Lyrical abstraction as a contemporary rebirth

Lyrical abstraction is known as a trend that exists within abstract painting, and that developed in 1910, which is the year that is taken as a reference to mark the beginning of abstract painting.

In that same year, the Russian painter Vasili Kandinsky created the painting that would mark the beginnings of abstract painting, and which he saw fit to name precisely "first abstract watercolor”. It was the first avant-garde work created in this movement and the first that made Kandinsky the father of abstraction.

This trend was characterized by not seeking to create common forms to represent reality, thus making people have to get their impressions of such paintings.

His main interest was to create new forms that express emotions starting from scratch, and that for the public they did not represent anything, because that way they could come into greater contact with the artist's emotions, by completely losing the real context.

The favorite technique of the painters of this new trend was watercolor, and they painted sketches and small notes in the same way; however, some of them painted large oil paintings that were filled with emotion and passion. In this trend, what predominated was color over shape, with the different shades of colors being a way of representing each emotion that crossed the artist's mind.

Origins

During the 1910s, many artists from different movements were "experimenting" with the trend of abstraction, which at that time had not been called such, and each from their own unique perspective.

To cite one example, Cubist and Futurist artists worked with images of reality, which they consciously altered to express abstract ideas and shapes. Supremacists and Constructivists used real and recognizable forms in their art, but they gave them a symbolic meaning that did not seek to represent what could be seen, and that were ambiguous. However, another group of artists approached abstraction in a very different way than the rest of them.

Led by Vasili Kandinski, this group was planted in the trend of abstraction from the perspective of not knowing the meaning that could be hidden within what they were painting.

They expected that just free-form painting, and without using any recognizable context or form they could show the world in their paintings the meaning of something new and unknown. Kandinsky, for example, based his paintings on musical compositions, with which he communicated emotions in a totally abstract way.

His paintings in this field were passionate, subjective, emotional, imaginative and expressive. In other words: lyrics.

Lyrical abstraction after the war

Kandinski's lyrical abstraction contrasted with many of the other artistic trends that predominated during the 1920s and 1930s. His art was not specifically associated with religion, but in a way there was an ever-present wedge of spirituality in his work.

The artists associated with the other art schools, such as Art Concret and Surrealism, sought with their paintings to make art that was, although secular and avant-garde, simple enough for the audience to recognize and explain.

Kandinsky I was looking for an art form that could not be fully explained or defined; each person who saw it would find a personal definition to guide them within their soul. He expressed his connection to the mysteries of the universe in a very open way. It was as if he had invented a kind of spiritual existentialism.

Existentialism was a philosophy that gained multiple adherents after the Second World War; when people sought to understand what for them was the insignificance of life. Critical thinkers were unable to conceive of a greater power that would allow the amount of destruction they had witnessed.

But instead of see their work rigged by the apparent absence of God, existentialist artists turned to portray the insignificance of life itself, and it was the search for existentialism that made lyrical abstraction emerge after the Second World War.

During those times, the artistic life of large cities such as Paris, had been practically burned to its foundations by the Nazi occupation, since avant-garde art was not allowed to be exhibited, since only the great German painters could exhibit their art, which was a new assertion of Aryan supremacy. Adolf Hitler himself would say of Kandinski's work: “It looks like the sloppy work of a talentless eight or nine year old".

But after the liberation of Paris in 1944, artistic life once again resumed its flight, accompanied by the abstract artists who so angered the Führer.

Lyrical movement in the contemporary period

In the first decades of the 60th century, artists such as Kandinski, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Fautrier, and Paul Klee laid the foundations for lyrical trends in abstraction. Many years later, other artists such as Georges Mathieu, Pierre Soulages and Joan Mitchell continued to carry them forward. Later, in the mid-70s and XNUMXs, artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Jules Olitski, and dozens of other artists revitalized this trend with new premises, and with it spread the relevance of the position.

In 2015, one of the greatest voices in the lyrical abstraction movement, the Spanish artist Laurent Jiménez-Balaguer, passed away. But their concepts, techniques and theories are still present in the work of many artists like Margaret Neill, whose instinctive lyrical compositions invite the viewer to a real participation with the very meaning of her works.

What keeps, and will keep these many lyrical artists together, is the desire to express something emotional, subjective and passionate, and to do so in a poetic and abstract way as well.

Features

Despite the fact that this is an artistic movement that could well be classified its birth within the canons of rebellion and nonconformity, the works corresponding to the lyrical abstract movement must contain some characteristics that make them who they are.

• It must have emotional content, not only linked to the artist, but also to the viewer who will enjoy his painting.
• You must have an important message to communicate to the world.
• Should have a base of spiritual orientation proper to the painter. The things he loves that make him who he is. A way to also relate to those who admire your painting.
• It represents various color, composition and design elements, in which color generally takes precedence over form.
• He is interested in exploring ideas and the meaning that can be given to the painting in question. He is not interested in empty artistic dogmas.

Movement artists

• Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
• Henri Michaux (1899-1984)
• Hans Hartung (1904-1989)
• Georges Mathieu (1921-2012)
• Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011)

Lyrical abstraction movement today

In our modern times, lyrical abstract art still stands. Many young contemporary artists continue to work in the footsteps of their predecessors in this branch of art.

Marilyn Kirsch is one of the most visionary artists in this field, and also one of the most renowned. Her presents an introspective work on the human conditionIn addition to looking for a way to give ourselves what we could consider as a vision of the future.