Mondrian: the transatlantic paintings / Harry Cooper, Ron Spronk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cooper, Harry, 1959-

Contributor:

Spronk, Ron.

Harvard University. Art Museums.

Dallas Museum of Art.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mondrian, Piet, 1872-1944--Criticism and interpretation.

Mondrian, Piet.

Mondrian, Piet, 1872-1944.

Painting--Technique.

Painting.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

xi, 263 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 28 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press ; Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Art Museums, [2001]

Summary:

Just before World War II, Piet Mondrian fled from Paris to London and later to New York, where he lived until his death in 1944. Upon his arrival in Manhattan, the artist began reworking seventeen of the paintings he brought with him, many of which had already been finished and exhibited. He changed lines and added blocks and bars of color to give them what he called "more boogie-woogie." By inscribing these so-called transatlantic works with a double date, for example "38 / 42," Mondrian emphasized the exceptional history of the series.

In this groundbreaking book, Harry Cooper, an authority on Mondrian's art, and Ron Spronk, an expert on the technical examination of paintings, investigate the artist's unusual working method during this period. Their collaboration offers an intimate look into the studio of a great modern artist and establishes a new model for the integration of art history, theory, and technical analysis.

The book begins with two essays by Cooper that discuss the critical reception of Mondrian's work, the place of the transatlantic paintings in the evolution of his art, and the particular significance of their dates and titles. Spronk's essay presents technical discoveries based on the authors' original research, reproducing and interpreting many new X-radiographs, photomicrographs, and photographs taken under ultraviolet and infrared light.

The catalogue features such major paintings as Place de la Concorde (1938-43) from the Dallas Museum of Art and No. 12 (1936-42) from the National Gallery of Canada. Each work is discussed in a comprehensive entry accompanied by a dazzling array of illustrations that take the reader under the surface of the painting to reveal ts genesis. This unique approach sheds light on a masterful group of paintings and suggests new avenues for consideration of Mondrian's work as a whole.

Contents:

The Surface in Time: Notes on an Aspect of Mondrian's Critical Reception / Harry Cooper 7

Looking into the Transatlantic Paintings / Ron Spronk 24

Revealing Revisions: The Transatlantic Paintings in the Laboratory 67.

Notes:

Published in conjunction with the exhibition organized by the Fogg Art Museum and the Straus Center for Conservation of the Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass., held at Harvard Art Museums, Apr. 28-July 22, 2001 and the Dallas Museum of Art, Aug. 19-Nov. 25, 2001.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0300089287

1891771175

OCLC:

45387297