Cubism and Abstract Art

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Summary: review of Cubism and Abstract Art
Review: A landmark publication in the history of modern art surveys, this book was written by Alfred Barr, then director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in 1936. (A paperback re-issue appeared in 1974.) Intended as a primer for the lay reader, the book is nevertheless an insightful survey of virtually all the important modern artists and movements to have appeared on the world stage up until that time, and Barr speaks from the vantage point of someone who personally knew and had exhibited many of the artists discussed. Barr covers, however succintly, a broad terrain with the inclusion of architecture, film, and photography, in addition to painting and sculpture, and traces the development of modern art from its roots in Impressionism to the then-current Surrealism. The book is noteworthy for its inclusion of the famous chart detailing the influences and divergences of the various styles, much like a rendition of one's ancestors on a family tree, and for the categorization of artists and styles into two broadly opposing groups: the expressionist vein, begun by Gauguin and continued by the Fauves, German Expressionists, Dadaists and Surrealists; and the conceptual vein, initiated by Cezanne and continued by Cubism, Constructivism, and De Stijl. The chosen artists, names of styles or movements in which they participated, and the canonical works they produced have remained remarkably stable, despite the ever-shifting, multi-faceted defintions of modern art, as important examples of modern works across the distance of nearly seventy years after the book's first release. Additionally, Barr offers definitions of terms such as "abstract," as well as discussions of techniques like collage.

A multitude of reproductions completes this highly readable and comprehensive account of the often bewildering and competing strands of modern art.