Gaps between Leonardo and the 21st century

By Irina Marchenko:
What other art movements, design schools, aesthetical styles should we cite to bridge the gap between Leonardo and the 21st century? How old is Cubism? Did it start with the work of Cézanne? Did it unfold its analytical potential in Picasso’s paintings? Does it essentially mean a combination of geometrical basics with color? Do monochrome drawings from the Baroque period belong here? Timewarps into the art history are worth performing as they reveal amazing evidence of artists’ fascination with mathematical concepts, to wit:

Giovanni Battista Bracelli, the 17th century Italian engraver
see reference in 16th and 18th Century Digital Materials from the Lessing J Rosenwald Collection (Rosenwald 1345), the Library of Congress:

Luca Cambiaso. A Group of Cubist Figures, 1560.


Notably, this Cubist drawing was chosen to illustrate the post (in Spanish) that seeks to find appropriate places for happiness and suffering in human life.

The art history shows how mathematical concepts came to rescue art from crises.

By Irina Marchenko

219m219 said...

On Squares
Your opening statement perplexed me, somewhat. From my perspective of a person, reduced to art appreciation, not creation, the judgmental dichotomy “use – abuse” does not apply to artist's choice. I propose “employ and exploit” as a way to establish semantic equilibrium. (As an aside, the blame for overusing, misusing, and abusing judges should fall - these days - on the Senate.) Yet, accusations of abuse against artists by general public, art critics, and fellow artists abounded through history. Such was the case of
Kazimir Malevich, the founder of the Suprematism, who expressed his aesthetic principle in his manifesto From Cubism to Suprematism. Black Square, 1915, and Suprematist Composition: White on White. 1918, are his emblematic works.

Utilizing abstract geometric forms, he purified art of the residue of things, thus establishing its superiority over objects. If meditation is a space between two thoughts, Malevich's contrived reductionism seeks higher meaning.
The tradition of non-objective art continued in the works by Josef Albers whose “oeuvre reflects an adherence to the deceptively simple principle of visual economy. His paintings commence as objective, mathematically precise constructions, involving straight lines and angles, that form the foundation for his principle concern, the subjective relationship of color and form. His art proves that there is a “world between physical fact and psychic effect.” (“Homage to the Square: Nocturne, 1951.” The James A. Michnener Collection. UT-Austin, 1977. 5.) See The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation site for further information: