and materials.

Biomorphic Abstraction - Abstract forms that suggest living organisms, natural growth patterns, or bodily shapes without directly representing them. Artists like Joan Miró and Jean Arp pioneered this approach to non-geometric abstraction.

Colour Field - A style of abstract painting emphasizing large areas of flat, solid colour spread across the canvas. This approach prioritizes colour relationships and emotional impact over gestural brushwork or linear elements.

Constructivism - A revolutionary Russian art movement (c. 1915-1930) that rejected traditional artistic concerns in favor of geometric abstraction and industrial materials. Key figures included Vladimir Tatlin and El Lissitzky, who sought to create art for the new socialist society.

Contemporary Abstract Art - Abstract art created from the 1970s to the present that continues to explore non-representational visual languages while often incorporating new materials, technologies, and conceptual frameworks. This ongoing tradition builds upon historical abstract movements while addressing current cultural, social, and aesthetic concerns through innovative approaches to form, colour, and process.

De Stijl - A Dutch artistic movement (1917-1931) founded by Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg that advocated pure abstraction through geometric forms and primary colours. The movement sought universal visual language through mathematical precision and spiritual harmony.

Delaunay, Sonia - French artist (1885-1979) who co-founded Orphism with her husband Robert Delaunay and was a pioneer of pure colour abstraction. Her innovative work with simultaneous colour contrasts and textile designs established her as one of the first abstract artists alongside Kandinsky.

Futurism - Italian avant-garde movement (1909-1944) founded by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti that celebrated modern technology, speed, and dynamic movement through fragmented, abstract compositions. Artists like Umberto Boccioni and Giacomo Balla developed abstract visual languages to express the energy of the machine age.

Geometric Abstraction - Abstract art based on geometric forms such as squares, circles, triangles, and lines arranged in non-representational compositions. This rational approach to abstraction emphasizes mathematical relationships and structural clarity.

Goncharova, Natalia - Russian avant-garde artist (1881-1962) who was a founding member of several early abstract movements including Rayonism, which she developed with Mikhail Larionov around 1912. Her pioneering abstract compositions predated many Western developments in non-representational art.

Hard-edge Painting - A style of geometric abstraction characterized by crisp, clean transitions between colour areas with no visible brushstrokes. Artists like Ellsworth Kelly and Frank Stella developed this precise, impersonal approach to abstract painting.

Kandinsky, Wassily - Russian-born artist (1866-1944) widely credited as the founder of abstract art with his theoretical writings and pioneering non-representational paintings beginning around 1910. His work "Composition VII" (1913) exemplifies his breakthrough into pure abstraction and spiritual expression through colour and form.

Lyrical Abstraction - A style of abstract art emphasizing personal expression, spontaneous brushwork, and poetic sensibility over geometric precision. This approach values emotional content and individual artistic voice within non-representational imagery.

Minimalism - An art movement of the 1960s characterized by extreme simplification of form, often using industrial materials and geometric shapes. Artists like Donald Judd and Dan Flavin reduced art to its essential elements, eliminating personal expression and illusionism.

Mondrian, Piet - Dutch artist (1872-1944) who co-founded the De Stijl movement and developed Neo-Plasticism, becoming one of the most influential pioneers of geometric abstraction. His systematic reduction of painting to horizontal and vertical lines with primary colours established a foundation for modern abstract art.

Neo-Plasticism - Piet Mondrian's theoretical and practical approach to pure abstract art using only horizontal and vertical lines, right angles, and primary colours plus black and white. This system aimed to express universal truths through the most basic visual elements.

Non-objective Art - Art that makes no reference to the natural or visible world, containing no recognizable subject matter. This term, preferred by artists like Wassily Kandinsky, emphasizes the complete independence of artistic creation from external reality.

Optical Art (Op Art) - An abstract art movement of the 1960s that creates optical illusions through precise geometric patterns and colour relationships. Artists like Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely explored the physiological effects of visual perception.

Orphism - French abstract movement (c. 1912-1914) developed by Robert and Sonia Delaunay that emphasized pure colour relationships and simultaneous contrasts to create non-representational compositions. This movement, also called Simultanism, influenced the development of abstract art through its focus on colour as an independent expressive element.

Rayonism - Russian abstract movement (c. 1912-1914) founded by Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova that depicted light rays and energy fields through dynamic linear compositions. This pioneering abstract style predated many Western developments and influenced the broader evolution of non-representational art.

Suprematism- A Russian abstract art movement founded by Kazimir Malevich around 1915, emphasizing basic geometric forms and pure artistic feeling over representation. The movement sought to achieve supreme expression through the simplest possible forms, epitomized by Malevich's "Black Square."

Note: This glossary is intended as a useful concise list of terms only and not as an educational resource. It is not an exhaustive list of terms and artists within the world of Abstract Art.