Title: The Oriental Line: Piet Mondrian and The EastSubmitted by: Eiichi Tosaki, PhD candidate, Fine Arts & Philosophy, The University of Melbourne, AustraliaThe non-referential art of Mondrian's Neo-plasticism (1917-1944) is the art of the destruction of conventional European art forms: picture frame, figure-background relationship, shape, colour, and contour line. The content of Mondrian's geometric painting appears empty, yet still expressive. Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) acknowledged the influence of Impressionism, especially that of his countryman Van Gough (1853-1890). Mondrian inherited Van Gough's interpretation of lines from Japanese ukiyo-e. The ukiyo-e line is an independent, neutral entity: that is, ukiyo-e employs a line which operates both as a contour, and as an autonomous and neutral entity. These lines occupy an area between pictorial space and the physical surface of the printed paper. Van Gough was enchanted by these lines and Mondrian's emphasis on the straight line is in line with Van Gough. Mondrian, however, pushed the neutrality of the lines to function as a virtual frame of 'emptiness'. His expression of 'emptiness' is not of kinetic but 'static' rhythm. Return to Abstracts menuCarol Burnett Phone: 61 - 3 - 9349 1899 Email: c.burnett@asialink.unimelb.edu.au
|