Meanings of Abstract Art

Paul Crowther is Chair of Philosophy at the National University of Ireland, Galway

This book explores the relation of abstract art to nature. It covers three categories of essays: classical modernism (Mondrian, Malevich, Kandinsky, Arp, early American abstraction); post-war abstraction (Pollock, Still, Newman, Smithson, Noguchi, Arte Povera, Michaux, postmodern developments); and the broader historical and philosophical scope.

Selected Contents: 1. Life into Art: Nature Philosophy, the Life Sciences, and Abstract Art Isabel Wünsche 2. Mondrian's First Diamond Composition: Spatial Totality and the Plane of the Starry Sky Marek Wieczorek 3. Man, Space and the Zero of Form: Kazimir Malevich's Suprematism and the Natural World Christina Lodder 4. The Role of Mathematical Structure, Natural Form and Pattern in the Art Theory of Wassily Kandinsky: The Quest for Order and Unity Christopher Short 5. "We want to produce like a plant that produces a fruit": Hans Arp and the "Nature Principle" Astrid von Asten 6. Natural Forces and Phenomena as Inspiration and Meaning in Early American Abstraction Herbert R. Hartel, Jr. 7. Jackson Pollock: The Sin of Images Elizabeth Langhorne 8. Clyfford Still's Regionalist Shamanism Stephen Polcari 9. "Man is Present": Barnett Newman's Search for the Experience of the Self Eva Ehninger 10. Nature, Entropy, and Robert Smithson's Utopian Vision of a Culture of Decay John G. Hatch 11. Embodied Nature: Isamu Noguchi's Intetra Fountain Dominika Glogowski 12. The Arte Povera Experience: Nature Re-Presented Laura Petican 13. Nature's Hand: Writing Abstraction in the Work of Henri Michaux Birgit Mersmann 14. Abstract Art and Techno-Nature: The Postmodern Dimension Paul Crowther 15. Art, Beauty, and the Sacred: Four Ways to Abstraction Karsten Harries 16. The Complexities of "Abstracting" from Nature Andrew Inkpin 17.Meaning in Abstract Art: From Ur-Nature to the Transperceptual Paul Crowther