Franz Kupka: 1st Abstract Painter
Bill Palmer
>...somehow, he [Kupka] seems to have been overlooked in art-world hype.
>His pre-abstract work is also interesting.
(Later posters brought up the question of the date of Kupka's first
"abstract" work.) Looking in the Rizzoli book Ron mentioned, it
appears that "The First Step", 1909, oil on canvas, owned by the
Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., may one of Kupka's first truly abstract
works, in that the picture shows only circles and colors.
Also, his series, "Woman Gathering Flowers", pastel, (1909) verges on
the abstract, although the figure of the woman can be discerned, so
it may not be "abstract enough" for purests.
I don't really know what artist and work the art historians have dubbed
the FIRST abstract painter and picture, (in the unlikely possibililty
that such a important designation has in fact ever been agreed upon)
but I suppose there is room for debate. Even so, Ron's viewpoint is
clearly a very supportable one...
By the way the Rizzoli book is KUPKA, by Serge Fauchereau, Rizzoli
International Publications, Inc., N.Y., 1989 (ISBN #0-8478-1047-X)
if anyone is interested.
Unfortunately, helpful and worthwhile though the book is, it doesn't
include one of my favorites, a pastel of 1900 with translated title
"The Way of Silence". In this picture (that I find quite terri-
fying!) the painter shows a solitary human figure walking down a
stone path lined with sphinx-like figures under a night sky. This
work is in the Narodni Galerie, Prague.
--Bill Palmer
"Man passes through a forest of symbols
that watch him with a familiar gaze"
--Charles Baudelaire (trans.)
Andy Pearlman
>I agree with Ron Anderson that,
>
>>...somehow, he [Kupka] seems to have been overlooked in art-world hype.
>>His pre-abstract work is also interesting.
>
>(Later posters brought up the question of the date of Kupka's first
>"abstract" work.) Looking in the Rizzoli book Ron mentioned, it
>appears that "The First Step", 1909, oil on canvas, owned by the
>Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., may one of Kupka's first truly abstract
>works, in that the picture shows only circles and colors.
>I don't really know what artist and work the art historians have dubbed
>the FIRST abstract painter and picture, (in the unlikely possibililty
>that such a important designation has in fact ever been agreed upon)
>but I suppose there is room for debate. Even so, Ron's viewpoint is
>clearly a very supportable one...
You should not overlook Gustav Klimt. Adele Bloch-Bauer I, was done in 1907.
Expectation and Fulfillment were done between 1905-1909. And the Kiss was
done in 1907-1908. Human faces and hands, but otherwise completely abstract.
Andy
--
Andy Pearlman
apea...@panix.com
Deus Ex Machina found to be Gerbil in a Wheel.
Ron Anderson
Ron Anderson
Bill,
"The Way of Silence" is one of my favorites. Reminds me of Felicien Rops.
Have you seen Rop's "Satan Sowing Tares"? Two sources on Kupka; "Frank
Kupka" by Ludmila Vachtova & "Kupka" 1975 Guggenheim catalog. Ron