The Organic abstraction Is a subtending of the abstraction, contraposition of the figurative art that was the great tendency in the middle of century XX. It was characterized by its schematization of forms without resorting to the object, replacing it with undefined and / or ambiguous forms.
Some of these subtendings of abstraction were the geometric abstraction originated in Paris in 1912 by an exhibition of Cubists; The inorganic abstraction or Informalism and the organic abstraction that derived from the forms present in nature, abstracting them and synthesizing them.
Concepts about organic abstraction
It is also known as biomorphic abstraction, since its main characteristic is that it takes the natural forms to translate them into art.
"Abstract"literally means"not figurative." It involves breaking down the concrete images and replacing them with the meanings that the author himself gives them.
The"organic"refers to representations similar to those found in nature, such as curved shapes, rounded figures or softened geometric figures, with few straight lines or abrupt angles.
Organic abstraction was closely related to the Surreal currents And existentialist and manifested itself in all artistic expressions of the twentieth century.
Although it had its peak between the years 1940 and 1950, there have been manifestations of this style since the beginning of the century, extending also until the decades of the 60 and 70.
The characteristics of organic abstractionism, such as the presence of smooth and undulating lines, the protagonism of nature, irregular forms and free strokes, are principles that can be translated, as in fact, transferred to any other artistic manifestation of the period, such as literature And the theater.
Organic abstraction had in Joan Miró, Jean Arp, Isamu Nuguchi, Henry Moore and others, its most relevant exponents, both in painting and sculpture, with works abundant in irregular volumes and curves.
In architecture, this artistic expression began to develop in the first half of the twentieth century. Organic architecture seeks and expresses the harmony between man and his natural environment; Seeks to integrate the place with the buildings, the furniture and what surrounds it to turn everything into a single unit.
The concept of organicity as imitation of nature has been present since prehistory; However, the term"organic architecture"to define constructions was first used by the American architect Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), and later revived and promoted by his fellow-countryman, architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959 ).
Main exponents of organic abstraction
Joan Miró (1893-1983)
He was a Catalan artist who absorbed all the abstractionist movement when he lived in New York in the 1940s. His constant characteristic was to flee academicism and typecasting in some specific stream.
In all his pictorial work the organic feeling strongly beats. Most of his works were made on paper and ceramics, as well as engravings and bronze sculptures, among which stand out"Woman and bird","Moon bird"located in the Reina Sofía Museum of Madrid and"Woman bottle"located in the Cultural Park Viera and Clavijo of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Henry Moore (1898-1986)
He was an English sculptor famous for his abstract works of the human figure made in marble and bronze, especially those that recreate the figure of the female body, like"West Wind"(1929), sculpted in Portland stone - inspired in the figure of Chac Mool in Chichén Itzá and Michelangelo's sculptures in the Chapel of the Medici and the bronze sculpture"Die Liegende"located in a public space in Stuttgart, Germany.
Jean Arp (1886-1975)
It combines the techniques of automatism and dreams in the same work, developing an iconography of organic forms that has been called"biomorphic sculpture", in which it is a question of representing the organic as the formative principle of reality.
One of his most beautiful sculptures is"Pastor de Nubes"and is exhibited in the open spaces of the University City of Caracas, Venezuela.
Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988)
He was a Japanese-American sculptor and designer. One of his works, made in stainless steel, won the national contest to decorate the pavilion of the Associated Press at the Rockefeller Center in New York in 1938.
Later, he realized works for the open air, designed according to the aesthetic principles of the Japanese gardens, where the location of each piece plays a determining role in the achievement of the integral balance of the landscape.
For Noguchi trees were very important in his work and in his life, to the point that in his study and at the end of his years he installed his museum, the arrangement of the building was determined by the location of the preexisting trees.
Juan Soriano (1920-2006)
He was a Mexican plastic artist whose talent was made known from a very early age. In the 50's he traveled to Europe, where his lyrical style was consolidated.
Among his most important pictorial works are"María Asúnsolo en Rosa"and"Apolo y las musas", and in the sculptural plane, bird figures such as"La Paloma"(at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey, Mexico) Duck"and"Two-faced bird."
Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975)
She was a British artist who was very influenced by the work of Henry Moore; Worked the traditional materials in an innovative way, giving special importance to its natural properties.
It was characterized by its sculptures in stone and wood with holes or holes, such as"Sphere with inner form"and"Winged Figure".
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)
He was a civil engineer who began as a cartoonist in the studio of Louis Henri Sullivan, who influenced in a decisive way in his future race.
He was the one who introduced the term organic architecture, where construction must derive directly from the natural environment. Some of his emblematic works are the Guggenheim Museum in New York (USA) and the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo (Japan).
Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957)
He was a Romanian sculptor considered pioneer of the modernism . It has works distributed in museums of France, the United States, Rumania and Australia.
One of his emblematic organic works is"The Column of Infinity"in Targu Jiu, Romania, as well as"El Beso"and"Musa Dormida".
References
- Carmen Rábanos (2010). Current Art. Presses University of Zaragoza. Zaragoza, Spain.
- Mayra Sámano Cienfuegos (2010). Influence of Organic Architecture on the architectural styles of the second half of the twentieth century. Postgraduate thesis of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Mexico.
- Alicia Carrera Tovar (2012). Visual Arts 3. Castle Editions. P.19.
- Biography of Isamu Noguchi. Recovered from biografíasyvidas.com.
- Biography of Joan Miró. Retrieved from fmirobcn.org.
- Eva Font Mendiola (2017). The most unknown museum in NY. Press article retrieved from turismo.perfil.com.
- Biography of Frank Lloyd Wright. Recovered from buscabiografias.com.